Brian Ferneyhough and the 'Avant-Garde Experience' - Benjamin Tropes in 'Funerailles'

Perspectives of New Music Brian Ferneyhough and the "Avant-Garde Experience": Benjaminian Tropes in "Funérailles" Author(s): Peter Rosser Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 48, No. 2 (SUMMER 2010), pp. 114-151 Published by: Perspectives of New Music Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23076968 Accessed: 20-10-2015 01:48 UTC

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Brian Ferneyhough and the Experience": "Avant-Garde Tropes Beniaminian in Funérailles

Peter

We have long

forgotten

when

it is under

vated

perverse

were

interred

curiosities

assault

the ritual by which and enemy

antiquities and

Rosser

do

sacrificed

lies there below,

bombs

the house

of our life was erected.

are already taking their toll, what ener

they not lay bare in the foundations. amid

where

magic

But

incantations,

the deepest

what

horrible

shafts are reserved

What

things

cabinet

of

for what is most

commonplace. —Walter

Benjamin,

One-Way

Street1

impression of Walter Benjamin's thought on the continuing THE artistic career of Brian Ferneyhough is both easily defined and ambiguous. The composer has signalled his indebtedness in overt ways,

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Benjaminian

in

work

titles

tional

and

concepts, most

productive, time

is

a

the

explication

of

pre-compositional

immersion

in

Benjamin's

that

to

relating

in

and the

this

poser

made

and

music, sophical, common

for

the

the

Shadowtime, between tive

words

confines

of and

literary of

a

the

Over

the

piece

consists

then

a

that

of the

immediately

incentive

enough

defining

moment

many

to

of the

notation, of

score

was

and

come

from

wake

of

Studies

both

the

the

(1971-77),

look

be

nineteenth

and

the of

periods

less

clearly

century torture

be

twice

also

in

occurs

Funérailles the

Webern-inspired

and

a

and

Time

the

detail,

time

the when

conventions

structure

as

style

to

material, at

a

forgotten

Ferneyhough

the

at a of

is often

of

in

itself

beginnings

emerge

of

indepen is

attention

layers

earlier.

played

It

be

circumstances

take,

What

of the

no

and to

undertaken

the

detected.

chambers

expansive

ritual,

piece.

when

of musical and

instance,

this

double

at the

The

output.

first

to

a

Funérailles,

of

was

with

experimenting

the

affec

from

the

under

microscopic

multiple

ideas

in

is

this

irrationals—all

psychological

are

composer's

but

version

characteristics

with

re-engaging

first,

stutter,

can

the

nested

parallels

protean

that

version

therefore,

today—the

proliferation Ferneyhough

as the

composer

defining

in

projection

wrote

the

of a ritual,

a closer

tradition

idiosyncratic

in

rewritten

Neither

the

as

and

emerge

more

Ferneyhough

Funérailles,

take for

and

retrospective

pieces

pieces.

text,

adapted

can

earlier,

onto

unique a

This

understood

commonly

Brian

remains

it.

with

rapprochement

and

non-musical

results.

greater

career.

Ferneyhough's

is that

the

course,

for their

symbolism

composer

onto

philo of

is,

transparent

But

hand.

It

or

in

concert

of

writing

source most

com

of writing

with

understood;

easily

activity,

following

The

its

representation

same

Franco

long-standing

context

the

presentation,

in the

performed

explain

in which

1969-80

period

the

the

decades

comparison

influences

yields

further

dently.

ways

artistic

structure

at

are

discipline

often

the

decisions

four

intellectual primary

is

philosophical

associative,

on

practices.

invoke

of

music

are

composer's

twofold

to

setting

and

suicide

than

can

of providing

method

word-setting

more

compositional

composers or

on

of biographical

compaction

structural

of

impression

and

treatment

in 2004.

premiered commentary

and

days

deeper-level course

far this

as a means

expression In

how

and

been

Shadow

The ambiguity, however, resides in the depth

the

intellectual

opera

has

writings

musico-literary

final

and

"thought-opera"2

Bernstein

a quasi-narrative

the

over

on

a

writer's

on

impression has

full-length

Charles

creates

Spanish border in 1940. of

the

librettist

of Benjamin

thoughts detail

work

I 15

his

notably

with

produced

This

in and

in Funérailles

Tropes

of

the that

gesture comes and textural

in the Motion essay

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I I6

of New

Perspectives

Sonatas

for

String

works

symbolist

as

At

(1967).

Quartet

such

Transit

Music

this time and

(1972-75)

La

the

terre

large-scale

est un

homme

(1976-79) give way to a more refined, formally rhetorical model, first seen in the Second String Quartet (1980).3 The soi-disant Benjamin and Kurze Shatten II (1985-88), (1981) pieces, Lemma-Icon-Epigram soon

appear sudden

afterwards.

change

career

when in

also

of

Benjaminian

and,

In Walter

imminent

be

absorbed

on

true

case

of

Elective

after

active

therefore

the

immediate

Europe. problematic

the

way

For

Ferneyhough, in

the even

(nor

eighteen

years

a route

around

the

musical

avant-garde

spection

...

anathema of western

there

as

as

composer with

of

to)

neunzehnhundert, to

yet

the

then

remains

of and

he

translated

moved

and

music

it—of

had

behind his

1945 1970s.

no

formal

before

he

of the

need

was for

of

thinking

Stockhausen's

western

demarcated

of

early

had

progressivist

in staying

central more

rasa

who

it.

to

altogether

understanding

saw

The

generation,

1960s

émigré

and

negligible

composers.

tabula

late

early

of

away from the responsibility

society

be

considered

an

contemporary

an

Utopian he

to Ferneyhough, cultural

young

high-modernist

was

radically

to

yet

Benjamin's

Ferneyhough's

saddled

Coventry-born

his move

continuum—such

for

the

exposure

of age,

be

reserved

activism

political

can

generation

was as

and

post-war the

year

avant-garde to

limited

generation

gave

training

the

1968,

This

figure, date

um had

of with

dealing

in Frankfurt of Gesammelte Schriften was still in progress. The influence of

was

Benjamin

was

this

Kindheit

edition

Verso

melancholic

Affinities

the

musical

1950s.

the

writings, At

is

Ferneyhough

the

to

world.

It distinctly

European

during

other

Berliner

Goethe's

several

within (or against)

central

marginal,

intellectual

was

of

impact

and

Ferneyhough's

unavoidable.

of

introduction

Street

reminiscences,

writings

the

and

individuate

ageing

her

English and publication (seven volumes, 1972-1989)

these

to

of Darmstadt

in

into

in

come

a saturnine, the

by

essay

only

its

exposure,

in

introduction

already out

double time

necessary

the

would

One-Way

subject:

biographical the

see

Sontag,

Benjamin's

an

and

that

emerged

Susan

1979,

we

arguably,

that

avant-garde

deemed

its

stylistically, and intellectually

philosophically, established

was

that

tropes

the

represents

a retreading

Funérailles

with

Funérailles,

tack,

the

"intra

of reifying the

consciousness"4 to attend

was

to the

ruins

boundaries.

project's

Benjamin is equally preoccupied by ruins. The critic philosopher, afflicted with "Saturnine acedia," moves slowly through a world not of personal relationships (he is always a lonely figure) but of Sontag's

burdensome

things.

history laying

He

around

is

doomed

to

bear

witness

him in the shockingly

real

to

debris

of

"now-time"

the

or

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Benjaminian

in Funérailles

Tropes

I 17

Jetztzeit: If this

melancholy

reason

to

—which

be

appear,

Both

the

jamin

the

ideas

(by

antiques,

of

in his

incidental

nourished of

forces:

competing of

(dialectical)

does

at the

and

noise

limits

of

this

weave

On

close

and the

sustainability towards

excerpt

is pulled

132,

in

of sure

surface,

him

pushed that

pre

and

lost,

the

the

kitsch And mix

potent

of

wide-eyed

is shot

through

particles

and

details.

spark

atomic

contradictions

and

with

quasi

126)

uniformly al

asenza

by the

global

downwards

gradually

to by

"less way

of

at

a decrescendo to

is a mapping and

a long

9/8

of

extend

^>=36

the

end

(al

niente),

the

is also in

tempo

general

to

on

disguised,

previously,

in a

inaudibility,

questions

variously

real.

exists

1)

(conducted)

JW30"

are

gestures

force

from, than

movimento,"

instrumentalists),

The

and Time,

The

and

to

correspond

similarities

(Example

audibility

fragile

execution.

the 2

timbre.

ranges

states.

impulses

Version

between

instruments'

bar. The last measure markings

of

of the

anagrams. a

ponderous,

at least,

of Funérailles

extreme

measure

moving

marking

and

offers

of incompatible

the

of controlled

pushed desolato

that

the

(witnessing)

coupled

studies

marginalia,

books,

small

out

arcades

thought

loved

infinite

these

fetishism;

His

microscopic,

the

of

churns

work.

attitudes

slow-moving,

liminal state, on the border the

and

or has

past

collectors.5

of

emblem

codes, traits

a ruin

whose

traits

He

martyrdom

music?

music

pitch

the

that

perceive

commercial

school

thinking.

energy

life's

and

generalize

present

personal

obscure,

to

and

the

to

energies.

closely

Ferneyhough's The

the

and

by

his these

teeming

Despondency

his

The

a never-ending

incessant,

How

fuelled

languages,

combination

whose

and

neo-Kantian

time.

secret

souvenirs,

shock

dictated

Benjamin

everything

world

decoders,

Surrealism

the

dominated

and

obsolete,

were

century outside

A

collectible.

Ben

ruins)

was

make

. . .

which

things.

of ruins;

era

custodians,

drama,

as

of Surrealism cult

ruins.

with

(emblems,

things

modern

good things

or

fragments

reality

of

baroque

temperament

nineteenth

the

the

invites

baroque

see

genius

of the

definition)

Benjamin's

the

The

of

it has

people,

sensibilities

a world

therefore

become

always

as

energies

instant

form

identified,

....

fragment—and

the

to

in accumulating

lies

Fidelity

Surrealism,

candour

nihilistic

German

in

and

baroque

ebullient

the

things.

mostly,

profoundly

spatialized with

to

baroque

describes

is faithless

temperament

faithful

this

(marked

of

measure and

pause

the final

of empty time (empty at least of uncovers

at the

end

of the

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piece

I I8

a view

of the

taken is

durational The

place.

that

ponderous

tempi

a book.

Gesture

is followed

durational

units

detailed

The

tremolo.

of

process

harp

In

the

last

different.

The

does

exist

not

final

figures with

the

In

although the

of

the

performance,

of a materially of

generated

Version

in

impulses

that

a state

musical

measured

of temperament

Contiguity

by

I couldn't Cluny

But

in the with

metered

and

2

held

activity and,

between

the

tremolo

not

compare

bars

two

of Version

versions

are

comparing

of

the

music's

profile

needs

and the

not

for a further

to

be

barline; dispelled time

can

is usefully

composer above

layer

gestural

real

subsequently,

writer

of

suddenly,

do

need

that

time

with

closing

by the

the very

seconds

begins

and

transforms

time

the

a

2) is

"nine

place

neurotic

2

(Example

Funérailles (especially of Version 2) with Benjamin's 1926 to his friend Gershom Scholem:

ter.

and

are

execution

measured

the

be brought into sharper relief. underlined

glissando

quartet

1

textural

yielded the

of energised

and

piece

processes

Version

upon

Version

artificial

1 tails off gradually towards its final double

2 creates

order

but

on

the

by

the

takes

remain

results

order,

of

petrifying

out

string

but

1 while

impressed

sonic

different

weight. Version in

detail

then

microscopically

of

Version

movement

lines,

upper

rhythmical

and

transformation.

simultaneously a clock-time

these

of

closing

slowly

way,

of

rapid

the

of

durational

identical,

Version

The

reintroduction

scope

tutti

and

measures.

by stasis

picked

tactile

timbrai

(interestingly, initiates

and

sfap),

and

Funérailles

measure

four

staves,

related

are

the

surface

accompanying

of

by last

auditory

intrusive

materials

motionlessness,"

three

nuanced

measures

and

active

the

distantly

on

time,

Temporal

page

then

into

fluctuating

132

upon

the

creates

slowly

previous page

the

an

top

the

out

concentration

structures

is

an

and

leaf;

complete,

beyond in

playing

the

Overlaying

the

projecting smeared,

effectively

is

(measures) in

by

but

dissolves

clock-time.

the

has

activity signature,

time

from

measured

by

piece time.

movement

harmonics,

close

the

societal

normalised,

itself over

is a double

words,

when

measured

through

operating

in other

gestural a time

pause-marking,

as

wiped

ending,

ultimately,

fermata

detaching

been

the

commands

ambiguity

thereby

effectively

a

Music

which

upon

measure

with

of

moment

has

the

marked

motionlessness, flow

apparatus

fact

nonetheless

necessary

2.

of New

Perspectives

extracts

from

letter of May 29,

build a Lilliputian state with this, as it were, Marxist let let

me

I have

little

more

speed

your

tell

you

discovered half

than visit

to

the

that

in

the

Book

of

of

this

size

the

Jewish Esther one.

section

of

written That

the on

should

Musée

a page perhaps

Paris.6

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a

Benjaminian

EXAMPLE

1 : FERNEYHOUGH,

I 19

in Funérailles

Tropes

VERSION

FUNÉRAILLES,

2, CLOSING

MEASURES

Reprintedbykindpermissionof PetersEditionLimited

Scholem's him which

. . . the

Musée

kindred

soul

a

the

had

where

visit,

subsequent to

Cluny

him

show

inscribed

the

"Benjamin

'two

dragged of

grains Shema

complete

wheat

on is

Israel,'"7

fantastical.

equally

the

Why small of

of

telling

to

need

motives.

For

because

refugee

for

For

spaces?

one,

concealed,

For

is so

meaning—its

it is

and

of

being

the

for

necessity And

made

reduced

and

of miniaturisation

portable.

ultimately

grotesquely tininess

process

borne things

materials

of

compression this

it makes

dislocated, what

this

Sontag,

is,

the

portable

into

gestures has

a number

wanderer things

or

the

can

be

useless:

in

outstanding

a sense, thing

liberated about

from it.

It

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is

I 20

of New

Perspectives

EXAMPLE

2:

FERNEYHOUGH,

Music

VERSION

FUNÉRAILLES,

1, CLOSING

MEASURES

Reprintedbykindpermissionof PetersEditionLimited

both

whole

and

is, complete)

(that

a fragment

(so

tiny,

the

wrong

scale).8 This underlines two tendencies the

first

is

fine

very

towards

between

and

beyond

elevate

the

the

micronisation, the

particles;

micro-logical, ships

shared by Ferneyhough

second

the

understanding

the

smallest

process. practice

belongs

of things.

Processual of

and

breaking to

what

utilisation Both

pattern-making

up

on

a

of

material

refers

Sontag

to

structural

tendencies

philosophies

and Benjamin:

of

(and

are

the

relation

ways

through

musical

increasingly

into as

forms)

large

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and

Benjaminian

increasingly

expense

Benjamin larger

formal

ethics

revolutionary

detailed

of

involves

Thinking well.

not

Where

with

This

into

political

the

Benjamin

of History."

detail extent

slows

that

are

of

the

concrete, a

given

but

thoughts, in

stops

a

their

new

arrest

configuration a shock,

configuration

for

needed

preg

by which

it

to

comprehension

enable

but

indeed

the

"the

of time

and

from

time,

decoupled

radical,

this

of

of

for

its

they

enhances

only

revolutionary,

replacement

world

monad

free-floating

consequential;

A

with

protean,

become

than

immanence. is

the

Ideas

(metaphor)

the

thing-like,

rather

contingent

methodology

an

of

type

that

smallest

such

unseen

flow

that

and

environs:

temporal

implications

historical

meaning

otherwise

suddenly

interpretation.

become

the

it gives

for

major

the to

at the

the

a monad.9

predilection hold

on

the

to

inhabit

ultimately

microgesture

on the Philosophy

down

only

details

the

belongs

artists

time

thinking

tensions,

crystallizes

their

of

of their

outside

permanence

The

both

121

smallest

elevate

devices.

concentration flow

extractions

physical

will

the

Ferneyhough

that

of

of the

perception

nant

make

most directly in his "Theses

intensity

as

and

and

of

The

scales

global

immaterial.

in Funérailles

Tropes

linguistic

transference

universal

and

of

integral

actualities."10 In this materialist historiography, outlined in Benjamin's early work The Origin of German Tragic Drama, image {Bild) takes over

precedence

action

metaphor,

over

and

contemplation,

over

body

intellect.11 continuous

Ferneyhough's career

marks

his

writer's

"struggle

struggle

that

an

explosive,

existed

to

saw

self-destructive

Central

to

Benjamin's

of

time The

denied.

roundly

opportunities number

now" to

progress

passage

was

powerful for

able

to

effect

life

of

This

that

of

the

of time,

which

he

tensions

was

affective

the

witness. philo presence,

towards

progression

that

and

Enlightenment its

is a

formulated

historicisms to

in the

perfect

or uniform, historical time-line was Replacing "past and present" with fragment and Out

in

modern."12

out

a critique

of a preordained

intervention. notions:

model

actuality

by Benjamin. he

of radical

was

the

the

inherent

of thinking

teleological

modern

a neutral,

through

rejected

and

which

of

a type

or

project

in

concerns

advent

dialectical

and

sophies

"then

and

progressivist

ibility and

the advance

between

destructive

was

maintain

his

throughout

Benjamin

to philosophical

Benjamin

dynamic

of

referencing

commitment

the thus,

of

particular,

this that

illusion

of continuity to

importantly, destructive retardation,

topos

and create came

interruption

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a

I 22

and

were

fragmentation

that

in

the

as

therein) ized.

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time

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ruption."13

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out

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thinking

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Michael

theatre

most

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spectralist

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sound

1990s:

the

through a type

New

towards

negotiable

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Benjamin

sensibilities.

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and

politically

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and

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banner

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under

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modernistic

as the

these

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Dillon

James

of

with

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proximity

in

experience."15

of Ferneyhough

reading

his antique

point

materialist

the

within

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composers

vantage

pronounced.

philosophy.

1990s

came

becomes, For

twentieth-century

superficial

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early

away

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described

"avant-garde

Benjamin

inter

a move

thinking

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destructive.

natural by

experience"14—a

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historicism,

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says:

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Benjamin

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of New

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offer

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from of

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Benjaminian

obliquely,

with

Benjaminian

fully

understood

cannot

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cepts:

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recreate

music

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philosophy

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Benjamin's

to

aporia

a responsibility

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way?

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recourse

distinction

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architecture.

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versions

between are

the

antiphonal,

pitting a solo trio (violin, viola, cello) against a tutti quartet (violin, viola, cello, double bass). The two groups are mediated by a harp. The in the

difference

of forces

deployment

over

the

two

versions,

however,

is striking (see Example 3). Version 1 is accretional: the solo trio material, as a basic building block, is constant (excepting the general pause

the

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detail; it fulfils its objective of presenting a ritual. Version 2 is opposed

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a

124

to the

structural

terrain

in

cations

(and

plan

of the

onto

a

(measures instrument

in

percussion

as

sections forms

"natural" and

of

makes

clear

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as

letters

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music

material

of Version

one

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2,

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than

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measure forces

forces

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21-27)

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duos

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harp

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view

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piece,

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deployment

to

the

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quartet.

deployment harp

the

(measures

quartet

of

one

organically

layers

tutti

by

in

complex communi

tutti

purely at

nebulous in

114-121).

sounds

rehearsal

to

end

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cello

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the

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and

63-67). the

manner

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a

each

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(measures

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of

degree

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54-62)

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with

characterisation

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material

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simultaneities)

1.

block

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of its predecessor.

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description

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of

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ogy,

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state The

"Construction"

"destruction."21

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126

Destruction tive

is always

form

relation

to

experience,

and

the

the

for

clear

search

Osborne

. . . allegory

Again,

process.

Thus,

to of

objects

as

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construction

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takes

precedence

Andrew

over over

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Benjamin

Peter

Destruction

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studies:

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artist. Work

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in Benjamin

consideration traced

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restoration on

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eternal

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over.

and

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for

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necessity

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unconscious).23

optical

opportunities

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transparently

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object."22

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a

memory desire in the

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of distance,

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melancholy

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and

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of the the

be."25

its

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Benjaminian

unavoidably,

This

political.

wrought

by photography

status

of

the

and

artwork

In

vision."26 and

space,

so

in

world

from

ritualistic

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has

or

artwork's

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in

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ritual But,

in

social

any

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value:

exhibition

of art

theology

denied

matter."31

subject

products."32

then

at all,

a theology

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function,

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artistic

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("the

faced

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But

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value

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go

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as

I 28

of New

Perspectives

the

means

of

accordingly: artwork

completely, to

a

up

and

new,

Paris

of

and

contemplation

with

relationship

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and

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sole

of time) of undecidibility,

as

titles),

In

view,

the

matter.

subject

Benjamin

charge.

(rather

a

towards

(note the importance political

stir

The

incidental.

permanence.

from

crime"34)

the

absent

reproducible, recedes

itself

scenes

("like

is the

as

trans functions

immediately

levels.

melancholy

imminently

countenance

human

not

face

changes

artistic

as

recognized

other human

the and

be

artwork

in a "qualitative

traditional

evaporate,

onto

Benjamin,

of mysticism

to

not

retires

the

a result,

come

does

it

according

even

may

however,

value,

a cult

As

of the

resulted

exhibition"

of its nature."33

formation of the

for

fitness

nature

the

change,

reproduction "its

Music

and

in time

its position

contingent. As

is

passing

meaning

of

sequence

of

all

single

the

The

of

illusion

in

the

a

naturalised

prescribed

"integral

the

by

is no

whole"

"the

suite,

editing

be

to

appears

picture ones."35

preceding

as

film,

reconstructed

artificially

each

to

birth

gives

photography

time

longer.

Instead, the

sequence

the

material

to

Hence

the

optical

tests.36

the

"all

that

split

the

actor

the

to

is required and But is

not

in

isolated

the

For

only

in

engage in the

moment

nature

victim

in

his

of

of creation

series

to

of

take

of

the

close is

no

of equipment Thus,

episodes."37

non

mini-performances,

of film-making this

series

performance

necessities

of mountable

a series

etc.

a

fetishistic

forensic,

elementary

a series

close-ups

is obliged

actor

com of the

to

subjected

It

those

in reality

audience

screen

are

into

destructive

the

the

film.

angles,

its critical,

from

composes

completed are

is

actor

the

editor

camera

the

. . . there work

actor's

sequentially, narrative

detail.

of a piece

which

because

camera,

on

concentration

audience.

here

the the

special of

performance

of

position longer

mention

is important

Testing

constitutes

of movement

factors

not

camera,

him

supplied

certain

prises

which

views

of positional

from goes destructive

the

intended

further, acts;

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and the

Benjaminian

actor,

is bodily

too,

form

of

isolated The

significance. but

supposed through

idea

not

means.

consequences. in the

intensity, detailed, becomes

vital,

as

film own

It

impressed Here

value. most

the

upon the

us

to

for

in

a number

shutter or

the

inordinately The

mundane of

supposition for

regard reveals

thinking

the

do

we

then

birth

revolutionary

its

at

aura the

lose

has

pangs,

Fascism

between

struggle

truth

its

itself

fabricated

of

revolution

and

tradition)

etc.—

of time, is forcibly

indeed,

of the

of

a "special

otherwise)

attractions

site

the

disposal

speed,

fetishised,

without

its

of

film-maker's

technologies,

even

the

has

aura

The

the

modern

Film, Benjamin

for

(destruction

to

reconstruct

seductive.

Benjamin's

succumb

truth?

become

already

we through

of

experience

challenge

if

urgent:

available

of

idea,

authentic

of

becomes

and,

an

that, the

purposes, at the

creation

special

those

intoxicating.

narrative

on

not

overwhelmingly

integrity of the thinking subject

to

attempts

(human

object

and

extraordinary,

supposition

of

its

authority."38

unavoidably

just

retouching,

the

take

gait,

becomes

of techniques

for

and

torso,

simulation

close-up,

creation

beauty

for

This

armoury

lighting,

the

Thus, so

consideration. The

is

in the

considerations,

separate

face,

integrity it

actualised;

aura

the

head,

of physical

it does

—make-up, conspire

of

of under

and

apart

inauthentic

supposition subject

thrust close-ups

in Funérailles

Tropes

towards

(destruction

redemption). studies

Benjamin's wider

of

region

"avant-garde because the

theoretical

and

makes

the

the

This

the

of

concept domain, And

"total"

this

is

of aura

would

incorporate

vitality

and

criteria

for

of

bizarre

vagaries will

be

outside

the the

or

of

values

of

no

compass."39

neo-Kantianism, the

epistemology

determine the

true

the

various

tasks

highest

'total'

exclude its

to

those

Benjamin's

expanded from

"to

and studies

of

would

esoteric,

mind:

subjective of

an

development

between one

useful

a counterpoise

future

the

differentiating

consciousness

or

in essence the

musicologist

photography

of

the the

reproducibility

and

. . . which

(Erfahrung)

for

film

articulation

marginal,

the

of

in or

places

"Surrealist"

for

important from

their

the

be, of course, considering

philosophical

concept,

take

as

off-shoots

philosophical

experience

however

film

above

considerations

This is as it should

for

to

technical

implications

disciplines. "desire

referred

experience." it releases

and

of photography

thought

of

types the

of

future

philosophy."40 If the

instance

of the

dangerous

battle

revolution,

an

to that

find do

other not

fabrication

between

important routes overwhelm

to

the question the the

of aura forces needs

in film

of

and

repression to

be of

consideration necessity

is seen

of

articulated: the

living

as the the can

site

we of

problematics in

society?

of a

forces

In

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of

hope aura other

of New

Perspectives

words,

can

of not

only

have

may

an

aesthetic

active said

that

"revolutionary Two

now

aesthetic

auratic its

to

ability

a

and

make

number

hashish "mark

of in

number

site

effects—"heighted the

space, the

the

thinking

the

Baudelaire, vis

cultural

could

and

the

rejuvenate

This is only possible "encounter

with

Benjamin

Street,

every

in short,

fullness,

pressed

an

intensity,

a

living, the

the

The

a

common of

a return resonate

to with

from

Proust,

realignment

vis-à

of of

with Freud)

to

expansion

draw

type

and

divided,

("a

[Zeitsinn\,'

influence

through opium

undertook

of an

to

in

claimed,

found

perceptual

unconscious."46

One-Way

. . . the gift of interpolating for

their

and

of

Benjamin

was

of

modern

explored

memory"45—to task

mémoire

opens

hashish

of time

Benjamin's

capacity

was

experience

of

(in agreement

the

in

says

sense

everyday

that

and

the

most

especially

Benjamin

with

from

of

Surrealism,

as

was,

and

its

of the principles

This

that

activation

and

a

for

perception

consumption

reported)

of one's

Surrealists

the

allowed

concept

enquiry the

acuity,

Surrealism.

artefacts

in

catastrophe."43

he

frequent

on

Proust's

experiments

'derangement

infantile,

his

or

perceptual

win

"to

also

finds

application

expression

book

experience,"44

energies Benjamin

that

images

of intoxication.

of ruin

the

was

he

mimetic

and

including

controlled

contradictory

ideas

find

pressures

real

of

consideration:

within

a never-completed

off the

but

a philosophical

phenomena,

task"

particular

a widened

both

possible

the

to

subjectivity

for

expression

experience

useful

redemption?

action."42

disparate

Both enable

involuntaire.

make

latent

revolution,"41

if not

of

also

"most

emerge

association

important

but

for the

to

developed

Surrealism's

experience,

themes

free

be

revolutionism

of intoxication

energies

the

model

Music

that

experience the

imagination.

by initiating a close of

faculty

imagination,

is

into the infinitely small, of inventing,

extensiveness of receiving

to

contain

each

image

its

com

new,

as if it were

that

of the folded fan, which only in spreading draws breath and flour ishes, The

in its new

awareness

heightened

promotes

an

expanse,

"image

space"

the

beloved

common within

features

with which

within

intoxication phenomena

it.47

is revelatory. make

It

themselves

available for the purpose of defining an aesthetic modality through which the Surrealists and others could find a "profane illumination;" an illumination that would exist beyond the strictures (political and of established society. "Experiences are lived similar theocentric) ities"48 Benjamin perception

ory. The

that

living

says, and this opens

challenges

received

up the possibility of a type of

notions

through of contiguities

of time,

and

history

similarities

and

mem

across

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time

Benjaminian

means not

that

the

of

experience

in Funérailles

Tropes

the

in

past

the

131

is suddenly

present

vital,

languid:

The

of

appearances

of

superposition,

which

overlap,

hashish may be grasped through the concept we

that

say

features

one

of

latter's

face

this

to

ceasing

of entering

ties

criterion

and for

unlimited

the

ence

that traits

say

of

truth

the

solely

ment

This

each

displace

is

Proust's "A

scious."50

I

had

antipodal

long

beings

of my

regions

creative is the

enough had

memories

past

way

every

of

affairs

state

living;

counterstate

of

sleep canon Le

for in

another

(to

resembles

other.49

that,

come

face—for

this

and

from

quoting so

a

pres

something

each

and

I

In

becomes

may

bodily

face

this

statement

disorder before

whom

with

it.

we

a sentence

this

and

any

similarity, relevance,

of

even

to

to

There,

searches

and

to think

alive

Benjamin, already

human

the

a face,

Truth

of productive lived

one

opposite,

in order

of

degree

the

possibili

minimal

conditions

certain

subject

category

the

by which

rhythm

not

only

opposed

of doubt.

that

the

of hashish.

has

on

its

"thoroughly sort

in.volunta.iresays "And

to

other

world

these puts

manifestly in the

The

with

without

first,

are

way

searched—as

Under

mean

the

Nevertheless,

this

thing

be

in

has

in the

standing

existence

us

boundless.

word)

the

explains

to

sentence

points

it lives

the

in

each

appear. of

nothing

that

it

to

consciousness

face:

we

another,

been.

appearance

relevance

allows as

it has

therefore

is

to

appear

what

waking

everything

such

be

are

attains

similar face

into

which

say,

is

second

come

of similitude. When

the

mémoire

Temps

retrouvé·.

more

than I

contact, to

being

uncon

of the

one

of in

found

the

complete

picture."51 The

"avant-garde

political

the

incorporates and

conscious

Ferneyhough, extract

In

ability

conclusions

particular,

this

the

increased

acceptance

of

conceptualisation

in the

In

will

the

by

and

the

include

perception

similarities

of

as

a

the of

and through

of structural

of

the

music

of

the aim will be to

derangement

of objects

history the

a

that

intoxication—in

perception the

micronisation destruction

of

as

vagaries

with

dealing

acceptance

aesthetic

non-consequential

the

memory,

up

summarized

time

as seen in his early piece Funérailles,

time, the heightened find

opened minds.

be

of

perception

possibilities

expression—on

to

the

unconscious

positive

Surrealist art.

of

can

then,

experience",

renegotiation

its

workings the

sense

the imagination's the

workings

decision-making

presupposition

of of

before

of construction.

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of and the

I 32

Brian

Ferneyhough

and

had

Ferneyhough Time

and

hand, doesn't necessary.

there

and

remain

indeed

that

the

own

that at

least

the

of man

studies

the

be

as and

of

point the

the

its

And

piece.

altered, that

of an

by

It

creation of

of

equal

seems

clear

with

its

to

be

aptness

Benjaminian

artwork

out

case are

aspects,

and

if

of Art"

the

copy, two

the

emerged

in

equals.

of

the

infinitum

both

readiness

existence

unique

concept

a unity

other

material

"Work As

further

to

ad

process.

by

the

return

versions,

original

joined

existential, on

Benjamin's and

machine,

time in his

drew

initial

in

ongoing of

and

mechanistic

Funérailles,

further

Funérailles

fundamentally

strengthens

of

fecundity,

that

these

which

the

to

of

is the

contends

in

hierarchy

ready

combinatorial

reproduced,

on

is no

nature

very

collision

of reproducibilty

attention

Funérailles

the

But

potential

concept

focuses

essay

Experience"

conclusions.

well

deep

the

The

with

directly

nihilistic

a

obviate

"Avant-Garde

Studies.

and

represents

Music

time and society-induced

Motion

psychopathetic

the

dealt

of human, subjective

or

of New

Perspectives

argument

is compromised, of

a

further

copy

Funérailles.

The

signifi

cance of Funérailles Version 1 becomes heightened (without it being subjected to material change) when it is impelled to project outside of its own

from

and

workings its double.

vis-à-vis

antipodal

towards

In

of the

regions interest

Benjamin's

the

Proustian

"to

memory

is replication

or

with a confused source and a decimated 2

is

and

rearranged Yet,

predecessor.

has

Ferneyhough

the

surrounding causes

for

the

rewritten, the

despite created

a

in this

case,

over

by machine

arts;

for

example

Gus

Van

the and of

workings by the

There Sant's

to

being,

drawn

exact

are

to

but

Version of

its

reproduction,

various

possibilities

on

problems

the

the

modern

it

mind,

processes or not. The

composer, in film

parallels

tribute

live

detail

re-enactment

with technological

computer.

forced

picture."

mechanical on

is retained

however, or

of

the

in

a

effectively

of

the

complete

reproducibility,

understanding

other

origin; Ferneyhough's

absence

whether it is actively engaged effort

is the

regeneration

commentary

of

concept

it is now

relationship this

terms,

(and

and

not

taken

and

the

visual

reconstruction

of)

or the Chapman Brothers' re-imagining Hitchcock, in Psycho (1998), of Goya, Insult to Injury (2003). Works such as these seek to exploit the dramatic ironies of late capitalism within which the authorial presence

is subsumed is given

production,

be

seen

as

by market

subverting originality, Ferneyhough Sontag's

compelling

instant

vehicle

forces;

pre-eminence.

where

If Van

Sant

rather

distribution, and

the

than can

Chapmans

or undermining the idea (the myth) is more convincingly seen as a custodian

antiques,

through

where

which

lost

originality

contemporary

becomes

expression

a

of of

more

can

This content downloaded from 169.229.11.177 on Tue, 20 Oct 2015 01:48:20 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

be

Benjaminian

What

explored. in

abound

of

with

indirectly

Both

versions

strings of

Version

remove

their the

of

"at

a

deals

can

see

a

and

directly

and

fabricated)

distance"

behind

the

through

space

that

into

the

violation."53

outraged and

important subsequent

serve

as

the

has

useful

the

of mutes

in the

in

measure

string

been

players thrust

bodily

there

themselves;

allusions

to

engagers

is and

opticity

the

throughout

hand"54

"practised

far

physically

occurs

sounds

The

The

output.

he

in

The

where

of

majority or

use

barrier

2,

feels

right

the

this

Version

listener

the

harmonics."

through of

for a curtain,

through

"restrained

97

"the

intervening

composer's

or

(real

place

breaking

measure

1,

are

tactility

taking

use of

of

that

tropes

we

appearance/disappearance

in performance

mutes:

sensation

Benjaminian

Funérailles

materials.

play

"rite

the

by

to

suppositions

its problematic

Funérailles the

moment

shocking

and

concrete

that

relation

its manifestation

is effected or

With

in Funérailles

of

durations;

across

and

is

nevertheless,

works.

with

tropes

distance"52

the

aura

of extant,

Benjaminian

their

clear,

associations

particularly

treatment

94

is

of these

web

complex more

all

in Funérailles

Tropes

was

(which

once the artist's, and now holds the film-maker's scalpel) is highlighted by

Femeyhough's of

severing defined an

surface

"a

parade

of

feel

in

Martian

in

about

oneself

it."55

This

now

addresses

Benjamin

of

the

the

at

what and

he

of of

and would

the

at

looking

the

subject. Here

contemplation. of

experience

down

backwards

presence not

to score

composer

looking

precisely at,

locally

original

which and

looking

topos,

distracted

the

wandering

bodily

perceptive

the

hill

wondering

gaze,

heightens the

creatures

and

double

at,

looking is

these

patterns,

of a large

top

in

in

the

1; in

Fundamental

piece.

given

Edition)

Version

remounting

of the

story

Peters

on

watching

various

Distraction

current

their

point

is the

Funérailles

landing

and

main

of

reassembly

contexts

is the

the

ground,

forwards

their

contexts

removed

pictures a

from

understanding

(since

and

disassembly

units

in

spectator

the

case of film: "the distracting element . . . is . . . primarily tactile, being based

on

spectator

no

changed.

It

cannot

an and

experiment, edited—its

perspective, it very

of

changes ...

much

be

has

its bodily a filmic

his

focus eye

arrested."56

it is music scenes,

and

place

sooner

that its

is not

grasped

merely and

assail

periodically a scene

than

composed, frames,

its denial

but its

the

it is already is

Funérailles

Femeyhough's

re-contextualised

comportment,

which

such

composed of

shifting

of immediacy,

make

experience.

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I 34

The

offer

be

mapped

types

The

strategic or

garde" the

establishment

of

over the

performances;

of

creation

and

in

and

the

in

value

the

face

of

micronised

distinct

profiling;

techniques

"avant

construction;

views; of

of immanent

of notational

of derange-ment

destruction

promotion

to

could

of Benjamin's

positional

the

is

analysis

Funérailles, a sense

can

aim

The

detailed

facets

namely:

sequential,

inauthentic

filmmaker's

with

engage

coupling

ritual;

a more

that

tropes

Funérailles.

within

assembly,

the

time;

of

which

experience,"

of

Benjaminian

structure

that

techniques

exhibition

the

is the

"Surrealist

perception

the

the

through

focus

Music

of distinctly

onto

of approaches

directed.

and

is a number

following

usefully be

of New

Perspectives

the

of

adoption

a

of

disappearing

aura.

ZEITSINN

Funérailles

Version

outset.

The

of held

notes,

to

vibrato

and

semitones here

alla

punta

This

as

is

Declamatory

opening

passage.

comes

the

held

treated

and

out

structural trills

annunciation

of

first nine

a

are

notes

without

action

of

is marked

second

percussively

notes, this

punctuate to

importance

a

by are

Isolated

and

left

this

unexpected" elsewhere

motionlessness; by

and

microtones

pizzicato "sudden

of

period

introduced

the

great

vibrato 1)

the whole

import.

and

is

( non

on

variation;

the

consisting

measure

one,

progresses

microtonal

short-lived

The

violin

from

clearly simple,

transformations

in

material

to

ornaments

of timbrai

example,

linear

harmonics,

texture.

and

by use for

ambit

1 is comparatively

measure

coloured

swells.

used

from

ordinare,

dynamic

its expressive

1 establishes

texture

hand

pizzicato.

many of Ferneyhough's openings this is simply the unfolding through space (register) and time (duration) of crude material. What Like

activates the

this

cycles

other

materials

Benjaminian

terms

in

the

and

or

pull,

is the defining in

of

sees

an

becomes of

the

uphold

a narrative

duration,

gesture,

become

parameters) The

perception also

it to

that

secondary

mechanisms.

unfolding ment

enables

decollement

(and

supporting

eating

and

material,

subsequent

time,

more

torsion,

is enacted

of

commonly

generalised

zeitsinn,

associated "avant-garde

their the

upon

feature of this music.

expression

pitch

from

decoupled that

is

impulse, pulse,

Read

a

derange

with

hashish

in

experience."

Example 4 shows a typical passage where the original material is found in a more highly developed state. Held glissando

notes or

are with

now cross

more

likely

string

tremolo.

to

be The

double

stops,

punctuating

executed

with

materials

have

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Benjaminian

into

developed this

passage,

does

not

play

a

59),

agitato)

and

further

narrowly,

not

become

as

60

is

energy

of

itself

time

context, or

the

line. but

their

despite

a is the

by

by establishing

and

all

with

64.

within

material

through

gestures

univocal,

ensemble,

single

of

measure

this

importantly,

flow

smaller

of

marker

in

più by a

is followed

a

merely

the

(note

this

beginning is

more

but,

by

to ,h=48 (from J^=60,

through

1 sustains

Version

a

measure

Variation,

working

perceptual

punctuated

development together

the

established,

contour

the

of

(as

constantly:

expressively

it

detail,

tempo

to j>=42;

at

JV=50

the

of pitch

vocables.

accelerate,

timeline.

as

between

tension

may

not

(only)

transformation

62

descending

undulating

achieved

gestural

and

towards is

tempo

continuously

a

61

acceleration

Again,

fluctuates

durational

underlying

of a uniform deceleration before

Significantly,

and

The

pulse.

rates)

pulse

measures

this

micro-gestures.

of rhythmic

uniform

internal

any

potential

exactitude

against

sees the completion measure

but

the

despite

from

distinct

inchoate

in Funérailles

Tropes

the

of

mapping

The

held

note and

dispersal

players

contributing

antiphonal

positioning.

The result is a forced lyricism in which the viability of the narrative is on

dependent

the

provide from

for

measures

considerable both

and the

subsume 1 does

not

through

the

and

flow

rapidly

Version

2

with

entities

process

of

until

has

been

retarded.

moving

intervenes in

seen

in

is

more

in Version

1,

If Version

through its

Version

a 2

Version

there than

away and

1

it, then

development. 1

will

become

2.

presupposes

construction

and

dying

Although

writing

as

gestures

in Version

"construction"

The

of events

Version

silence

not

measure-for-measure

instrumental

this

fleeting

a prolonged

dispersive.

in

figures

Thereafter

is

a

for

micro-figures

dramatic It

line

group)

extends

accompanying

becomes gesture,

fully

it

it dissolves.

diminution.

dynamic

(tutti

lyricism; these

until and

presented

retards

Momentarily

this

and

vary,

develop,

violin

by punctuating

violin

presentation

a process,

of

Gradually

tenacity

becomes

of the

trajectory.

The

fragmented

through

outlines

concrete

its

increasingly

more

to sustain,

typical

of the

recover

composer

is accompanied groups.

lyricism

Funérailles

detail,

linear is

tutti

disappearance that

the

64-76 time

solo

of the

ability

contrast

"destruction"

Funérailles

Version

2

is

made

possible

by

the

destruction of Funérailles Version 1. The isolated (edited) opening material from Version 1 (the first four bars of the piece) is used to produce

materials

la,

lb,

lc,

Id,

and

le

ofVersion

2.

This

amounts

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to

I 36

Perspectives

EXAMPLE

4: FERNEYHOUGH,

of New

Music

VERSION

FUNÉRAILLES,

1, MEASURES

60-64

Reprintedbykindpermissionof PetersEditionLimited

22

measures

new

of

material.

material

from

1

Version

method

Ferneyhough's

is

one

of

views of the same material. The source

multiple positional

producing

is

onto

mapped

the

measure

following

lengths:

3 4

3 4

5 8

2 4

3 4 in Version 2:

The edit becomes 6 8

6 8

5

4

3

8

8

8

The

third

the

measure

of the

eighth-note is therefore

3/8

curtailed.

bar This

constitutes

the

framework

cut-off

is then

and

point

redistributed

thus in Version 2: la 66543

lb

lc

Id

le

4363

656

88888

8888

888

3634 8888

34566 88888

Through The

a symmetrical

materials

run

formation

at 5, 4,

3, 4,

the

material

5 measures,

le

is given

a closed

is a retrograde

shape. of

la,

This content downloaded from 169.229.11.177 on Tue, 20 Oct 2015 01:48:20 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Id

Benjaminian

of

lb.

the

le

is itself

expression

permanence

as

of Version

1 has

Ideas

symmetrical. of

they lead

from

a state

of more

3. A SEQUENCE This read

OF POSITIONAL

movement as

in

consequentiality of smaller

assembly

situation

in

replicated

and

1,

in Version

the

words,

acoustic

which

chamber

a

extension

of the

narrative

are

monads quarters

executed

and

extended

the

leads

music.

The

is

temporal

line

the

is

The

EXHIBITION

If

Funérailles 2,

parts

this

of the

a

The

artificial

to

of

the

unity

and

weight

hitherto

is

up

extent

the

"bodily

identifiable or

elongation

perceptual

a more take

effected

fore by

the

camera.

VALUE

1

Version

by

of

reassembled. of

views"

"positional

4.

not

three

C,

types

equivalent parts

The

of on

three bars,

following

Ferneyhough's

and

of various

imagined

the

that

F

(G,

dyad dyad

The

two.

the

monads,

unison

diverging

constituent

dissembled

shortening

short

doubled-stopped

previous in

This

actor.

are

a

a

is

be

at

framework.

identity, but purely in their gestural

expanse.

thrust-apart"

first

a

can

5). Here the

or

gestures,

temporal

is a gradually

than

that they change

Version

The

transformations

independent

a few

upon

into

views

cello

be

concrete

Ferneyhough

of positional

structured

second

third

gesture

unity

the

simply.

the

sharp),

harmonics

is built

of

independently

new

can

more

beginning of Version 2 will serve as an example (Example

exist

a

destruction construction

developed

towards

2,

the filmic creation

purely

initially

given

coincidence,

processual

Version

fragments

in which

now

VIEWS

from

away

other highly

in Version 2.

source,

original are

In

repositioned.

to

the

coincidence,

processual are

in Funérailles

Tropes

participants

(active,

Therefore,

presences

is

or

passive become

to

the

as

designed

is designed

contrast,

absent)

in

and

ritual, of

inconspicuousness

necessary

"mountable"

a

of

expression

the

disrupt

such

an

activity. is

materiality

judged

not by its inherent ritual value but by its potential exhibition value. Ferneyhough leaves very clear signifiers in his attempt to highlight the once

brief

example,

passages

marks.

quotation material played

On

inconspicuous.

to at

be normal

This

performed volume,

a

number

are

extracted

is

described in

such

but

as

of

occasions

from in a

the the

manner

if heard

Version

processual score that

at

in

a

thus:

by

use

for of

"quotation

it sounds distance

2, the

i.e.

like

music

a

clearly

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I 38

of New

Perspectives

example

6:

ferneyhough,

Music

version

FUNÉRAILLES,

2, measures

34-35

(detail) Reprintedbykindpermissionof PetersEditionLimited

different In

other

tone

and

dynamics

(or

which

The

parameters. activity

of

the

redrawn

version

of

types

means the

of

or

of

trio

to

marks, and

of a traditional

create ritual

is or

variations seen

in

spatialised

quiet

passages."57 serves

comportment,

device

Ferneyhough's can

passage of Example

the

be

usual 6,

simultaneities

to

identical

otherwise

inhabiting

a gesture

recourse

other

bodily This

execution.

quotation solo

in

employed material

physicality

without

exhibited)

that

demeanour,

gestural

between

distinguish

through

from

quality

words,

elevated musical

extract in

the this

procession.

MINI - PERFORMANCES

Version

2 increases

the freedom

of individual

instrumentalists

to

discrete, wholly unpredictable expres present "mini-performances"; sions of individuality that are nonetheless fragmented and lacking in holistic integrity. Towards the end of Version 2 the viola embarks on such a performance (see Example 7). The material is highly detailed and

exact

in

execution

but

the

light

touch

(the insufficient finger pressure employed

demanded

of the

performer

on the rapid configurations)

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Benjaminian

EXAMPLE

5: FERNEYHOUGH,

Tropes

in Funérailles

FUNÉRAILLES,

VERSION

2, MEASURES

1-10

Reprintedbykindpermissionof PetersEditionLimited

makes

this a virtuosic fantasia in miniature; a flight of fancy. As suggested in Benjamin's analysis of film-making, these mini-perform ances to

do

view

not

act

in any

consequentially

fabricated

narrative

as

a sequence

into the whole only through expediencies

EVERYTHING

way

but

are

of unique

borne events,

of perception.

of the

need

integrated

IS FACE .

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140

There invest

is an every

increasing

and first

the

comparing of the

music,

of potentialities. a

simple

survives

but

it

patterns

(or

at

occur

made

of

has,

the

pattern,

at

movement

microscopic submerged

under

thoroughly

divergent

onto

this

as

it to

the

a

of

on

at

held

As 2's

tone

note.

in

of

e-flat

impulse materials

the

piece. a

(before

remains

two

first note

the of

elsewhere

flat),

The

such

original

string,

pitch

coloured

Version

patterns)

least) same

e-quarter

longer

second

exposition

note,

The

impulse

the

foundations

ordinare.

duration.

on

it,

stage

is

timbrai

vibrato

by l's

Version

a suggestive

tendencies.

impression

(potentially, executed

and

with other

If

of a single to

2 to

similarities

underlined

piece.

and with

vibrato

pitch

Version

suggest

usefully the

consists

competing

mapped

least

of

durational

non

of

of

up

is

concerned

1 's opening

can

of hashish-eating),

version

the

express 2 is more

presentation

is

that

that

This

each

transformation

measure

The

of

Version

by a timbrai is

to

Version

Funérailles

throughout

characteristics

expressions. bar

is content

opening

Music

in line with the experience

vocables

unique

tendency with

expression

(non-logical,

it

of New

Perspectives

partially univocal

notes,

on

one level initially (i.e. pitch), coexist within a situation that contains 1

is

created

now

forces.

through

reconditioned which

through

The

drama

the

through

forces

competing

of the

of

communicate

an in

in Version

attack

sfzp

establishment can

which

piece,

silence,

(dramatic

posturing

is

etc),

environment

subtly

complex

ways.

7.

INAUTHENTIC

As

MEANS

demonstrated

fragments.

has

numerous

already more

active

structurally in

commentary

different

changes)

in

107

tempo

measures), 54

changes

(a

2 utilises in

133

change fifteen

measures

exists

as

implications: in

important

Version

markings

measures

Version

2

straightforward

and

fourteen

tempo

Version

above,

This

2. and of

tempo (a

on

tempo

markings change

tempo 1,

of

markings, take 1

Version

distinct

sections average and

of

assembly

Version

Where 34

an

no

tempo

on

a

utilizes (tempo

every

3.15

fewer

than

on

average

of an increasing every 2.46 measures). Again, this is evidence micronisation of activity units which leads during subsequent pieces in Ferneyhough's

oeuvre

to

the

understanding

of

the

measure

as

a

fully

functioning and discretely apparent operational unit. But with the increasing disjunction inherent in Version 2, how does Ferneyhough

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EXAMPLE

7:

FERNEYHOUGH,

in Funérailles

Tropes

Benjaminian

2, MEASURES

VERSION

FUNÉRAILLES,

141

112-11

3

Reprintedbykindpermissionof PetersEditionLimited

the

recreate how

does

inherent

sense

he

as

elaborate

highly

8

Example the

music

the

2

has

a

dispersive

Version

descriptive

and

coordinates

in

2

and

are

a

directions

expressive

clear

of

to

to

enough

the

do

mostly

sense

the

(agitato,

a

same.

inclined

to

traditional

in

in The

nature.

extra more

attention

developed markings.

of

uses

itself

express in

more and

composition—

1 is more are

dramatic

demands

clearly

both

need

the through

Ferneyhough

Version

its directions

literary

terminology,

so

words,

this

fabricate

directions

neurotic

more

"tricks"

shots,

Versions. and

other

acknowledging

achieves

etc.—to

expressive

two

for itself,

speak

Version

musical

system

He

uses

momentary of

while

authenticity?

movements

static,

compares

of aura,

film-maker

the

camera

tinting, between

movement

for

1? In

in Version

displayed

rehabilitation

it poses

means:

colouration,

use.

the

problems

inauthentic

let

of wholeness

trace

The

esplosivo,

to

common senza

sord

etc.), but the enhanced graphicness, or explicitness, of Version 2 is noteworthy. The direction Lento (come una musica verginale), seen in measure 37 of Version 1, is tellingly absent from Version 2; a simile such

this

as

and

continuity,

being

have

the

more

Version

Throughout confusion

must in

denotative

as would

to

2,

to the

been

deemed

nature

are

words a

provide

otherwise

too

emotionally

of the pertain.

narrowly

called

upon

vocabulary paths In

between other

of

to

too

prescriptive, rewritten

ambiguous

create

version. a

force

the words,

disparate

of

where

mannerisms,

states

Ferneyhough

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of is

142

of New

Perspectives

to

attempting notes

authenticate

in

importance

his

the

scores

of

of (mostly)

by way

Music

and

inauthentic,

the

incessant

Italian

it signals

parallel and

expressive

the

growing on

commentary

directional

the

markings.

Conclusion

the

During ruins.

But

destruction

that

viable

made

and

of

photography.

out

by

developed that

in

his

charge

of on

essays

craft

and

and years,

developed

a

through

to

vision

creative

the

film

of eleven

period

his

of

techniques

his

century

a long

site

("presupposed") of

Benjamin

reconfigured would

the

twentieth

over

a

becomes

of

assumption

in

Ferneyhough

impetus

philosophical

the

representation

in which

out

emerges

laid

Funérailles

Funérailles

2,

by

association

problematics a period

Version

construction

is

continuity

of

composition the

the 2004 evening-length tribute to Walter Benjamin, Shadowtime. In the light of the several Benjaminian above, tropes highlighted Funérailles

becomes

perception

and

mechanical

reproduction)

2

an

the

function,

mystery,

(so-called)

weak

concepts

illusion, the

between

the

following

first

second

it in the

of modernity. as

on.

creative

as

but

composer,

an

a distinctly "the

Benjamin:

configurations

through

experience problematic Ferneyhough's

for

of

means

of

or

constellations

the

of

experience realisation,

music—the

need

It

is

same as

difference within

the meta

of

in

piece

which and

destruction,

Benjamin's writings offers the not only as a philosophical

comes

Peter

be

elements

The

inordinate

the

says

the

of

represen

construction in

of

concept

the phenomena

facets

interpretation an

as

the

role, will rescue

executed

Osborne

seen

through

concrete

truth."58

are

leanings As

to

empirical

for

a

also idea

of values.

of

their mediating the

The

pertaining

philosophical

set

philosophy

by

the in

whose

empirical

task

of ideas

artist

these

strategies.

This reading of Funérailles through opportunity of seeing Ferneyhough

which,

that

the

accepted of new

production

on

consciousness

processual/micro-logical,

so

wholeheartedly

Ferneyhough

(post Version

historicism/historiography,

and

contemplative/distracting

tation

theses

a variegated

reconstruction/construction,

phor/image,

through

post-Benjaminian

produces

seen

of the

theory

on ritual, assumptions within the exploitation of

expression is

the

makes

of

contradictions:

coupled

the

1 is pre-technological;

mechanics

versions

two

in

subjectivity

the

narrative,

through

the and

with

engages

art

Version

age.

by a revolutionary

understood

uses

of

Whereas

post-technological.

but

that

expression

use-value

seen

and

by

many of

as of

reception

amount

of

detail;

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Benjaminian

Measure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

in Funérailles

Tropes

Version 1

143

Version 2

nine seconds of motionlessness subito!

distinto

senza espr. agitato

Agitato, Ancora più espansivo, isterico più enfático, con calore

deciso

sereno flessibile sensibile

sostenuto

"grazioso"

più sostenuto

rilassando, scurrilamente fluctuando più bravura

Più Agitato

con introspezione sereno e scuro murmuroso

Molto agitato esplosivo, fuoco!, retorico, pesante deciso

murmuraso esplosivo a r> sinuoso Lento (come una musica verginale)

cantabile risoluto, bruito, con fuoco affretando, calmandosi meno enfàtico

Esitanto Risoluto, con bravura, esplosivo, secco poss.

intenso

SENZA Tenace

SORD

Agitato, Irato, astringente

EXAMPLE

8:

MAJOR EXPRESSIVE

MARKINGS

IN FUNÉRAILLES

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144

Perspectives

53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106

of New

Music

calmandosi

rigoroso

più agitato

più moto

sonnolento

allentandosi

con sord cantabile, come campani

fuoco

intimissimo retorico

" " agitato, calmandosi "woIP mute wild!, esplosivo

con bravura

grazioso, grottesco Senza Sord

enfatico

Feroce, tumultuoso! esplosivo

senza sord

deciso

Esplosivo!

desolato feroce Very intense, even slightly grating attacks deciso, esplosivo!

EXAMPLE

8 (CONT.)

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Tropes

Benjaminian

107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133

al niente. FINE. quasi immobile rilassando spettrale, ancora più moto con amore flessibile!

giusto, intensivo ma più nevroso, scarcely audible nevroso ed insistante poco più agitato

esplosivo! desolato

"senza movimento" total silence, FINE

EXAMPLE

the

the the

qualified of

standing

the

one

these

8 (CONT.)

layers and

pulse

Benjaminian

of

the

fragility in

discrepancies

this

of

presentation

and

concreteness be

case

opened

up

tropes to the compositional And

techniques.

work-specific

lead

could

preoccupations

the

materials; speed

gesture—can

physical the

of the of

contradiction

by applying and

preoccupations

multiple

underlying seeming

in

belonging

and

of

complexity

between ideas;

145

in Funérailles

a

to

the

under nuanced

more

interpretation of the emotional qualities of Ferneyhough's music. If his sensibilities belong with those of Benjamin's, can Ferneyhough now be rescued from the limiting associations he has with neo-serialism, New nihilism? or post-structural high-modernism, Complexity, celebrates

Benjamin, Fascist

or

relishes

temperament

Ferneyhough's

totalitarian

the marginal, inconsequential.

much

that,

when

the integrity of the individual

oppression

the idiosyncratic, Benjamin

through

a celebration

ascribed

of the

the small, the light-weight,

developed

a way

of

seeing

to

in the face of

that

obscure,

and the

eviscerates

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146

monolithic

He

enabled

especially

with

into

reincorporated time

less

itself

expresses

an

through His

larger

and

his

composer

condition

of

questioning

more

technical)

nature.

purposes

of Fascism

far does

Ferneyhough's

formed in

many

modern Marxist

a more

subsequently music

the

consistent

has

routes

In

the

enable the

case

for

the

a meanings

terms

more

interpretative

number techniques

purely for

its

as

Benjamin,

For

Messianic the

or

need

Ferneyhough,

for

experience"

perceptual

of his

a

could

"modernistic" of

the

that

unavoidable.

"Surrealist

and

a

question—how

arguably,

greater

to a

useless

For

in

a

of failure

imperatives

was

prevalent

with

becomes

than

art

political

of Brian

cycles,

susceptible

centuries?

but,

of the

substitution

into

with

revolution

receded,

not.

experience,"

"postmodernistic," analytical

of

have

the

(rather

of revolution

question

also

a pertinent

twenty-first

imminence may

revolution

itself

align

and

the

time,

realisations

"avant-garde

becomes

thought. and

actuality,

make

it and

concerned

becomes

to

challenge

and

units,

works

the

aesthetic

music

Studies)·,

smaller

Through now

and

His

metaphorical,

Ferneyhough

music

political

twentieth

readers

Surrealist

the

be

results.

non-teleological

and

failure,

could

same.

becomes

possibility,

or

Motion

multi-movement

expression.

Benjamin's

the his

of

above,

a

less and

of

of perception." the

the

the

snap-shot.

positive

do

of

structuring

welcome

suggested

wholly

Time

in

perception,

ritualistic,

power

become

"objects can

necessary

approach

for

the

moment-to-moment

who

of

to

the

weakness,

micro-management of

to

image,

able

the

(after

the

tend

was

and

which

with

less

epic,

polemical

pieces

discrete,

have

view

latent

energies

unreliability

on,

less

understanding

mutable

a

the

Funérailles

through

in

system

world

becomes

even

perhaps

a

from

Ferneyhough, this

to

the the

quotation,

a philosophical regard

Music

uncovered

the

aphorism,

also

from

He

ideologies. the

pamphlet,

as

of New

Perspectives

music?

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or and and

in Funérailles

Tropes

Benjaminian

Notes

1. Benjamin

46.

2000,

13.

2. See Bernstein 2005, 3.

of

mindful

Although word

"classicising"

around

1980.

comment:

and

the

the

gestural

to

begun

sink

but, into

all

"practically

performer

is

volatile

bundles

to

in this

work

requested

interpret

fashion."

Capsule that

had

can

be

romantic these

the less

The

con

composer's

are traced

also

useful:

back

to cer the

vocabularies:

residual 1980,

Ferneyhough

to

begun

perceivable—as

Funérailles

late

'tra

comparatively

361.

1995, of

Unity means,

strands

parametric

from

as

become

score

familiar

a more deconstructed

any

by

Quartet onward—

the

pieces

treatable—and

the

String

Fer

present

of

Not, had

Boros

to

to

much

sight.

the

microgestures

come

also

1978

is,

in such

compositions

'traditional'

appropriate

that

of

that

models

gestural

out

rather,

remarks

introductory

had

works sense

entities."

gestural

my

perhaps,

encountered back

of the

working

crete

the

polyphony

coagulate

tain

in

aspect,

complex

of my

surface

parametric

Second

the from

See

1998.

Ferneyhough

"Since,

uses

techniques

Ferneyhough's

notes,

Lemma-Icon-Epigram—that

piece

piano

ditional'

actual

sleeve

See

neyhough's

had

describe

Barrett

Richard

over-simplification, to

units

in

the

preface.

4. Boros 1995, 206-207. 5. Benjamin 2000,

16-17.

6. ibid., 19. 7. ibid. 8. ibid., 20. 9. Benjamin

1999.

10.

in

Quoted

Illuminations,

defeats—Walter

"Small-scale

Osborne

Peter

254.

Benjamin's

Victories,

Politics of Time."

Andrew

Large-scale

Benjamin,

1994,66. 11. See ibid., 67. 12. Andrew Benjamin,

2005,

1.

13. ibid., 1. 14. Andrew Benjamin,

1994, xi.

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148

15.

61.

ibid.,

I have

17.

Peter

adopted

garde

experience"

alongside

ence"

throughout

this

connotations

16.

of New

Perspectives

in

the

impact

See

Ferneyhough's

Much

of

cerned

the

2

comments

Postmodern

advocates

of

"complexity"

romanticism":

plexity

on

in opposition

high-ground "new

a debate

to for

see, Editor's

(Guest

Vol.

37,

Strains

of

Postmod

New

York,

music

James

example,

and

Introduction)"

found

aesthetics have

(2002)

Routledge.

has

itself through

the

sought

of a "new

No.

Brian

and

studies

advocates

the

Music,

contemporary in

critical

and Joseph Auner

Ferneyhough

in

engaged

post

and

Lachenmann

Thought,

of

con

or

"Adorno

"Resistant

Helmut

Judy Lochhead

proportion

actively

of New

Feller

been

modernist

a contemporary

Perspectives

Music/Postmodern

sizable

from

Williams

of

in Ed.

Ferneyhough"

as

where

has

Ferneyhough

composer

useful

music

425.

1995,

Alastair

Ross

Music

experi has

overuse.

through

in Boros

of both)

example or

1999) The

this

"avant

"Surrealist

"Surrealist"

diluted

Brian

the

of Modernism,"

(Summer,

which

on

writing

for

own

of contemporary

been

on

a combination See

ernism:

A

has

term

generalized

term

context

present

recent

(or

Semantics

The

essay.

positioning

perspective.

Osborne's Benjamin's

of "avant-garde"

with

modernist

the

Music

moral or

simplicity"

Boros Richard

a

Com

"Why

"On

Toop

Complexity," both in Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Winter, 1993). In attempting to explore the "emotional origins"

of Ferneyhough's or,

perhaps

and

music

more

historically

the

18. Ferneyhough

offer

accurately, positioned

current

will

essay perspectives

vantage

this

sidestep from

a more

Age

of

debate, remote

point.

1980, preface.

19. ibid. 20. Boros 1995,329-330. 21. Benjamin

1999,

The Arcades Project, 470.

22. Andrew Benjamin,

1994, xi.

23. ibid. 24.

Walter

"The

Benjamin

Reproduction" examination Alexander Destruction:

Benjamin,

Work

in Benjamin of the

Garcia

1994,

Benjamin's

Art

in

the

Illuminations, on

demands

revolutionary Diittmann

Walter

of

1999 trs.

Debbie

Politics

the

Language"

For

an

of art see

politics

Keates of

Mechanical

212. "Tradition in

and Andrew

32-58.

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Benjaminian

25. Walter

26.

Benjamin, 1999,518.

"Little

Walter

"The

Benjamin,

Tropes

History Work

in Benjamin

Reproduction"

of

in Funérailles

of Photography" in

Art

the

Age

1999, Illuminations,

in Jennings of

Mechanical

214.

27. ibid., 229-230. 28. ibid., 218. 29. ibid., 217. 30. ibid., 218. 31. ibid. 32. ibid., 218-219. 33. ibid., 219. 34. ibid., 220. 35. ibid. 36. ibid., 222. 37. ibid., 223. 38.

Graeme

2005,

Gilloch,

39. Andrew Benjamin, 40.

Walter

Walter

to

of Aura

the

Gershom

This

is Tara

the

Coming

Last

Philosophy,"

of

Snapshot

the

Euro

added by author).

Imagination Petersson 2005, 26.

45.

Petersson

Jennings 1999, 215.

Scholem

and

44. Jennings 1999,

of

Program

"Surrealism—The

Benjamin,

42. ibid., 210 (emphasis Letter

in Film,"

104.

pean Intelligentsia,"

43.

Face

59.

1994, "On

Benjamin,

Jennings 1996, 41.

Aura—The

"Fabricating

6.

quoted

in Tara

in Benjamin's

Forrest,

"The

Politics

Writings on Hashish,"

327.

Forrest's

summary

of

the

effects

of

hashish

after

the

findings in Fritz Fränkel and Ernst Joël "Der Haschish-Rausch: in Klinische Beiträge zu einer experimentellen Psychopathologie," Petersson 2005, 27. Wochenschrift, Nr 37 (1926). 46. Petersson 2005,

30.

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I 50

of New

Perspectives

47. Benjamin

Music

75.

2000,

48. Walter Benjamin

"Experience,"

49. Benjamin

The Arcades Project, 418.

50. Quoted

1999,

in Jennings 1999,

553.

in ibid., 403.

51. ibid., 211. 52. Ferneyhough 53. Boros 1995, 54.

"If

we

1980, preface. 331. as

designate

mémoire

involontaire,

ception,

then

based

niques

any

sight.

has

on

the

by means time Thus

in

be

they

devices

permanently

Boros

1995,

56. Benjamin 57.

Ferneyhough

of

the

the

extend

devices

represent

around

case of

of

they

Benjamin

the

make

and of

range

of

terms

achievements

1999,

The

for

of

tech

subsequent

mémoire

of

volon an

event

sound

and

a society

Illuminations,

182.

273.

1999,

Illuminations,

1980,

58. Andrew Benjamin,

231.

preface.

1994,

the

a per is the

object

it possible in

in of

object hand.

practised

the

home

a utilitarian

camera

recorded

important

which practice is in decline." 55.

the

at

which,

cluster

traces

use

of these

to

associations

to

left

mechanical

analogous taire;

tend

analogue

which

experience

at

its

the

aura

59.

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in

Benjaminian

in Funérailles

Tropes

15!

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