Homage à Morton Feldman by Peter Ablinger
Morton Feldman was a composer who left the European avant-garde behind, shedding the complexities it was fraught with. Not only did he refuse to go backwards, but he postulated a new kind of theory that stated that there must no longer be a difference between construction and reality, between concealed technique and musical event; in short – and in the words Feldman himself often used – the only thing that matters is the surface itself, not the construction
behind it. Peter Ablinger, however, puts the question differently and asks: “What is a surface in music?”
Peter Ablinger
Peter Ablinger (*1959, AT, †2025, DE) studied graphic design at the HTL Linz from 1974 to 1976 and jazz piano at the Graz University of Music from 1977 to 1979. From 1979, he took private composition lessons with Gösta Neuwirth in Graz and at the same time with Roman Haubenstock-Ramati in Vienna until 1982. Ablinger has lived in Berlin as a freelance composer since 1982. In 1988 he founded the Zwischentöne ensemble. The ensemble's work is characterised by its exploration of unusual instruments, venues, performance practices and forms of notation. In addition to his compositional activities, he has initiated and directed numerous festivals. Together with Bernhard Lang, Klaus Lang, Nader Mashayekhi and Siegwald Ganglmair, he founded the publishing house Zeitvertrieb Wien Berlin. He has been a research professor at the University of Huddersfield since 2012; in May 2012, Ablinger was appointed a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin.