Michael Finnissy: Gershwin
Nicolas Hodges (piano)
…these are essentially reimaginings of some of Gershwin's best-known songs in piano-transcription form. Finnissy has performed subtle surgery on the original material… there are shifts of emphasis,...
Michael Finnissy: Gershwin
Nicolas Hodges (piano)
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…these are essentially reimaginings of some of Gershwin's best-known songs in piano-transcription form. Finnissy has performed subtle surgery on the original material… there are shifts of emphasis,...
About
Michael Finnissy has been described as “one of the most original composers of our day” and his approach to Gershwin is a good example of his originality. These are not just transcriptions, they are re-workings of Gershwin’s ideas to suit scenarios and emotions remote from their original intention. The originals vividly evoke America in the 1920s and pre-war era. Through the spectrum of modernism,the melodies while still recognisable are seen “through a distorting lens”, tempos and harmony are exchanged, the blithe becomes tense, moods are reversed.
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Awards and reviews
November 2004
…these are essentially reimaginings of some of Gershwin's best-known songs in piano-transcription form. Finnissy has performed subtle surgery on the original material… there are shifts of emphasis, transformations of mood and overt structural reinventions, all of which come together to produce a unique perspective on the tunes themselves.
...fun, humour, seriousness, power and an anguished poignancy, all of which Nicolas Hodges unfailingly projects in pianism of admirable clarity and sharply etched perfection
in these remarkable Gershwin arrangements Finnissy pays homage to the song transcriptions of Godowsky and others, but from his very personal avant-garde standpoint as “one of the most original composers of our day"
