Hear & Now; Sat 16/4/14, 10:00pm

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Kammer Klang

Tom McKinney presents the latest Kammer Klang-curated night of contemporary music at London's Cafe Oto, showcasing the work of Michael Finnissy and electronic composer John Wall. Also tonight, more from last month's London EAR Festival, and another chance to hear Sarah Walker's Essay on English experimental composer John White who turned 80 earlier this month.

John Wall Cphon (2005)

Ruaidhrí Mannion & Antoine Françoise - Hommage without permission (2016), for piano and electronics

Michael Finnissy: Above Earth's Shadow (1985) for solo violin and ensemble
Oscar Perks (solo violin)
Perks Ensemble
Mark Knoop (conductor)

John Wall: Untitled
John Wall (live electronics)

Hannes Dufek: band/linie/horizont lb (UK premiere)
Jaime Wolfson (piano, radio, dictaphones)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Michael Finnissy's 70th birthday is celebrated at this year's Proms by ... err, nothing, actually, not even a replay of his pretty damn impressive orchestral piece Red Earth. So this performance of Above Earth's Shadow will have to do for now.

I've had difficulties with Finnissy's Music in the past: unreserved enthusiasm for English Country Tunes, but much else I find elusive - in the (non)sense that whilst I think I get what he's doing, there often seems to be a veil between what I feel I ought to be experiencing and what I actually feel from the Music itself. But enough of my problems - Above Earth's Shadow is a fine and impressive piece, which interested Forumistas so inclined might wish to "prepare" themselves for from this earlier broadcast performance (as I assume from Robert Warby's concluding remarks) from Ensemble Exposé (whose appearance at this year's Proms I shall miss on the grounds that they aren't appearing) conducted by Roger Redgate with Mieko Kanno the superb violin solo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC1yN8oIumM

It's a 20minute piece, scored for a septet of solo violin, flute(/piccolo), clarinet, violin, viola, 'cello and Double Bass, with which Finnissy frequently creates the illusion of a much larger ensemble. I don't have access to a score, so the following comments are based just upon listening a couple of times to the youTube recording.

The work seems to contrast "still" material with that which is more active and unsettled. This is reflected even in the contrast between sustained notes and notes equally long in duration, but given "movement" by tremolandos and trills. Most of the work lies in a high register (the 'cello and Bass often using harmonics), and there is more quiet Music than loud - but Finnissy balances the "predictability" of these features with rare but perfectly timed moments of contrast.

0:00 - 0:50 - a burst of sounds starts (in both senses of the word) the piece. A piccolo presents a sort of "cantus firmus" of sustained pitches, around which the three higher strings of the ensemble "buzz" in harmonics and sul ponticello tremolandi.

0:50 - 1:40 - the "cantus firmus" is joined/taken over by the Clarinet, playing fluttertongue to connect the sustained notes of the piccolo with the tremolando of the strings. The 'cello (I think - it may be the Bass) presents the first low sounds, and commences a rising scale (trem and sul pont) in a "straight line". The ensemble strings continue their opening material, but now pianissimo and very much in the background.

1:40 - 3:25 - the prominent "foreground" clarinet is suddenly receded, as the solo violin first (?I think - I don't think it's been playing so far, and certainly not in a "soloistic" manner) appears, continuing the sustained notes of the "cantus firmus" in tremolandi, the clarinet now "shadowing" the solo violin. The mood is calmer than at the opening, with the strings now playing a microtonal harmonization of the sustained notes, quasi-Chorlae-like(ish). [A curious use of the clarinet and flute - ?again, I think? - occurs around 3:25; the way Finnissy mingles these with the other instruments; I would have sworn if I hadn't known the instrumentation that some muted brass had been used at this point.]

3:25 - 4:35 - Sudden loud (in context, probably mf in reality) pizzicati attempt to interrupt the flow of the Music - this becomes more assertive for a while, whilst the solo violin and Flute and Clarinet (who often work as a timbral trio in the work) continue the soft, sustained note "cantus firmus".

4:35 - 6:45 - the texture/instrumentation is reduced simply to a melody presented by the solo violin, "accompanied" by sustained note trills from the Clarinet. At 5:25, the violin melody introduces a "Scotch snap"-like rhythm that is featured throughout the rest of the piece, creating more dance-like idea to complement the song-like mood that has been such a predominant feature hitherto.

6:45 - 9:25 - the violin solo continues, and the ensemble strings join the clarinet with another microtonal "chorale" harmonization of the sustained notes. The "mood" here is beguiling - I've written "serene? Eerie 'relaxed anxiety'" . The woodwinds are blended into the timbral texture from 8:15.

9:25 - a brief, "impatient" burst (lasting about 20 seconds) interrupts the mood: solo piccolo reminds us of the very start of the piece, even if the material it plays now is very different from then - Finnissy using specific instrumental timbre as a structural "marker", and with the pizzicato strings at this point (and the "scratch" bowing from the low 'cello recollecting the "straight line" ascending scale from earlier. Then this "burst" vanishes and the "melody and chorale" material continues.

11:45 - 12:30 - the 'cello's recollection of the scale isn't lost; it now returns to this material, pppp but now "matured" by what's happened since - the rising line (no longer a simple straight line) played sul pont and shared with the Bass.

12:30 - 14:15 - a general diminuendo, piccolo and clarinet share a sustained note descending "scale" to complement and answer the lower strings' ascending. The solo violin melody (which has been played for the past eight minutes or so) is now fragmented into stutterings of three or four notes, separated by long gaps, during which the other instrumental lines are heard, gradually ignoring what the violin is trying to continue; they have moved away from the violin solo material, the violin tries to preserve its predominance.

14:15 - 15:50 - a general crescendo in response to the preceding diminuendo. The matr=erial has its origins in the string material of the very opening, but here it is less "antsy" and aggressive.

15:50 - the strings reach their mid-register, sounding "low" in the context of how they are used throughout most of the rest of the piece. At 17:00, the "rising/descending" scale have evolved into cascades of rapidly rising and quickly falling "fountains" of sound

17:30 - by this point, the Music has split into three strands; the solo violin has dance-like figurations, the woodwind pair play with the sustained note scalic idea, and the ensemble strings are using the tremolandi and trill material.

19:30 - a final (?"cadential"?) flourish to conclude the work with a reference to its opening.


It'll be fascinating to hear an alternative performance tomorrow night.

[Richard Barrett]

Above Earth's Shadow is a beautiful piece. It might be apposite to note that it emerges from a fairly clearly-defined "period" in MF's work, beginning in the early 1980s and thus subsequent to that exemplified by English Country-Tunes, where the extravagantly jagged intervals inherited from postwar serial music gave way to much narrower, often microtonal movements within tightly-restricted registers whose principal inspiration comes from eastern European and Middle Eastern folk music. Very often this involves heterophonic activity around a present or implied "cantus firmus" although the Western European implications of that term would be misleading.

John Wall is also always worth hearing.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... the extravagantly jagged intervals inherited from postwar serial music gave way to much narrower, often microtonal movements within tightly-restricted registers whose principal inspiration comes from eastern European and Middle Eastern folk music.

- and the appearance of Scelsi's work at around that same time, do you know?

Very often this involves heterophonic activity around a present or implied "cantus firmus" although the Western European implications of that term would be misleading.

- as are "quasi-Chorale(ish)" and even "harmonization", hence all the cautionaries. I think (/hope) that, for listeners accustomed to such terms, they give an "earhold" to some of the techniques used here.

John Wall is also always worth hearing.

I'd not heard of him or his work before - an emergency trip to youTube demonstrated my loss quite emphatically!)

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks to Richard for his observations and Ferney his detailed exposition of the Finnissy piece. For someone who's also had difficulties with this composer, most useful. Something of the later Gerard Grisey somehow comes to my mind in the microtonal melodicism of this music - no problems with this piece.

Much looking forward to tonight's programme. Wall of sound...

[Richard Barrett]

and the appearance of Scelsi's work at around that same time, do you know?

I know that Michael was interested in Scelsi's music, for example giving the UK premiere of one of his piano pieces in 1985 or so, but I've never felt there was a strong connection in this regard - Scelsi's heterophony tends to involve octave doublings while MF's never does, for example.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

John Wall is also always worth hearing.

And to demonstrate this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9Uf2G4cKJ8

(And thanks to RB for the information about MF's relationship with Scelsi. I think S_A's observation about Grisey is closer to the mark than my suggestion, too.)

[Daniel]

I've had difficulties with Finnissy's Music in the past: unreserved enthusiasm for English Country Tunes, but much else I find elusive - in the (non)sense that whilst I think I get what he's doing, there often seems to be a veil between what I feel I ought to be experiencing and what I actually feel from the Music itself.

For someone who's also had difficulties with this composer

Ferney and SA, do you know his 2nd String Quartet? It's a piece I find powerful, fascinating and very beautiful. It appealed to me from the moment I heard it and has revealed new depths on each listening since.

It's built from really captivating episodes (and moments) one doesn't want to miss a second, I have the distinct impression of listening to a reconfigured Haydn minuet at one point, and there's an absolutely mesmerising, slow, austere ascent, that leads with great effect at its close onto the most beautifully lyrical music. Really unforgettable.
A pernickety/peaceful ending follows this and actually seems to me to be the first time two episodes appear together. They could hardly be more contrasted, and seem to bear a distinctly talk-to-the-hand-the-face-ain't-listenin' attitude to each other. Nonetheless I find it a powerful and emotional ending.

This is a precis that probably does a disservice to the music which I find very moving, and you may already know the piece anyway, but thought I'd mention as it'd had such an immediate and positive effect on me.

(p.s. Haven't heard the broadcast yet.)

Edit: I should perhaps add that this is the recording I know.

[Beef Oven!]

Clashes with Match Of The Day. Can't they put Jazz into this slot and give H&N a better time, when we're not all watching football?

Ferney, can you please take this up with the BBC in your new capacity?

Thanks in advance.

P.S. Thursdays, 21.45 is good for me.

[Richard Barrett]

I have the distinct impression of listening to a reconfigured Haydn minuet at one point

That's because you are! It's op.64/5 I think that is refracted through Finnissy's piece. I'm also very fond of this quartet, despite not finding so much in common with most of his more recent music. (The new orchestral piece at last year's Proms had me completely perplexed, as did a First World War-themed oratorio I heard in the Netherlands the previous year.) In general I prefer his work when references to other music are absent, or at least more deeply-absorbed than is often the case these days.

[Bryn]

[Richard Barrett]

when we're not all watching football?

Football is rubbish. That's all you need to remember.

[Beef Oven!]

Football is rubbish. That's all you need to remember.

[Daniel]

That's because you are! It's op.64/5 I think that is refracted through Finnissy's piece.

Thanks, that's interesting to have confirmed! (This is an example of a piece that I've got to know slowly and avoided reading anything about until I feel I know it better. This may seem perverse to many here, but it's sometimes how I find myself most drawn into a piece of music.)

[Barbirollians]

I tried AboveEarth's Shadow but after three minutes of scurrying scraping sounds gave up .