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The Panorama of Michael Finnissy (I)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2016

Ian Pace
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Extract

A Michael Finnissy work is like a journey from one point to another, along which there are any number of digressions off the ‘main path’, some of them extended. By the end of this journey, one realizes that the digressions were far more interesting than the conclusion: indeed the journey primarily served the purpose of enticingone into the space in question. As a ‘guide’ through the near 200 works that occupy Michael Finnissy's catalogue in the year of his 50th birthday, I shall take the liberty of constructing ‘paths’ of my own: after all, there are an infinite number of such paths, and though none will lead us through the oeuvre in its entirety, I wish to give some impression of the sheer scope and stimulation of Finnissy6s body of work.

Type
Research Article
Information
Tempo , Issue 196 , April 1996 , pp. 25 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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References

1 See, for example, the discussion of the Venusberg music from Tatmhauser in Adorno, T.W., In Search of Wagner, trans. Livingstone, Rodney (translation London 1981, German original 1952) pp.85–96 Google Scholar.

2 For a different view on this work see Barrett, Richard – ‘Michael Finnissy – An overview’ (the most thorough article on Finnissy to date) in Contemporary Music Review 1995, Vol.13 Part 1, pp.23–43, esp. p.36–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Williams, Lynne, ‘Reinstating “The Spiritual Quest”’ in the same issue, pp. 45–63 Google Scholar, which discusses the theatrical works of Finnissy; Williams, , ‘Finnissy's “Undivine Comedy”’, Opera vol.39 (1988)Google Scholar and Clements, Andrew, ‘Finnissy's “Undivine Comedy”’, Musical Times vol.129 (1988)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 I dislike using the term ‘complex’, or worse ‘New Complexity’, to describe Finnissy's work, because it implies disproportionate concentration on surface details, as well as the implied lineage from the Second Viennese School, then Darmstädt tradition. Ives, Sarie, Varéese, Nancarrow and Cage are of equal importance to Finnissy.

4 In the sense of Derrida's, Jacques work, especially in On Grammatology, trans. Spivak, G.C. (Baltimore, 1977, French original 1963)Google Scholar and Writing and Difference, trans. Bass, Alan (London 1978, original 1967)Google Scholar, fixing on binary oppositions to the point where each component is found to lead to the other, hence reversing/collapsing/deconstructing the opposition.

5 The first performance of this work was removed from the official Brighton Festival Programme because of fears of prosecution under the infamous Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, banning the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality.

6 For an analysis of the 1st and 7th Verdi Transcriptions, as well as the String Trio, and other interesting thoughts on Finnissy, see Toop, Richard – ‘Four Facets of the “New Complexity”’, Contact 32 (1988)Google Scholar.