Folklore, Section 2, for Sir Michael Tippett (1993-1994) by Michael Finnissy "Folklore. Gramsci's imperative to compile an inventory of the 'infinity of traces' that historical processes leave on 'the self'. Folklore - a distant memory, an assemblage, a critical elaboration, an opposition of conjunctions, an open-ended investigation, a palimpsest, a self-portrait. Folklore. Inherent attitudes. Pretension - the piano (a 'respectable' Victorian mantleshelf, spineless and domesticated) - Grieg (from childhood), another vision of Arcadia (cowherds, and peasants dancing); Grieg's influence on Percy Grainger (dismissed by some as a wayward amateur dishing up folk-tunes for the parlour), Grieg's harmonic innovations (impact on Debussy), John Cage (Grieg was more interesting than the others). What else do I remember? Folklore. England: insular and conservative, institutionalized - de-spiritualized, tawdry and corrupt. Transforming 'angry young men' into embittered, cynical "couch-potatoes'. Rendering artists impotent through mockery and stereotyping (what is there to be afraid of?). Politics: Capitalism. A free country in which censorship is universally rife. Hypocrisy. Bigotry. The cheap laugh. Cardew, Orton, Jarman. 'Deep (Tippett) River'. Heads fall and are swept under the carpet. Nothing behind the eyes. Imperialism is served. Folklore. Travel broadens the mind. (Food broadens the stomach). White men belittle Aboriginals (a member of the music-faculty at Melbourne Uni. asked why I was interested in 'primitive trash'. Do I declare an interest in 'symbols of oppression'?) Power. The Archaeology of Knowledge. Levi-Strauss, Foucault. Diversity - or the world-culture (e.g. modernism)? Folklore. Untidy - insufficiently selective. Art/editing/Experience (skill, in itself, potentially obscures icon/essence). A simulacrum. Evocation becomes Provocation." — Michael Finnissy Live performance recording Piano: Eve Egoyan Producer: David Jaeger Glenn Gould Studio, Toronto, Canada https://eveegoyan.bandcamp.com/track/folklore-ii-by-michael-finnissy-performed-by-eve-egoyan-live-concert-recording http://eveegoyan.com/ ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp0VvjxJc0M

Niccolò Castiglioni's Inizio di Movimento for piano piano - Alfonso Alberti ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGMQPrR9GPM