Brian Ferneyhough

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1 Biography
2 Works
- 2.1 Selected Works (with score samples from bmic)
3 Bibliography
4 References
5 External links

Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (born 16 January 1943 in Coventry) is an English composer.

Ferneyhough was awarded the Mendelssohn Scholarship in 1968 and moved to Europe to study with Ton de Leeuw in Amsterdam, and later with Klaus Huber in Basel. As of 1999, he is William H. Bonsall Professor in Music at Stanford University.

Ferneyhough became closely associated with the so-called New Complexity school of composition, characterised by its extension of the modernist tendency towards formalisation (particularly as in integral serialism). Ferneyhough's actual compositional approach, however, rejects serialism and other "generative" methods of composing; he prefers instead to use systems only to create material and formal constraints, while their realisation appears to be more spontaneous. Unlike many more formally-inclined composers, Ferneyhough often speaks of his music as being about creating energy and excitement rather than embodying an abstract schema.

His scores make huge technical demands on performers -- sometimes, as in the case of Unity Capsule for solo flute, creating parts that are so detailed they are likely impossible to realise completely. Contrary to the widespread belief that Ferneyhough is merely attempting to tie down interpretative possibilities by stipulating everything with such precision, the purpose here is to give the performer creative freedom in deciding which aspects to focus on, which elements may be omitted and so on. As he acknowledges, numerous performers have refused to take his works into their repertoire because of the great commitment required to learn them and a perception that similar effects can be achieved through improvisation. The compositions have, however, attracted a number of advocates, among them the Arditti Quartet, the members of the Nieuw Ensemble, and EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble.

One of his latest works, an opera, Shadowtime, with a libretto by Charles Bernstein, and based on the life of the German philosopher Walter Benjamin, was premiered in Munich on 25th May 2004, and recorded in 2005 for CD release in 2006.

Ferneyhough was the recipient of the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize 2007 for lifetime achievement.

List of works at Ferneyhough's publisher: Edition Peters (incl. Downloadable pdf list of works, and Works-link)

Works available at the British Music Information Centre (bmic) (includes score samples)

Carceri d'Invenzione I for fl,ob,2cl,bn, hn,tpt,trb,tuba, 1perc, pf, 2vn,va,vc,db [1121, 1111.2111] (1982) (score sample)
Kurze Schatten II for solo guitar (1989) (info) (score sample)
Bone Alphabet for solo percussion (1991) (score sample)
Allgebrah for Oboe and 9 Solo Strings (1996) (score sample)
Unsichtbare Farben for Violin (1999) (score sample)
The Doctrine of Similarity for Chorus (SATB), 3 Clarinets, Violin, Piano and Percussion (2000) (score sample)

A volume of Ferneyhough's articles and interviews has been collected which, despite his sometimes obfuscatory style, is invaluable in understanding his very dense, initially inaccessible works.

James Boros and Richard Toop, editors: The Collected Writings of Brian Ferneyhough Publisher: Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1995
Brian Ferneyhough: Brian Ferneyhough by Brian Ferneyhough Publisher: Paris : L'Age d'homme OCLC: 21274317 (French)