Michael Finnissy
Alternative Readings; Botany Bay; Wisdom etc
Marsyas Trio, Lotte Betts-Dean, Joseph Havlat
Divine Art MEX77102 76:00 mins
As Michael Finnissy points out in the booklet notes, these compositions for voice (mostly) with small ensemble typify much of his as-yet sparsely recorded output, so this release (from a label that continues to serve the composer well) is particularly welcome.
Anyone nervous of the so-called New Complexity could do far worse than ease into this style via this recording, where the foregrounded element is Finnissy’s profound respect for language, its cadences, how it conveys meaning and the ways in which its interaction with music can be expressed in terms of tension and reconciliation (and sometimes, but not necessarily, of musical and/or emotional resolution). His empathetic settings of poetry, biblical passages and indigenous and folk music texts, all of which are represented here, result in songs that are effectively miniatures of musical theatre: don’t look to lieder here, so much as to Bergian Sprechstimme. The above are appropriately bracketed by two versions (one live and one studio) of the title composition, a trio instrumental that in some respects reflects the discourse of the vocal pieces (and whose provocative sequence of false endings would have made Haydn proud). A shorter work for trio, derived from the music of Hildegard of Bingen and further maintaining the interpenetration of vocal and instrumental elements, is neatly programmed as a mid-point.
The performers all give insightful performances, although mezzo Lotte Betts-Dean’s elegantly inflected delivery is particularly compelling. The recorded sound is both intimate and detailed. Roger Thomas