H&n: 30/11/13 - hcmf 2

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Just flagging up last Saturday's edition - mostly from events at this year's Huddersfield Festival that I couldn't get to. Two works by featured composer Hector Parra, Haas' Seventh String Quartet and Ferneyhough's Quintet for microtonal Oboe and String Quartet, Schatten aus Wasser und Stein (Shadows made out of Water and Stone or Shadows made up of Water and Stone - in a pre-concert chat with Robert Worby, the composer briefly discussed the way the original German title evades exact translation; and said how much he enjoyed the rhythm of the original German syllables). All works (torn, as is the BBC's current wont, from their original programmes) UK premieres, the Ferneyhough a world first - Chris Redgate, Nic Hodges and the Arditti and Diotima Quartets share the honours.

Curiously, in a rare moment of Newspeak, Parra was described in the Festival Programme Book by Festival Director Graham McKenzie as "although undoubtably in the tradition of 'New Complexity', he is not afraid of melody" - as if Finnissy, Dillon et al have to hide behind their sofas and have nightmares whenever they hear You are the Sunshine of My Life! A particularly naff remark when one of the most striking features of the Ferneyhough work is a modal cantilena which appears first in the oboe towards the end - sounding more like something Warlock might have heard when he was writing The Curlew.

Well worth a visit to the i-Player:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03k0fw0/Hear_and_Now_Huddersfield_Contemporary_Music_Festival_2013_Episode_2/

[VodkaDilc]

Am I particularly dense - or should I be able to make sense of the heading to this thread? Having read the message itself I'm still none the wiser.

[Quarky]

Probably too much alcohol, VodkaDilc.

I have listened to this once, but will have to listen again, to get more out of it. The catalonian composer was interesting, and Ferneyhough's work and discussion also - but I wish I could hear microtones; semitones is as far as I get.

Not sure whether the bricolage work which so engaged SMP should be regarded as a serious musical work, at least not without seeing the whole of the work. Multimedia works are a bit of a problem for R3.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Am I particularly dense - or should I be able to make sense of the heading to this thread? Having read the message itself I'm still none the wiser.

Hear and Now, Saturday, 30th November, 2013: Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival - 2nd of five programmes.

[VodkaDilc]

Thanks. H&n followed by hcmf did tax my brain for a while.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks. H&n followed by hcmf did tax my brain for a while.

The lower case "n" was a typo - "hcmf//" is how the Festival now brands itself, and, for the life of me, I can't bring myself to add the"//"!

Some really good Music involved, though!

[MrGongGong]

HCMF is (as I discovered in a school once)
a rather unfortunate acronym with a wonderful festival

it's also (the also wonderful) Hungarian Computer Music Foundation (Bulls Blood and Unicum)
and the Hardcore Movie Forum

[Orphical]

Some recent items on You Tube recorded when Brian was in London

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=microtonal+oboe&sm=3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ie571VqbtE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5PcGKojfvc

I believe the full interview Brian did with Robert Worby at Huddersfield will be available on the School for Advanced Studies site but i don't have a link at this point. Worby brought out Ferneyhough's sense of humour which others so often fail to do I also attended London last week for performances of Ferneyhough's piano works and his second and sixth string Quartets played by Hodges and Arditti Quartet, sadly not recorded by BBC. Hodges has recorded the complete piano music (so far) and i believe cd of quartets recorded by Arditti's is imminent

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

HCMF is (as I discovered in a school once)
a rather unfortunate acronym ... the Hardcore Movie Forum

As I also discovered ... and via a school internet service, too!


(The same service that wouldn't let me access the Channel 4 play writing competition called ... "4 Play",)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Some recent items on You Tube recorded when Brian was in London

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=microtonal+oboe&sm=3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ie571VqbtE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5PcGKojfvc

Very many thanks for this, Orphical.

I believe the full interview Brian did with Robert Worby at Huddersfield will be available on the School for Advanced Studies site but i don't have a link at this point. Worby brought out Ferneyhough's sense of humour which others so often fail to do

It was good, wasn't it? Only 45minutes chat, but so much covered and with such good humour throughout. A pity there wasn't time for Q&As - I'd've loved to have followed up RW's (the other one!) comments on BF's handwritten scores of the past by asking him if he still produced visual art (and/or, for that matter, if he still wrote poetry).

I also attended London last week for performances of Ferneyhough's piano works and his second and sixth string Quartets played by Hodges and Arditti Quartet, sadly not recorded by BBC. Hodges has recorded the complete piano music (so far) and i believe cd of quartets recorded by Arditti's is imminent

The Hardcore Festival performance of Lemma-Icon_-Epigram is scheduled to be broadcast on 21st December. The new CDs are eagerly awaited in this part of the Pennines.

[Richard Barrett]

I presume, FHG (and others of course) you're aware of Lois Fitch's new book on Brian and his music. It's not cheap but it's absolutely worth acquiring. I heartily agree with the blurb writer on the book who said:

Lois Fitch's book swoops exhilaratingly between microscopic detail and epiphanic generalisation in the same kind of way that Ferneyhough's music itself draws the listener into doing. It demonstrates convincingly what is special about this body of work, and at the same time what can be familiar and situated in it, cutting through the tendency of much Ferneyhough criticism to ignore that the music is vital, expressive and (though never without qualification) even spontaneous. Those already familiar with it will surely find themselves being drawn back to listen again in the light of her research and insights; those who are new to it will I hope see the book as a helpful guide to its sometimes perplexing but always alluring landscapes.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I presume, FHG (and others of course) you're aware of Lois Fitch's new book on Brian and his music.

I believe it's being wrapped ready for a Christmas surprise for me even as we speak.

It's not cheap but it's absolutely worth acquiring.

Considering that many books on Music (from Ashgate and CUP, for instance) are on sale at £30 and more, I thought £20 for such a substantial work didn't seem at all bad.

I heartily agree with the blurb writer on the book who said:

Where do they get these people?

[Quarky]

Hector Parra - leaves of reality.

Fifth Dimension inspiration? It seems completely absurd that a composer should find something inspirational, which he quite clearly doesn't understand a word of. More importantly, he hadn't grasped the underlying concepts of an abstruse scientific theory. If I were Hector Parra, I would stick with apps on my smartphone.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

If I were Hector Parra, I would stick with apps on my smartphone.

You're not; he is; he doesn't.

[Richard Barrett]

Fifth Dimension inspiration? It seems completely absurd that a composer should find something inspirational, which he quite clearly doesn't understand a word of.

It wouldn't be the first time by any means, and it doesn't mean the music that results is necessarily the worse. But that kind of thing does annoy me too. As far as I'm concerned one of the fascinations of "extra-musical" inspirations (I put that in inverted commas because in a sense for a creative musician very little might be regarded as really "extra-musical"!) is that they create connections that the listener might then wish to investigate and contemplate. If doing so then reveals the music to make those connections in a superficial kind of way, then the whole experience can leave one quite disappointed. If on the other hand one finds that the connections go deeply through the music, on account of the creative musician having immersed him/herself in study of the ideas in question, rather than seeming to have done little more than reading (ahem) the blurb on the book cover, one's experience of the music as well as the ideas surrounding it can be enhanced. Or such is my conviction. I don't expect it to be widely shared of course.