Words by David C. Obenour
Music reaches each of us at different places. And as much as this is due to our internal experience, where and how we connect is informed by the work of many others. From the concepts of the composer, to the musicianship of the players, and the care of the producer – all of these fingerprints can be found on the raw materials – but that still is only part of how we meet with music. There’s the long work of curation from those at a label, the journalists bringing their evaluations, and of course, the artists connecting cover art to music and finally to hopeful understanding for the listeners. To give context, connection, and recognition.
Recorded at the soundofmusic festival in Groningen, Brendon Heinst of TRPTK captured Nieuw Amsterdams Peil’s performance of Morton Feldman’s final composition, Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello. Haunting and gentle, ethereal but meticulously performed, it’s a beautiful recording that requires context, connection, and recognition. Providing this understanding is the visual artistry of letterpress printer, Francesca Patella.
Off Shelf: Could you talk a little about your personal relation to album art? Have there been particular covers that have resonated with you? What about them did?
Francesca Patella: Both music and visual art have been crucial for most of my life changing choices, so in a way album covers were the part of musical experience where all came together. I remember spending hours at record shops studying the graphics of the early jazz vinyls and absorbing ideas.
The list is endless, I just want name a few classics in the jazz area: the swinging Jim Flora’s illustrations, color combinations in Neil Fujita paintings for Mingus, and of course Reid Miles innovative use of typography in combination with zoomed in details of two-toned black and white pictures on hundreds of Blue Note covers around 1960. Those influences deeply shaped my passion for typography in general, the importance of playfulness and the basic concept that one idea is enough for effective design.
Also the portrait series that Dutch artist Marte Röling made for Fontana records left a deep impression in me. Her drawings might look unfinished because of the large use she makes of white space but the details and layers catch the essence and complexity of the musicians at once. I really admire that prowess!
OS: How were you first commissioned to do the cover for Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello?
FP: In 2021 pianist Gerard Bouwhuis, fascinated by my recent hand printed works, asked me to provide the artwork for his recording of Charles Valentin Alkan Concerto Op.39, with only one restriction: it had to be made in letterpress. After hearing the recording I wanted to visualise those sound clusters, those monstrous agglomerates of notes. And it became Alkan’s name, in cubital letters, magenta, cyan, oker, orange and grey, abruptly overlapping each other creating new colors, as the ink is transparent. I guess he was pleased with the result since three years later he reiterated the commission for the Morton Feldman CD with the same formula: complete freedom, as long as it was letterpress made.
OS: What about the commission excited you? Was there anything that you felt challenged by in taking it on?
FP: Anything that relates to Morton Feldman is challenging by definition and extremely stimulating. A carte blanche opens up lines from all directions and the absence of guidelines can scatter in too many ideas at first. That initial explorative phase is very exciting for me and I try to stay receptive to all options until “the good idea” comes up.
OS: It seems like a very interesting relationship – providing art in a different medium that so strongly impacts the experience for another artist’s work. Did you consider that while working on this piece and if so, how?
FP: Visuals, as the cover artwork of an object that people might or not decide to buy, has to be functional to the content. Mainly consists of translating an idea, a message, or in this case a music piece into a lightning that strikes you, precise and at point-blank, so that you must-have-it. My decision to create a portrait of the composer is intended as a statement of respect for his oeuvre.
OS: When considering this companionship from your end, how do you feel the association to the recording changes how someone sees your art?
FP: I certainly hope that the observer feel my connection with contemporary and experimental music, which has inspired and nourished me for over three decades.
OS: How familiar were you with the music of Morton Feldman or Nieuw Amsterdams Peil before working on this piece?
FP: Morton Feldman compositions deeply resonate and are surely a fond part of my musical education. Nieuw Amsterdams Peil is one of the leading groups in today’s composed music, not only performing but engaging with dance, film, theatre and initiating new ways of collaborating. I have been admiring their work and dedication since the beginning.
OS: What inspiration did you find in this recording of Feldman for it?
FP: The recording is sublime, it brought me focus while working at the portrait and new insight in this composition. But what truly hit me was the performance of the piece the night of the CD presentation. I had always heard recordings of it, and seeing it for the first time made me aware of how much of a bows dance takes place during the musical execution.
OS: After having done the cover, do you think you have a different appreciation for his music or this performance?
FP: Making the portrait using small metal type characters has been a very slow process which took weeks of small adjustment to reach the desired form. I realize now that the music hand notation practice while composing has a lot in common with the patience needed for setting type. Extreme care in the commitment to perfection.
OS: Going more into that, can you talk about what we’re looking at and your process of physically putting together and refining the finished print?
FP: I was looking for a way to portrait Mr. Feldman. The decision to avoid setting his name was dictated by the TRPTK CD template design, where typography is stationary and positioning free. After an image research my choice fell on a close up – an intense portrait with magnetic gaze. In the first version I spent almost a day to give form to the eyes but I could not recreate the witty look of the picture. I made a second print covering the eyes and my heart leaped: I was getting close! I sent a blindfold to saxophonist, composer and friend Ab Baars ‘Who’s this?’ and he replied: ‘MF!’ Then I sent my best version with eyes but his answer was exhaustive, ‘I like the first one better. More secretive, more like his music’. And so it was. I used many n and m to shape the velvet of the jacket. And thick copper lines for the black hair and the tie. Music brackets, ornaments, and many filling parts to keep everything tight.
OS: Could you talk about applying your style and approach here? What were you cognitive of? Was there anything you felt particularly pleased about what it was able to convey?
FP: My approach to type setting is both classic and acrobatic. I spend lot of time spacing letters until point precision while setting, let’s say, linear text. Nowadays the computer does it automatically – unfortunately, and not only in my opinion, pretty badly – but with wood and metal type matter plays against you. With the figurative, acrobatic, approach I try to find ways to set impossible -not linear- forms and to twist the materials to do what I want. I start with an intuition, a vision, but then it is up to my hands to realize it. Some people say it’s magic, I say it’s just hard work and mountains of patience.