Vocal Works

The voice has a central place in Michael Finnissy's output. His is an art of line, of connective lyric movement spun out over a breath; it is also a deeply humanist art, an art in ardent search of human connection, of which the voice, reaching out from the depths of the body into the world around us, is the primal vehicle. Finnissy's work manifests across the decades an abiding concern with the complex nature of this most bodily, most physical, most personal of instruments- what it is to give voice, to vocalize, to speak or sing in different contexts and different ways, private or public, as an individual or as part of a collective. The four works on this recording, spanning forty years, show Finnissian vocality at it's most blazingly intense: displays of virtuosity that push mind and body to the limits of their flexibility, reach, stamina and control.