Hayes, Morgan: Five Distressed Surfaces for Piano

1st perf (1, 3 and 4): Ian Pace, Cheltenham Town Hall, 16 November 1998 (Cheltenham Contemporary Concerts Series).
1st perf (2): Michael Finnissy, Small Hall, Union of Composers, Moscow, 28 November 1997.
1st perf (5): Joanna MacGregor, Young Composers’ Award Workshop, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, 27 November 1991
1st broadcast perf (5): Michael Finnissy, Sofia New Music Festival, October 1996 (Radio Bulgaria)

The presence of a major new composer on the musical scene was signalled by the première of Morgan Hayes’ Viscid at the 1997 Park Lane Group Young Artists Concert Series. Critics responded warmly to its colour, vitality, and strong individuality. The same qualities are found in Five Distressed Surfaces, a collection of fascinating character studies that also reflect the composer’s skills as a pianist and improvisor. Though not intended to be played as a suite, the individual pieces are linked by a concern with visual, plastic and even tactile sources of inspiration, and by a quietly disruptive humour.

… Morgan Hayes’ piano works, Flaking Yellow Stucco and Le Lardon, were elegantly explosive in [Stephen] Gutman’s performances.