Great read and essential for understanding modern art and modern music.
Some of these pieces are difficult but will repay attention. ( )

There's a widely-quoted anecdote near the start of this book where Morton Feldman shows John Cage a string quartet he has written. Cage looked at it a long time and then said, "How did you make this?" In a very weak voice Feldman answers, "I don't know how I made it." Cage is excited and delighted by this response. I confess I haven't read all the essays in this book, but have put them aside. After reading a third or a half, I came to the conclusion that Feldman really didn't know how he made his compositions, and I felt some sympathy for his old teacher who replied to his explanations with "Morton, I don't understand a word you're saying." That's not to say his essays are uninteresting, but they are frequently opaque and their relation to either his music or to familiar (to me) cultural reference points is often oblique. I shall marinate myself in more of his music and then see if I feel moved to dip into more of the essays. ( )