Piano Forum

Will you explain this to me please?
I'd never heard this composer until now and I'm genuinely curious.

Michael Finnissy is a British composer and virtuoso pianist whose music has at times been associated with the "new complexity" movement. That is an overly reductive label in my view, but his piano music is indeed very difficult to play for the most part. English Country-Tunes is a piece lasting approximately 50 minutes whose movements are all based on English folk melodies, although due to the way these are embedded into the texture, it's hard to tell without a score. It is one of a number of large-scale works he composed and imo his masterpiece.

This is the beginning of the first movement. If you don't like it, you probably won't enjoy the rest of his music >.>

NW- "The Goldberg Variations are very specifically for two-manual harpsichord, and any performance on piano is technically a transcription /pedantry"

Yes the hands cross in a few places - not so difficult to manage.. Also, it is possible to draw tonal distinction between the hands to accentuate (more) the idea of another keyboard- should one wish.
 One wonders though, by your logic  if Any pieces by Bach should be played on ('specifically') the piano.. though he Was interested and offered advice to Silberman - the piano maker - after giving them a whirl.. (his criticism was that the action was too heavy. After being disappointed by his reaction, he did indeed go to work on the action).

Technically none of Bach's music is specifically for the piano, although there has been some speculation about the three- and six-voice ricercars from the Musical Offering. That said, most of his keyboard works are educational in nature and thus weren't intended to be played on any specific keyboard instrument but rather whatever was available at hand: virginal, spinet, clavichord, harpsichord, fortepiano, organ, etc. The Goldberg Variations, with their specific manual instructions ("a 1 o 2 clav." etc) are an exception to this rule and are specifically a harpsichord work. One can obviously play them on the piano quite successfully, but one may as well just play the Busoni transcription, it's just as authentic :p

NW- It Is refreshing to see your mention of a few 20th century works.. Have you heard the Ligeti etudes?   or Takemitsu's piano music?

Yes and yes, no room for them in my list though, lol