Rothko Chapel/For Frank O Hara

Description

If you could truly hear an abstract expressionist painting, it would probably sound a lot like the work of Morton Feldman. And this is no coincidence: Feldman hung out in 1950s and 60s New York with Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston (whose work adorned the cover of Feldman's first album), and Robert Rauschenberg. Like the paintings of his fellow visual artists, Feldman's work emphasized tonal color rather than structure, rhythm, or melody, the traditional elements of music. It also employed the musical equivalent of pictorial "negative space" with its use of silence and stasis; it would not be surprising that Feldman and John Cale had a huge influence on each other. It makes sense, then, that Feldman likely dedicated his two most famous compositions to two giants of the New York scene: the abstract expressionist Mark Rothko, whose famous chapel adorns the cover of this LP, and the writer and critic Frank O'Hara, whose work drew from the same sources as Feldman's. Rothko Chapel and For Frank O'Hara were first released in 1976 on a landmark album from the Odyssey label at Columbia Records; for its 50th anniversary and first vinyl reissue, we had it pressed on 180-gram black vinyl at Gotta Groove Records for the quietest listening experience possible, using new transfers from the original master tapes. A profound work, defining his career, it opened the door for contemporary ambient composers like Brian Eno.