Feldman Edition 6: String Quartet No. 2

I've been trying to expose myself to as much contemporary classical music as possible lately, and so far, this really takes the cake on many levels. While the reslistening value leaves to be desired (hardly anyone often has nearly 6 hours of free time–and I do believe that this deserves to be listened to in its entirety in one sitting), the content makes the hours spent thoroughly worth it.

On the surface, it may seem that this (similarly to most of Feldman's catalog) is simply lengthy, repetitive and goes nowhere, but that's also exactly where its beauty lies. Feldman crafts in his second string quartet, more than ever before, music that is so beautifully minimal and elusive that you feel a great urge to crawl up inside your headphones or speakers as means to get closer to it. Through its six hours of runtime, the repetition never gets lame and each segment has gentle, minimal changes that makes each second so expressive and emotive.

It is said by certain critics that Feldman's compositions build a certain "bigger picture" in a listener's mind, and I can't find this to be any more true than with this string quartet. It's so massive and dense in its minimalism that while "nothing happens", it manages to build a whole museum in one's mind.

Must hear if you're into contemporary classical.