Ferneyhough at 70

[Thropplenoggin]

I never bother, as you well know.

Grammar is for SATs tests......

I now anoint thee, Parse-i-fail.

[teamsaint]

Try this miniature (a 80th birthday tribute to Tippett) for string quartet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OFBrOEtCCg

You might like to read the youTube notes;

or it may be helpful to think of Act Three of La Boheme (where Marcello and Musetta have a right barney whilst Mimi and Rudolfo split up sorrowfully);

or you might just love the way the Music presents a combination of abrasive, sotto voce stabbing sounds with a lyrically keening melody. The composer balances the two strands so that the listener can follow either as s/he listens and/or let go and enjoy the ride as they interweave and comment on each other.

Thanks for that Ferney. The benefit of a miniature is certainly that you can get stuck in quickly.
The piece makes a lot more sense reading your last line thoughts, or the excellent tube notes.

[Pianoman]

Surely for his 70th he should be Composer of the Week..?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Surely for his 70th he should be Composer of the Week..?

YES!!!

Let's hope they garner their courage for his 75th - he's a great raconteur, and would be brilliant in conversation with DMcC.

[ahinton]

YES!!!

Let's hope they garner their courage for his 75th - he's a great raconteur, and would be brilliant in conversation with DMcC.

I wonder if they'll do their bit for David Matthews and Robin Holloway whose 70ths also fall this year (indeed, Matthews's, like Ferneyhough's, has already gone)? You'd think so, wouldn't you?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I wonder if they'll do their bit for David Matthews and Robin Holloway whose 70ths also fall this year (indeed, Matthews's, like Ferneyhough's, has already gone)? You'd think so, wouldn't you?

Indeed - and Robert Saxton is 60 this year, too: his Violin Concerto (written for Tasmin Little) deserves wider currency.

Something for Arthur Butterworth's 90th (in August) would be decent.

[ahinton]

Indeed - and Robert Saxton is 60 this year, too: his Violin Concerto (written for Tasmin Little) deserves wider currency.

Something for Arthur Butterworth's 90th (in August) would be decent.

My compatriots Stevenson and Musgrave clocked up 85 this year, too, but I've noticed no recognition of these events. All that said, it wouldn't surprise me if they do something for Howard Blake's 75th...

[french frank]

I wonder if they'll do their bit for David Matthews and Robin Holloway whose 70ths also fall this year (indeed, Matthews's, like Ferneyhough's, has already gone)? You'd think so, wouldn't you?

I thought I read somewhere that Holloway and Gavin Bryars would be so honoured, but can't now find the source. (Perhaps I misread?)

[ahinton]

I thought I read somewhere that Holloway and Gavin Bryars would be so honoured, but can't now find the source. (Perhaps I misread?)

Je ne sais pas. But surely all of these composers deserve a COTW?...

Curiously, Bryars and Ferneyhough were born on the same day...

[Orphical]

For those within travelling distance.
Intermedio alla ciaccona. Wigmore Hall, 16/10/13
SQ2. Wigmore Hall, 19/10/13
Exordium. Wigmore Hall, 23/1/14
SQ3. Barbican, 26/4/14
Sadly i think i can only make the Barbican day. Hopefully some of the Wigmore recitals will be broadcast.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Hopefully some of the Wigmore recitals will be broadcast.

I entirely share this sentiment - but I think it's "some hope"!

[teamsaint]

I entirely share this sentiment - but I think it's "some hope"!

If they aren't broadcast, would one of you mind videoing them on your phone, and posting on Youtube , please.
ta.


We need to think positive thoughts. Things can get better.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

If they aren't broadcast, would one of you mind videoing them on your phone, and posting on Youtube , please.
ta.


We need to think positive thoughts. Things can get better.

[Serial_Apologist]

Good interview of BF by Worby on the whole I thought - having approached it with a trepidation which in the event proved unwarranted. How difficult was and is it for the composer to reconcile the pre-determined and spontaneous aspects he spoke of, one might have liked to know? And whereabouts, if anywhere, does he situate his own development in music in this period? I seem to have got the "hang" of Ferneyhough's music at last: the early quartet we heard seemed to hark back to Schoenberg's late string trio, which seems more and more as time passes to signal new directions.

[DublinJimbo]

Try this miniature (a 80th birthday tribute to Tippett) for string quartet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OFBrOEtCCg

You might like to read the youTube notes;

or it may be helpful to think of Act Three of La Boheme (where Marcello and Musetta have a right barney whilst Mimi and Rudolfo split up sorrowfully);

or you might just love the way the Music presents a combination of abrasive, sotto voce stabbing sounds with a lyrically keening melody. The composer balances the two strands so that the listener can follow either as s/he listens and/or let go and enjoy the ride as they interweave and comment on each other.

I'm happy on any explanatory level. A good choice for a toe-in-the-water experience. Seeing the score pass by as the music plays is a nice touch (but I'm glad not to be either of the violinists asked to make sense of those notes).