Rather too much of old men’s nostalgia for their youth this year so far and more to come, Prog rock, the English experimental school of easy to do music, Worby and Wolff etc.
Then the best performance I have heard of Lohengrin, what a wonderful singer and all is perfect
Good write up! Though we many need to agree to disagree over “Timber”- whilst I strongly agree over Aurora Ensembles wonderful performance I rather felt the score too derivative, long and boring! More the point I felt it under used the highly skilled players whom I felt could do so much more with that format given the chance. To be honest the opening has been done in both Steve Reichs “Electric Counterpoint” and “New York Counterpoint” with the same tremolando effect. I felt this piece did too little in too much time. Ok rant over!
alan munro
10 years ago
I thought the Finnissy work the most enjoyable of the recital. Often His piano works can be intimidating to the newcomer but this one i found a little more approachable although the wealth of material presented is astonishing. The least said about Wolff the better. In some circles, criticising Wolff is on a par with pushing your Granny off a cliff but i’m afraid the music i have heard at Huddersfield, Tectonics and Radio 3 leaves me cold, unmoved and uninvolved.
Why should criticism of Wolff be received in that way? Based on everything I’ve heard of his at this year’s festival (and, to be honest, pretty much everywhere else) vilification seems the only reasonable response.
Chris L
10 years ago
Hi Simon
Your respect for Skempton’s methods prompts me to wonder whether you’ve ever heard this eerie little piece, courtesy of (get ready for this…) a distant descendant of the uncle of Gesualdo’s ill-fated first wife (apologies for sound quality)…
Hora
9 years ago
The Finnissy was broadcast a few days back and very closely miked to combat the washy acoustic so probably fared better on the radio. This struck me as one of Finnissy’s less successful works. Conceptually strong, but rather flat as a listening experience. The talk by the composer beforehand held my attention but the notes didn’t. For a livelier recent piano piece by MF I’d recommend Z/K.
Thanks for this Hora; i’ve recorded the Finnissy broadcast but haven’t had a chance to listen yet. That’s interesting what you say about the acoustic – radio broadcasts so often improve on details of clarity that are lost in the concert hall, so it’ll be good to compare.
[…] most recent large-scale composition, the piano cycle Beat Generation Ballads, premièred at the 2014 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. The work comprises five movements, the first four of which are very short, only two or three […]
[…] very own HCR label. It’s a work i’ve waxed lyrical about twice before – after the world première at HCMF 2014 and in celebration of Finnissy’s 70th birthday – and Philip Thomas‘ marvellous new […]
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Rather too much of old men’s nostalgia for their youth this year so far and more to come, Prog rock, the English experimental school of easy to do music, Worby and Wolff etc.
Then the best performance I have heard of Lohengrin, what a wonderful singer and all is perfect
Good write up! Though we many need to agree to disagree over “Timber”- whilst I strongly agree over Aurora Ensembles wonderful performance I rather felt the score too derivative, long and boring! More the point I felt it under used the highly skilled players whom I felt could do so much more with that format given the chance. To be honest the opening has been done in both Steve Reichs “Electric Counterpoint” and “New York Counterpoint” with the same tremolando effect. I felt this piece did too little in too much time. Ok rant over!
I thought the Finnissy work the most enjoyable of the recital. Often His piano works can be intimidating to the newcomer but this one i found a little more approachable although the wealth of material presented is astonishing. The least said about Wolff the better. In some circles, criticising Wolff is on a par with pushing your Granny off a cliff but i’m afraid the music i have heard at Huddersfield, Tectonics and Radio 3 leaves me cold, unmoved and uninvolved.
Why should criticism of Wolff be received in that way? Based on everything I’ve heard of his at this year’s festival (and, to be honest, pretty much everywhere else) vilification seems the only reasonable response.
Hi Simon
Your respect for Skempton’s methods prompts me to wonder whether you’ve ever heard this eerie little piece, courtesy of (get ready for this…) a distant descendant of the uncle of Gesualdo’s ill-fated first wife (apologies for sound quality)…
The Finnissy was broadcast a few days back and very closely miked to combat the washy acoustic so probably fared better on the radio. This struck me as one of Finnissy’s less successful works. Conceptually strong, but rather flat as a listening experience. The talk by the composer beforehand held my attention but the notes didn’t. For a livelier recent piano piece by MF I’d recommend Z/K.
Thanks for this Hora; i’ve recorded the Finnissy broadcast but haven’t had a chance to listen yet. That’s interesting what you say about the acoustic – radio broadcasts so often improve on details of clarity that are lost in the concert hall, so it’ll be good to compare.
[…] most recent large-scale composition, the piano cycle Beat Generation Ballads, premièred at the 2014 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. The work comprises five movements, the first four of which are very short, only two or three […]
[…] very own HCR label. It’s a work i’ve waxed lyrical about twice before – after the world première at HCMF 2014 and in celebration of Finnissy’s 70th birthday – and Philip Thomas‘ marvellous new […]