

Morton Feldman
The Turfan Fragments
Short instrumentation: 2 2 2 2 - 2 2 2 0, str(0 0 6 4 4)
Duration: 17'
Instrumentation details:
1st flute
2nd flute
1st oboe
2nd oboe
1st clarinet in Bb
2nd clarinet in Bb
1st bassoon
2nd bassoon
1st horn in F
2nd horn in F
1st trumpet in C
2nd trumpet in C
1st trombone
2nd trombone
viola (6)
violoncello (4)
contrabass (4)
Feldman - The Turfan Fragments for orchestra
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Morton Feldman
Feldman: The Turfan Fragments for orchestraOrchestration: for orchestra
Type: Studienpartitur
Sample pages
Audio preview
Work introduction
A series of archaeological expeditions to East Turkestan, conducted by Sir Aurel Stein in the early
part of this century, unearthed several fragments of knotted carpets dating
from the third and sixth centuries. Though these fragments were too small to
indicate either its design or provenance, they did convey a long tradition of
carpet weaving. This is to a large degree the extended metaphor of my
composition: not the suggestion of an actual completed work of “art”, but the history in Western music of putting sounds
and instruments together.
Morton Feldman