Interviews and Ramblings

Given how frequently Michael Finnissy changes focus and direction as a composer, this interview – conducted in Huddersfield on 22 November 2006 – is probably best seen as a snapshot of his thinking on that particular day, rather than as a permanent compositional manifesto. I spoke to Michael on the eve of the first performance of his Whitman for voice and piano, and as he was starting work on his Second String Quartet for the Kreutzer Quartet. I particularly appreciate the spontaneity and candour of his replies in this interview.

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At the 2006 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, veteran pianist John Tilbury performed many of Morton Feldman’s works for piano and strings with members of the Smith Quartet. John was too busy with rehearsals to be interviewed while the Festival was on, but I arranged to interview him at his home in Deal, Kent, a few days later, on 30 November. He talks about his work with Feldman, and with Cornelius Cardew (whose biography he wrote) and about his interpretations of Feldman's notation. This interview is also available at Chris Villars' extensive Morton Feldman website

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This interview, conducted via telephone on 11 February 2003 is a companion interview to the one with Brian Ferneyhough. Bernstein wrote the verbal text for Ferneyhough's opera – or rather, "scenic representation" – Shadowtime, which was premiered in 2004, but he was, of course, already firmly established as a poet in his own right as a prominent member of the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E group. This interview and the one with Ferneyhough appeared in much-edited form in a programme I made for RNZ Concert about Ferneyhough's music, which was broadcast in October 2003.

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