Morton Feldman was the guest of honor on whom the First South African Broadcasting Corporation Contemporary Music Festival of 2-9 July 1983 hinged. During this time, and until 14 July, Feldman conducted composition masterclasses for composers at the SABC in Johannesburg. These masterclasses were recorded. In 2006, Dirk de Klerk, who was present at all the classes, published an article investigating the views expressed by Feldman during the masterclass sessions:
Dirk de Klerk, "Morton Feldman in Johannesburg, July 1983 : Ideas and Opinions," Muziki: Journal of Music Research in Africa (Vol 3 No 2, 2006) pp 14-46.
In preparation for writing this article, Dr de Klerk transcribed the masterclass recordings. The transcripts have been edited for publication by Chris Villars, and are published here for the first time by kind permission of Dirk de Klerk:
Session 1: Works by Barry Jordan & Johan CloeteIn association with the masterclasses, Feldman gave two lectures. These have been transcribed by Rüdiger Meyer and are published here with his kind permission:
Session 2: Works by Graham Newcater, John Coulter & Hannes Gerber
Session 3: General discussion
Session 4: Works by Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph
Session 5: Works by Feldman (Piano)
Session 6: Works by Dirk de Klerk & Matteo Fargion
Session 7: Works by Bunita Marcus
Session 8: Works by Graham Newcater
Session 9: Works by Peter Klatzow & Feldman (The Turfan Fragments)
Session 10: Works by Barry Jordan, David Kosviner, Feldman (Triadic Memories) & Jacques de Vos Malan
Lecture 1: Current Trends in America
Lecture 2: Feldman on Feldman
An audio recording of Lecture 1 is also available:
Current Trends in America - audio part 1 (14mins)
A recording of Music for Japan by Bunita Marcus was played before the lecture continued:
Current Trends in America - audio part 2 (45mins)