June 2000Etched bright with sunlight - Michael Finnissy
World Premiere, Steyning, 6th May 2000
Etched bright with sunlight
is a stunning piano piece by Steyning composer Michael Finnissy, the final chapter in The History of Photography in Sound
, a large scale cycle of pieces for solo piano. It was commissioned by Steyning Music Society for Steyning 2000 with assistance from Southeast Arts and Horsham District Council.
The piece was given a world premiere performance by acclaimed pianist Nicolas Hodges in Steyning on 6th May 2000 at a Steyning Music Society concert in collaboration with Steyning Camera Club. With Nicolas on the Steinway grand piano and images 20ft wide in a steady and carefully choreographed stream, the performance was a stunning audio-visual theatre for the 200 seat audience.
Michael Finnissy himself, with Gary Prior from Steyning Music Society, conceived the idea of accompanying the recital with images to reflect both the conception and the emotion of the music, and to create a theatrical atmosphere in the auditorium. This resulted in an eighteen month collaborative project with members of Steyning Camera Club. The visual content was produced and choreographed by Ken Scott and featured not only Ken's work but also seven other members in a richly-varied programme.
Michael Finnissy - connecting Music and Photography
Michael Finnissy in describing Etched bright with sunlight
uses the word photography to question 'music' (sound) as Art, as distinct from the 'truth' of life - as 'photographed (chosen and captured) ..... Music defining itself as humble (and instant) photography, rather than ostentatious (and laboured) painting.
He draws on works by other composers, adding his own flavours to create a new whole in his own sound, and describes the result as a sound equivalent to holiday-snaps or any other scraps of life
. In other words he has created a collection of random memories captured (from other musical works) rather like we capture memories with the lens.
Photography has had a major influence on Michael Finnissy. His father was a professional photographer and Michael vividly remembers accompanying his father on numerous trips to record the rebuilding of bomb-damaged London.
The Trials of Live A/V - Thoughts by Ken Scott
Audio-visual enthusiasts using projection of colour slides will know the various ways to achieve synchronisation with a piece of music, the most common being direct synch from a pulse on a tape track. You will also be familiar with the idea of assembling a sequence of slides to a piece of music, or finding a piece to work with the slides.
Imagine then starting to work when the music doesn't exist! I began to work with Michael Finnissy when Etched bright with sunlight
was just a title and ideas, ideas of images and moods that evolved and changed significantly during the process of composition. Not until the piece was finished and put to tape eight weeks before the premiere was I able to finalise my own ideas and selection of the images.
Tape synch was naturally not an option since the piece was to be performed live (as it happens, 'live' synch is my favoured method when A/V-ing to tape), but a further complication was that my rehearsal tape was played by Michael, and the real piece was to be played by Nic Hodges, a premiere before an expectant audience, with adrenalin and no little pressure. Rehearsals were private, timed to the (few) seconds, and the music 'etched' onto my memory.
The afternoon of the premiere was our first opportunity to rehearse with Nic. With timings in the dry-run and the actual performance varying from the rehearsal tape by two minutes in either direction, my knowledge of the piece and its intricacies became the only security. I had to be totally involved in every image, every nuance and change in the music; this was my 'live' performance too.
The piece ends as it starts with stunning suddenness, coinciding with blackness from the screen and silence. Several seconds passed before the huge and spontaneous reaction. A fantastic moment and one which I shall always remember.
A/V to tape will never quite seem the same after Etched bright ...
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