Laurence Crane - 20th Century Music - Michael Finnissy, piano - solo piano pieces 1985-1999

ID: MSV28506 (EAN: 809730850622)  | 1 CD | DDD
Released in: 2008

LABEL:

METIER

Collection:

Instrumental

Subcollection:

Piano

Composers:

CRANE, Laurence

Interprets:

FINNISSY, Michael (piano)

Other info:

Laurence Crane's music is thoroughly contemporary, but has hardly a dissonance in the whole 80 minutes of this CD. His music can be described as super-minimalist, but that would ignore the incredibly fine transitions of harmony and time embedded in his works. Ultimately this is music for the post-modernist age, and it can have no better advocate than Michael Finnissy, himself one of the foremost composers of our time.

Laurence Crane :
20th Century Music
Three Preludes
Blue Blue Blue
Kierkegaard his prelude
Kierkegaard his walk around Copenhagen
Birthday Piece for Michael Finnissy
Jacques Derrida goes to a nightclub
Jacques Derrida goes to a massage parlour
Jacques Derrida goes to the supermarket
Jacques Derrida goes to the beach
Gorm Busk
James Duke son of John Duke
Looking for Michael Bracewell
Andrew Renton becomes an international art critic
Chorale for Howard Skempton
Three Pieces for James Clapperton

“This is a fine piano recording, and Michael Finnissy's peerless playing is of course unsurpassed in this kind of material. I admire Laurence Crane's expressive mission and musical honesty, and am delighted to have been allowed a good long look into his output for solo piano. For me it was a little like peering into a coral reef in a glass-bottom boat - full of timeless beauty.” - Dominy Clements (MusicWeb)

“Underneath a facade of seeming simplicity lies music of great beauty, emotion and originality, written with sincerity in a language of timeless freshness. Crane’s art is too important and too beautiful to miss. This is an important issue, produced with marvellous, clear sound, very sympathetic performance, fine notes... buy it and enjoy.” - Bob Briggs (MusicWeb)

“The music on this new CD from the adventurous Metier label is very quiet and simple. The effect is gently disturbing, even perplexing. The performances by Michael Finnissy seem just right; he doesn't seek to make any dramatic points in the music. In a sense he allows the music to play itself, to make its own statement. Yet the emotional and technical difficulties should not be underestimated; Finnissy's control throughout this long disc is admirable. The recording engineers are to be praised as well.” - David Hackbridge Johnson (MusicWeb)

“Post modern minimalist piano music by a contemporary classical composer as played by a piano man that seems to be in synch with the composer... this almost feels like classical music for high tech minds.” - Chris Spector (MidWest Record)

“Spanning 1985 to 1999, Crane's solo piano works cultivate a consistent style, easily pigeon-holed as minimal... Expanses of evenly voiced chords offer opportunities for subtlety, as with Prelude No. 3 's fade-away and the momentarily quickening pace in Blue Blue Blue.” - Grant Chu Covell (La Folia)