Michael Finnissy plays Weir; Finnissy; Newman & Skempton

On this CD:

1. Reels for piano
Composed by Michael Peter Finnissy
Performed by Michael Peter Finnissy

2. Short, But. . . .
Composed by Michael Peter Finnissy
Performed by Michael Peter Finnissy

3. Freightrain Bruise
Composed by Michael Peter Finnissy
Performed by Michael Peter Finnissy

4. Eirenicons 1-4
Composed by Howard Skempton
Performed by Michael Peter Finnissy

5. Grooving through Old Tombs
Composed by Chris Newman
Performed by Michael Peter Finnissy

6. News of My Own
Composed by Chris Newman
Performed by Michael Peter Finnissy

7. An mein Klavier
Composed by Judith Weir
Performed by Michael Peter Finnissy

8. Michael's Strathspey
Composed by Judith Weir
Performed by Michael Peter Finnissy

9. Le Repos sur le lit
Composed by Chris Newman
Performed by Michael Peter Finnissy

10. Even tenor
Composed by Howard Skempton
Performed by Michael Peter Finnissy

11. Autumnall for piano
Composed by Michael Peter Finnissy
Performed by Michael Peter Finnissy

12. Kemp's Morris
Composed by Michael Peter Finnissy
Performed by Michael Peter Finnissy

13. Stanley Stokes, East Street 1836
Composed by Michael Peter Finnissy
Performed by Michael Peter Finnissy

Tracks:

Reels
Short But...
Freightrain Bruise
Eirenicons I-IV
Grooving Through Old Tombs
News Of My Own
An Mein Klavier
Michael's Strathspey
Le Repos Sur Le Lit
Even Tenor
Autumnall
Kemp's Morris
Stanley Stokes, East Street 1836

Customer Reviews:

wonderful excursions into pianistic beauty,simple and terse.......2001-09-10

The pianistic vocables is utterly useful here. Finnissy is perhaps the most prolific creator for the piano within eyeshot of the current era. Here interestingly he has surrounded himself with aesthetic purveyors at seemingly opposite ends of the spectrim,however Finnissy in notes and interviews revelas his affinity the dialectic, the opaque distances that co-inhabit the dual enovi between complexity and simplicity. It is not a contentious point, for it's all relative, Although Howard Skempton would disagree I beleive for the ultimate effect, the effrontery purveyed with deeply complex musical lanaguage has entire lifeworld of contents. Well, the wonderful 'Erinicons' of Skempton are here somewhat of a seminal place in his creativity. Whenever an accretion of musical gesture occurs that signals a means of complexity, and here he have thirds harmonic motions, which filled greater surfaces of cognitive spaces, than relatively speaking Skemptons, 'preludes',where the musical import occurs over longer durational lengths, well the entire work, for all of Skempton piano works are short excursions into the poetic.Skempton's voice is taciturn,distant,he allows his music's beauty a mystery which he doesn't place there, or we refuse to see the vision of his subjectivity fully.
Chris Newman was also born of the Scratch Orchestra ambience,the libertarian freedoms conceptual music wrought. He also, although for quite different reasons than Skempton limits his music to two or one voices,also threadbare, and direct, with minimal gestures. Newman's music is more 'dirtied',more like from the pub,intended for discourse,and social intercourse and developed than Skempton's, where in Skempton's we feel and sense the introspection more strongly, pure as spring water, the gentle breeze caressing a window curtain, or the soft falling of snow quietly on the mountainsides, hanging in the cool,forbidding air of the Alps.
Finnissy also joins this aesthetic to this simplicity, however there is always greater incidence and frequency of gesture in Finnissy,his genetic code craves high incidence,forever through composed filled up spaces, Many times quite interestingly he limits his music however to single threadbare lines in the treble voices, with a plethora, an affinity for melodic ornamentation. Something he learned painstakingly from his explorations into the world of folk gestures.
Finnissy's 'Autumnall' is fast becoming one of my favorite works, exploring this threadbare beauty.

Music Review:

Music Review

music review

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