Search - George Flynn :: Trinity

Three great massive piano granite like works

scarecrow | Chicago, Illinois United States | 12/19/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"At long last this massive work is under one roof, all in one place. Flynn has been writing the most important piano solo music since Charles Ives, and with a deep feeling and social perspective for the horrors of this century. The obvious tripartite division encompasses three large works all written at different periods in Flynn's life. Kanal,meaning sewer in reference to filmmaker Wajda's work on the Resistance fighters of Poland who lived in sewers, Wound, a reference to the permanent transgressiveness of America in Vietnam, and Salvage a closing reference, a coming to terms piece,resolving whatever can be resolved. Flynn's musical language is indeed original,dark,brilliant,virtuosic it may remind you of know one you know. It has at times a fever pitch intensity,usually arpeggiation,fistfulls of tones is a frequent player with nosedives into all the registers of the piano,never afraid of overtaxing the pianos roaring constitution. It is violent but serene. Flynn as in Kanal will often pause to reflect with more harmonious sounding intervals. And if you are looking for analytical material, intervals seems to guide Flynn's music, turning, and returning over passages,introverting the extroverted, like the shapes of different blades of grass. Texture as well is important to Flynn, texture can either clarify or question. This music is dense,but always with a global sense of direction,the music nevers takes off uncontrolled,as Cecil Taylor. Both however share an uncontrolled brilliance not quite a phantasmagoria in pure piano sonorities,probing textures, and sonorities,you think you've never heard before. Salvage I suspect was the most difficult piece to write,how does one resolve, the unresolvable? The Vietnam War brought this country to a place few would care to ponder an irrevocable place,no longer a sense of innocence,if simplemindedness was ever part of the American sense and vision of the world and its revered yet unsatisfied place in it. Salvage does bring this cold openness to a conclusion,but it is Salvage's sheer length that may have forced this resolution.All three works work quite well away from each other, and that's how you may desire to encounter them on first hearing. You need to live with these works as Flynn has, for Flynn has discovered workable solutions to long extended lengths,as well as forcing the piano to speak again where masters have reserved the symphony for such serious discourse."

Flynn's monster "Trinity"

pfailla | Queens, New York | 02/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"George Flynn's "Trinity" is a 20th century masterpiece of monstrous proportion, and certainly secures his place among the greats in the long-standing tradition of the composer/pianist. A virtuoso himself, Flynn's music demands a complete mastery of the instrument, as well as levels of physical and mental endurance that even the best of musicians would find hard to comprehend. Sweeping arpeggios, thick polyphonic textures, jilted rhythms, and massive chords all help to characterize this music, probably best labeled as neo-romantic in style. An unsurpassed level of density and violence is also achieved here (for example, "Wound" concludes with an all out assault on the instrument through a blinding array of arm and palm clusters-very cool effect!). This level of violence is juxtaposed with soft, beautiful, delicate passages that eventually help to resolve and transform the angry conflicts in to a state of trancendent grace. Amazingly, Flynn has managed to successfully develop a clear and solid formal structure that unifies this 93-minute bohemoth, and results in a powerfully emotional and intellectual journey for the listener. This recording also exhibits the composer's innovative and unique conception of the modern-day piano, which I find to be refreshing and generally quite rare. Having played and familiarized myself with some of Flynn's music, I find it to be extremely rewarding and consider him a potent force in American music today. I would strongly recommend this CD to all pianists, modern-music fans, or really anyone looking for something new and different."

Cosmic Blowtorch

Leane Roffey | San Antonio, TX USA | 08/08/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What hath Flynn wrought? No less than a Cosmic Blowtorch for the collective unconscious.



Trinity is more than three works of music. It is music on three levels. It is the only collective piece I have ever heard where the stillness, the notes, and the actual harmonics and overtones off the piano strings play off one another. The contrapuntal nature of the three strips away, micron by micron, layers of the self, immolating it in a kind of musical fire. As you listen, you are pulled in to alpha, deeper and deeper, until all that is left is the still point of conscious awareness. From that point, all that issue forth are the stories of the ego, expressed in the clusters of notes, raging harmonics, and brief breaths of quiet solitude, as it once again asserts itself in torrents of emotionalism punctuated by bits of rationality, only to burst into pieces against the cold light of reality. One sinks down further and further into chaos through Kanal, wanders in almost joyous misery in Wound, and emerges in Salvage, beaten down but none the worse for wear...only to start all over again telling stories, moving away from center. A clearer statement of the human condition I cannot imagine. It's hard to say if Trinity more resembles a Tibetian mandala or a children's coloring book.



When I listened to this piece this morning, I had settled into my favorite chair, in a long t-shirt and fuzzy socks, covered with fleecy blankets, basking in the aura of a cloudy rainy day in San Antonio (itself a rare event) and put on my headphones, not knowing what to expect. Within minutes, one of my cats was on my shoulder, in the crook of my arm, her head close to the earphone, purring. She purred all the way through Kanal, batting at my face with her right front paw. I don't think she heard any wrong notes.



Dr. Leane Roffey Line

San Antonio, TX

8/8/04"