Michael Finnissy (1946-)
Gershwin Arrangements
More Gershwin

Lukas Huisman, piano

Michael Finissy a grandi en écoutant les enregistrements des chansons de Gershwin interprétées par Fred Astaire, Judy Garland ou Ella Fitzgerald. Il eu par la suite l’occasion de jouer ce répertoire au cours de sa carrière. C’est donc tout naturellement qu’il en vint à proposer les titres constituant cet album réarrangés à sa manière. Les « Gershwin arrangements » furent écrits durant les années 1975-88 et « More Gershwin » en 1989-90. Chaque pièce est une véritable recomposition originale. Si le jazz a fait des titres de Gershwin des standards, c’est ici la musique classique qui s’en empare nous les faisant redécouvrir sous un éclairage totalement nouveau. On y reconnait le thème énoncé, retravaillé, déstructuré, accompagné d’harmonies inédites et modernes. Ici des teintes jazzy ou de ballade populaire américaine renouent avec le style de la chanson d’origine, là une écriture complexe aux lignes polyphoniques savamment orchestrées entraînent l’auditeur au sein d’une œuvre tout à fait particulière fusionnant parfaitement le matériau de base, celui de Gershwin, à l’esthétique contemporaine de Finissy. L’ensemble est intéressant. On se laisse surprendre par cet album portant un regard original sur ce répertoire. Il faudra néanmoins apprécier l’œuvre sur la durée. (Laurent Mineau)

While Michael Finnissy, born in 1946, has become known as one of the UK’s most original voices, he began his career pursuing the dual career of a pianist and composer. As a performer he was associated with the virtuoso solo repertory, and Finnissy’s own creative development has been punctuated by significant piano works. The epic ninemovement solo cycle of English Country-Tunes (1977) established Finnissy internationally as a voice of originality and distinction. The History of Photography in Sound (1995–2001) is his magnum opus, lasting five-and-a-half hours, but hardly less important are his substantial contributions to the art of piano transcription inherited from the 19th century: the Verdi Transcriptions (1972–2005), and hisbittersweet sets of Gershwin Arrangements (1975–88) and More Gershwin (1989-90). Finnissy’s near-encyclopedic knowledge of art music, as well as many other genres such as blues and jazz, allows him to pay affectionate homage to the object of his consideration, before raising the threat of its distortion and corruption. For this new recording, Lukas Huisman’s own illuminating booklet essay identifies the ‘friction’ at the heart of Finnissy’s Gershwin: a combining of styles ‘in which both vocabularies flourish’, jazz modernism. In most cases Gershwin’s famous melodies are, without serious alterations, recontextualized. The arrangements are rich and detailed with and a polyphonic web that is filled with layers of meaning.The results are consistently tense, funny and charming all at once. The composer himself has explained: ‘Tempo and harmony change from fast to slow, light to dark, and vice versa. Forceful sentiments become quite docile. Unbridled joy turns to melancholy. Blithe security is transformed into tense and upsetting ambiguity. Naïve grows cynical. Day changes into night, and girls become boys.’ Lukas Huisman is one of Belgium's foremost pianists specializing in unusual and often contemporary repertoire. His complete recording of the piano output by Toru Takemitu (PCL10147) has won international acclaim, including a 5* review on WDR3, 4* review in BBC Music Magazine, and was nominated for the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.