English Country-Tunes

[ryguillian]

Michael Finnissy's 1977 English Country-Tunes is easily one of the greatest piano works of the 20th century, and even more easily one of the most violent. Besides his Piano Concerto No. 4 I can't think of another piano work as "muscular" as this. What do other forum members think about this epic cycle?

Best,

Ryan

[soliloquy]

I think I have probably listened to it with the sheets sitting in front of me about 50 times and I still do not wish to comment on it, as I feel there is just soooo much in that piece that I have yet to notice.  Tis truly monumental though.

[tanman]

 

A thread with Finnisy and no arguing!!!!

[richard black]

A thread with Finnisy and no arguing

Don't get your hopes up....

I've yet to hear anything in that piece that I even come close to liking, Somewhere between bored and actively repelled by it would sum up my reaction. I'd love to find something I'm missing but then again, life's too short already....

[thalbergmad]

I hope it is only a matter of time before this composer is universally accepted as the genius he is, but regretfully, perhaps he is a little to ahead of his time. I confidently predict, that by the end of this century he will be recognised as one of the greatest composers of all time.

The English Country-Tunes is probably the most accurately descriptive piece ever written. I challenge anyone not to associate the first section (titled Green Meadows) with the real thing. When i go for a walk in the country i cannot help but be reminded of the way in which the composer takes us from sfffz to pppp in 2 chords.

My favourite section is "the seeds of love" which is the 6th part of the cycle. Here Finnissy gently eases us into a world of tear jerking romance before breaking our hearts with one of the most beautiful melodic lines i have ever heard.

Anyone who cannot recognise this piece as a clear defining moment in the history of piano music, is clearly an imbecile.

Thal

[ahinton]

I hope it is only a matter of time before this composer is universally accepted as the genius he is, but regretfully, perhaps he is a little to ahead of his time. I confidently predict, that by the end of this century he will be recognised as one of the greatest composers of all time.

The English Country-Tunes is probably the most accurately descriptive piece ever written. I challenge anyone not to associate the first section (titled Green Meadows) with the real thing. When i go for a walk in the country i cannot help but be reminded of the way in which the composer takes us from sfffz to pppp in 2 chords.

My favourite section is "the seeds of love" which is the 6th part of the cycle. Here Finnissy gently eases us into a world of tear jerking romance before breaking our hearts with one of the most beautiful melodic lines i have ever heard.

Anyone who cannot recognise this piece as a clear defining moment in the history of piano music, is clearly an imbecile.

Clearly, we will all owe you an immense debt or gratitude if you use your obvious authority on the subject to educate us all here on the music of Michael Finnissy who, whatever else he may be or be thought to be, is unquestionably one of the most productive of England's living composers. There are far too many people around (some of them on this forum) who are all too ready to make ill-judged remarks about Finnissy when they have not heard and studied his works in the depth that you evidently have.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Indeed Hinty, some of the ill-judged remarks are complete unqualified.

I would never make such comments about any composer unless i had conducted an extensive study on their music.

It warms my heart that you appreicate this.

Thal

[enderw20]

Michael Finnissy's 1977 English Country-Tunes is easily one of the greatest piano works of the 20th century, and even more easily one of the most violent. Besides his Piano Concerto No. 4 I can't think of another piano work as "muscular" as this. What do other forum members think about this epic cycle?

Best,

Ryan

I too have listened to it while reading (or attempting to read) the sheet music at the same time, sadly the only conclusion that I could come to is that it was outside my grasp musically, so I have to be content to just listen and enjoy.

[jabbz]

I find them to be bombastic and wonderful, if not academic and new. I think the English countryside itself is a wonderfully complex and dense environment. Huge amounts of intricate movements, shades, and colours. Perhaps not the lyrical qualities you would expect of a country tune, but a wonderful if not startling jump into Professor Finnissy's  harmonic language. Probably if you're a new listener looking for accessibility, the transcriptions are maybe more up your street.

[goldentone]

If it is any consolation, Thal, per Alistair's Englishly-uncalled-for questioning of your musical judgment, you have definitely sparked my interest to listen to this piece.

[term]

I listened to one of those pieces and...actually like it.  The harmony for the most part.
*ducks*

[thalbergmad]

you have definitely sparked my interest to listen to this piece.

I apologise for this.

Thal

[tanman]

anyone have a recording?

[thalbergmad]

I think it was recorded by the Karate Club of Great Britain.

Thal

[retrouvailles]

anyone have a recording?

I think many of us have recordings, judging from the responses. Duh!

[remy]

Very strange that the same people who like Finnissy also seem to rave about what a great book Gravity's Rainbow is.

I couldn't get through GR.

It was like reading something written by someone on crack.


remy

[tanman]

where can I get recording?

[pies]

a

[pies]

a

[indutrial]

Very strange that the same people who like Finnissy also seem to rave about what a great book Gravity's Rainbow is.

I couldn't get through GR.

It was like reading something written by someone on crack.


remy

You admitting that you couldn't finish the book sort of disqualifies (or at least takes the air out of) any snarky comments and levels it roughly on the same playing field as a 13-year-old's review of the latest Britney Spears album on amazon.com.

I'm not a big Finnissy enthusiast or expert, but I'm pretty sure that the work in question is not the one that people should use to judge everything about him, which I feel often happens. English Country Tunes is not the most gradual way to get into his oeuvre. People with severe misgivings should take a listen to the North American Ballads section of his larger History of Photography in Sound magnum-opus. Marilyn Nonken played it on one of her discs and it is pretty fantastic. It's definitely whetted by appetite to hear Ian Pace's full recording, which hopefully will be released sometime before the new Guns and Roses record comes out. I hope whoever bought Metier knows how much people want to hear that.

Lately, I've been listening to the Kreutzer Quartet's disc of Finnissy's music for string quartet and I'm pretty blown away. Nobody's Jig has to be one of the tensest and most unsettling pieces I've ever heard, but I couldn't keep my ears off of it. It's the aural version of a horror film that's so eerie that you want to close your eyes but you just have to keep watching to see what happens next, no matter how ghastly it is. On the other hand, a work like Plain Harmony takes you for a different kind of journey entirely, that of extremely dense and heavy chords that amount to a sort of dodecaphonic hymn, interspersed with moments of tonal clarity. The entire disc is pretty remarkable and, sadly, one of the only records I've found dedicated to his chamber music.

[anodibu]

The entire disc is pretty remarkable and, sadly, one of the only records I've found dedicated to his chamber music.

There is also the disc Mars + Venus which I highly recommend.

https://www.nmcrec.co.uk/?page=catalogue/item.html&id=43

[webern78]

A thread with Finnisy and no arguing!!!!

Fine. The piece is trash, like all modern music. How's that?

[indutrial]

There is also the disc Mars + Venus which I highly recommend.

https://www.nmcrec.co.uk/?page=catalogue/item.html&id=43

Thanks for the link, I'll check this out.

[thalbergmad]

Fine. The piece is trash, like all modern music. How's that?

Have you done any Britney Spears reviews for Amazon?

Thal

[ahinton]

Alistair's Englishly-uncalled-for questioning of your musical judgment,

Where precisely is this?

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Fine. The piece is trash, like all modern music. How's that?

Especially inappropriate for someone who invokes "webern" in his forum ID, that's how (since you ask), although the question with which Thal responds to yours is still more to the point, I think...

Best,

Alistair

[webern78]

I was being sarcastic. Sheesh.

I consider Webern to a be genius (not too keen on Schoenberg though), but that's as far as i can take it, bar a few exceptions, like Ligeti, but that's where i draw the line. Same thing with Jazz, which i can take it only as far as John Coltrane.

[indutrial]

I was being sarcastic. Sheesh.

I consider Webern to a be genius (not too keen on Schoenberg though), but that's as far as i can take it, bar a few exceptions, like Ligeti, but that's where i draw the line. Same thing with Jazz, which i can take it only as far as John Coltrane.

Great. I'm relieved we got that hot issue out of the way  . Does anybody want to talk about Michael Finnissy anymore? I've been listening to Ian Pace's rendition of Piano Concerto no. 4 a little more and I'd love to know what others here think of that work. Some of the virtuoso demands in that work seem to border on the insane and it does a marvelous job of making the piano sound absolutely enormous, especially around the 9:30 mark, a point where the recording almost shook my computer speaker off the desk.

I, by no means, see myself as fit to dissect anything about the piece's structural elements outside of mentioning that it sounds at times like a couple of etudes were blended into the larger work. There are a lot of moments where a specific rhythmic idea will present itself and then stick around for a bit, which makes it much easier to get into a work that sports as much harmonic and dynamic complexity as this work can. Everything seems to combine towards the end, which might be one of the most cosmic sections I've ever heard in any piano piece.

Thoughts on that work?

[pies]

a

[ahinton]

Your attempt to discuss the actual topic of this thread managed to kill the discussion.  People here would rather argue about modernism than discuss the actual music.

Sadly, something like that does indeed appear to be the case...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Your attempt to discuss the actual topic of this thread managed to kill the discussion.  People here would rather argue about modernism than discuss the actual music.

Why don't you discuss the actual music then and impart us with some knowledge?

Thal

[pies]

a

[thalbergmad]

I will not.

Please proceed and enlighten.

Thal