Review: [untitled] Author(s): Ian Pace Source: Tempo, New Series, No. 203 (Jan., 1998), pp. 45-48+50-52 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/946283 . Accessed: 21/03/2011 19:02 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
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Book Reviews 45
Tobe fairto the author,he doessay(p.6)that Coltrane, the Beates, John Mclaughlinand more the book came out of his researchinto 'Indian recent manifestationssuch as Indipop and musicinjazzandpopularmusicof the 1960s'.But bhangra.The book is worth havingfor these even here there is no investigationof Indian chaptersalone.But we still awaita comprehenmusic'sback-doorinfluenceson popularmusic sive andauthoritative accountof the vastsubject. of Indian the ideas and works influence on of Westernmusic. Cowell, through John Head Cage,LamonteYoung,LouHarrisonandPhilip Raymond Glass.For most of this book what we have is somethingmuchmorelocal;Indianinfluenceon Brian - Collected editedby Femeyhough Writings, Britishpopularmusicfrom the 18th centuryto Boros and Richard Toop. Harwood James thepresent.Giventhebook'stitle,it wouldhave AcademicPublishers,hardback?82.00, paperbeen interestingto havehada sectionon Indian back?23.00. influenceon Hungarianmusic, particularlyas theorieswererife in the 1880sand90saboutthe FERNEYHOUGH: String Quartet No.4; Kurze Indianoriginsof the Hungarians and gypsies. Schatten ArdittiString II; Tritticoper G.S.;Terrain. The historical sections deal with British Quartetwith BrendaMitchell (sop); Magnus of Indianmusic from the 18th Andersson understanding (gtr);StefanoScodanibbio (db);Irvine centuryonwards;a.good sectionon the stateof Arditti(vln)with ASKOEnsemblec. Jonathan Indianmusicin Indiain the 19thcentury;India Nott. DisquesMontaigneMO782029. andpopularsongsin the 19thcentury;a thorough FERNEYHOUGH: Prometheus; La ChuteD'Icare;On of the gramophone in Indiawithan investigation Stellar Careen d'Invezione Magnitudes; Superscriptio; emphasison performance practice.Butgiventhe III. LuisaCastellani Felix (voice); Renggli (fl); there should have been a discussubject,surely ErnestoMolinari(cl); EnsembleContrechamps sion of the dissemination of earlyrecordingsin c. Giorgio Bernasconi,Zsolt Nagy, Emilio Britain or Europe?So the Frenchcomposer Pomarico.ACCORD205772. MauriceDelage, friendof Raveland Debussy, who collectedrecordingsin Indiabefore 1914 The releasein Englishof BrianFereyhough's which were listenedto by Stravinsky,gets no mentionhere.Itwouldhavebeenusefulto under- collectedwritingsis an importantevent within stand how his rare (?) collection popularized publishing about contemporarymusic. This volumeis not, however,a lengthytome of lofty Indianmusicin Parisduringthis period. and aestheticmanifestos;less Thereis little seriousdiscussionof the nature pronouncements than half of the book's 533 pages are actually of exoticismfor the westernmind, surelythe main carrierand raisond'etreof many of the takenup with Fereyhough'sessays.These are suchascontinuein filmsandfilm dividedinto three sections:the first containsa popularizations collectionof highlyabtruse musicup to the presenttime. Earlyon Farrell rathermiscellaneous on essays general topics, such as notation, states'It appearsas if the West has a cultural or the natureof 'complexity'. investmentin nevermeetingthe Eastmusically, rhythm,teaching Overall these seem like responsesto particular as if the Eastand all its workshave to remain circumstances rather than any attemptto set mysteriousin orderto retainartisticvalidity'.It down credos. The second section contains is a greatpity he has not developedthis idea. Otherpopularizers havebeenmissedout too, Fereyhough's writings on some of his own on vocalworks mostnotablyMaudMcCarthywho hadstudied works(furthersuchelaborations are found at the end of an interview with Paul singingin Indiain 1908 and who lecturedand These are not at all like the Driver). analyses by in performedwidely this countryandFrance.It Richard Toop that have appearedin several wouldhave been interestingto learnabouther influence.Alsomissingis mentionofKedarNath publications',as Fereyhough is less concerned Das Gupta and his Union of East and West with elaborationof the compositionalprocesses activein Londonaroundthetimeof than elucidationof what he calls the 'experiorganization, mentalgrammar'and some of the conceptual the FirstWorldWar. It is only when we come to the last two underpinningof the works. The third section containsessayson the musicof Weber, Finnissy chapters,concernedwith Indianinfluence on contemporary popularmusicandjazz, that the 1 SeeRichardToop,'BrianFereyhough'sLemma-Icon-Epigram' authorseems totally happy with his material. in Perspectivesof New Music Vol.28 No.2 (Summer 1990), 'On Superscriptio' in Contemporary Music Review, Here, with many musicalillustrations,Farrell pp.52-100, Vol.13, Part 1. pp.3-17, or 'Brian Ferneyhough'sEtudes with the nature of Indian expounds easyfluency Transcendntales;A Diary (Part 1)' in EONTA influenceon such figuresas Miles Davis,John Vol.1 No.1 (1991), Composer's pp.55-89.
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BookReviews
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and Ruggles. In these andin commentson various other composers and works elsewhere in the book, it is clear how Ferneyhough's understanding of much music is every bit as intricate and detailed as that of his own (he says at one point 'You think Beethoven is simple? I spent manyhours, once, working out what happenedin the first four or five measuresof the Eroica,and I still wasn't at the end of it.'). Hence it beomes clear that 'complexity' for Ferneyhoughis something very much more thana particularnotational style or overall level of density; it is subsequently easier to understand the extent to which he relates to various 'traditions' but also how 'difficult'other seemingly more 'simple'music is. The book is difficult reading, however: one's eyes begin to hurt after reading and re-reading the tortuous sentences. Fereyhough's thinking can be seen to evolve even within a paragraph, for ever qualifying and aiming towards greater specificity. Talkingabout music is frowned upon in Britain, but as Femeyhough says 'I can't see (verbal)silenceperse as being of any utility at all, except in notably restricted aesthetic circumstances'.It becomes clearwhen one contrastshow carefully Fereyhough has thought about the act of composing with the naive and dilletantish approachof so many (not least in Britain), why their work is so shallow and disposable in comparison with his. The bulk of the book, and its more interesting and varied reading, is taken up with interviews spanning a period from 1978 and 1992. These have all appeared elsewhere, but this collection enables one to follow the evolutionary nature of Fereyhough's thinking. With over 30 years' work behind him, and the availability of a sizeable amount of this on disc, it is indeed becoming possible to divide his career into periods where different attributesassume prominence. Such a delineation inevitably risks being over-simplistic, but Fereyhough himself does say in one interview 'Several swings. . . can be distinguishedwithout difficulty in my progress', and some paradigmis necessary for any discussion of the work. So I suggest that there are four 'periods' to date. The first I would call the 'hyperexpressionistic',in which Fereyhough built upon a hypertrophied post-Second Viennese School intervallicandgesturalvocabularywith innovative typesof structuralconcerns:beginingwith the first truly maturework, the ThreePieces(1966-67) for piano, progressingthrough the SonatasforString Quartet(1967), Epicycle(1968) andothers, towards Beta(1969-71) the magnificentorchestralFirecycle (a piece calling out to be revived and recorded).
BookReviews 47 Then followed an 'experimental' period, testing the limits of performance situations, as well as exploration of the theatricsof performance, and live electronics: this incorporates the Time and MotionStudies(1971-77), UnityCapsule(1975-76), Transit(1972-75) and the work that forced a rethink of many things, the orchestral La terre est un homme(1976-79). After the transitional Funerailles(1979-80), the third period, which includes most of the works for which Ferneyhough is best known, involves a greater focus on individualgesturesand their modes of transformation. It begins with the Second String Quartet (1981), moving (1980) and Lemma-Icon-Epigram through the Carcerid'Invenzionecycle (1981-86) and the Third String Quartet (1987), towards such works as Kurze SchattenII (1985-88) for guitar, La chute d'lcare(1988) for clarinet and ensemble,andallminatingin the very problematic Tritticoper GertrudeStein (1989) for double bass. The most recent period, beginning with the Fourth String Quartet (1989-90), has featured much considerationof the relationshipsbetween instruments (and/or voices), in such works as Terrain (1991-92) for violin and ensemble, Allgebrah(1991-95) for oboe and ensemble and On StellarMagnitudes(1994) for voice and five players. Most recently the String Trio (1994-95) and Incipits (1996-97) appear to be revisiting aspects of the earliest music. Of course several works, such as SiebenSterne (1970) for organ, would seem to fall outside of these neat time-periods, and the considerations of some periods are often implied by works in the preceding one. With hindsight, it is Ferneyhough's second period (though perhapsthe most interestingof all) that now seems most tangential to his overall line of development. The two new CDs enable one to become more familiar with works of the latter half of the third and fourth periods of his work. The Montaigne disc is in part a complement to the Ardittis' earlier disc (Montaigne 789002) of the first three String Quartets and Adagissimo (1983).The FourthStringQuartetis Fereyhough's response to Schoenberg's Second Quartet, and similarly involves a voice in two of the four movements. The text is taken from Jackson MacLow'sreworkingsof EzraPound'sCantos.In the first movement the instrumentalistscontinue to explore the dichotomy between short gestural units on one hand, and sustained pitches and chords on the other, which was a feature of the Third Quartet, but with the additionof repeatednote patterns.They circle aroundbinding threads such as pitch unison that make them act as a unit. The second movement is divided into fragments
of different lengths, separated by silences, in which multiple trajectories of voice-instrument integration operate within different parameters. The third movement includes solos for all players,and enables the different playersto bring their individual personalities very much to the fore. The last movement is intended to present 'the incompatibility of voice and instrumentsin emblematic form', and begins with a long instrumentalpassage in which the players have practicallyno rests, so that the effect is like that of experiencing a complex line-drawing being constructedwithout taking the pen off the paper. The singerenters nearthe end of this section, and continues into a long, unaccompanied solo notated as if alternating between two or three different voices. As she descends into distorted, unpitched utterings, the quartet reappearsin the last bar with an ultra-refined final gesture in rhythmic and (almost) contoural unison. Like so much of the piece, this moment seems to be pushing at the boundaries of the expressible. The work is tailor-madefor the Ardittis;their hyper-articulationand experiencedjudgement in prioritizingthe concurrentlevels of information in the score (not to mention the admirablequality of the recorded sound) prevent the denser moments in the piece from ever seeming grey. Notwithstanding the overall autocracyof Irvine Arditti's style, the charged, highly emotional playing of the viola player, Garth Knox (who could recently be heard in a fine performancein London of Incipits), is especially noteworthy. However, the way in which the Ardittiscurrently have the field to themselves in this repertoire could potentially lead to an excessive orthodoxy in performancepractice. I would very much like to hear another quartet (for example the Kreutzers)take up Ferneyhough'spieces for the medium; multiple interpretationscan only add to one's appreciationof the music, and help to dispel the all-too-prevalent myth that the detail of Ferneyhough'snotation precludes any individuality of approachon the part of the performer. In the two solo pieces, however, the closeness of the recorded sound verges on the oppressive. Kurze SchattenII (1985-88) is in seven short movements; on one level it can be heard as an encyclopaedia of guitar techniques, including harmonics, tremolo glissandi, percussive effects on the body of the instrument,and so on. Microtones are made possible throughscordatura; one of the strings is retuned to its ordinarypitch every alternatemovement, with the intended effect of progressive clarification of the harmonic field. This is certainly partly audible, but tempered by many other layers of large-scale process.
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If the predominantly gesturalnatureof this
This tremendouslypowerful, captivatingwork creates a truly audible sense of multi-layering, resulting in sensational textures. The poetic dimension of the piece is ever-present: colours transform into each other, or are glimpsed through gaps and fissures within other fields of colouration, with a seemingly infinite depth. When one compares this work with La terreest un homme,Fereyhough's previous musical essay concerning 'the earth', as a man rather than as geology, it seems he feels more musicallyattuned towards natural rather than human metaphors! The highly judicious and subtle instrumental writing is complimented by the sensitive playing of the ASKO Ensemble; it is clear that they have marvellousrapport,understandingof and respect for each others' individualities- such a contrast to the sound of a collection of soloistic, arrogant, prima donna-like musicians lumped together when the occasion demands it (unfortunatelya feature of many performancesover here). The performers of Ensemble Contrechamps show similar levels of co-operation and mutual sympathy on their disc, which includes two (1981) for piccolo andLachute pieces, Superscriptio d'Icare(1988) for clarinetandensemble, which are also found on the early Ferneyhoughdisc by the Nieuw Ensemble (EtceteraKTC 1070). The early Prometheus(1967) for wind sextet, in which Femeyhough utilizes differing degrees of predetermination in the compositional process, is also featured. While the work uses the hyperexpressionistic language I mentioned earlier, other structuraland instrumentalfactors, such as the use and natureof extended instrumentalsolos and the employment of the ensemble as a block, enable it to diverge from conventional musical parlancein this respect; consequentlyPrometheus is more striking than, say, Stockhausen's Zeitmasse. The presence of the soundof Lachuted'lcareis a little better on the new disc, but otherwise the performancesare complementary.Froma beginning which seems 'business as usual' within Femeyhough's third period, one perceives glimpses of something quite different through crevices in the texture. A moment where the clarinet and piano break off from the other players, and the clarinet heads towards a high, close-chromatic wailing, most resembles a conventional climax; after this the ensemble writing is more still, preparingthe ground for a clarinet cadenza. The fine performance manages to articulatevery clearly such features as the use of rhythmic periodicity. 2 Fora discussionof the After avowing at the time of the Etudes problemsof this approachsee Ian in Tempo 200 (April1997). Transcendantales Pace,'Kagel:Musicof theAbsurd?' (1982-85) that he wished to get
piece edges towardsacademicism,the situationis much more pronouncedin Tritticoper G.S. (1989). This piece, apartfrom representingwhat is surely the limit in double basstechnique, is consistentin its absolutely extreme discontinuity and brevity of gesture, to such a degree that distinctions become blurred and one is left with a numbing sense of sonic overkill or ultra-intellectualism verging on solipsism (though some find similar qualitiesandpalpablegapsbetween intention and resultin the work of GertrudeStein, to whom the title refers). It is hardto see what a non-musician in particularwould 'get out of this piece other thana general sense of samenessand tedium. The problem is not unlike that with La terre,and the piece seems to occupy a similar role of turningpoint within Ferneyhough'soutput. The works that immediately followed, such as the Fourth Quartet, Mortsubite(1990) for four players and BoneAlphabet(1991) for solo percussion, are by contrast notably measured and disciplined. I would contend that Ferneyhough's most successful scores are those which cearly amount to more than the sum of their parts, and seem somehow to point beyond 'the notes themselves'. There is of course a world of difference between this and the notion that music is best suited to a representative function, aiming for maximum transparency,and consequently redundancy, by denial of its own materiality.2 But the other extreme, where music becomes an entirely selfreferential system, incomprehensible except in terms of other music or abstractideas that exist only within discourse about music, is equally dubious. None of this blights Terrain(1991-92), however, the crowningachievementof Fereyhough's fourth period. This work has to do with 'natural forces as a metaphorfor the creative process', in particularthose drawnfrom geology. The crazed, manaical but free-flying violin writing is at a marked contrast to the solidity and impermeability of the instrumentation,(the same as that for Varese'sOctandre),which Ferneyhough uses to create differentsub-combinations.The work is in two sections, each containinga violin cadenza, then a passagewhere the ensemble enters. In the first section the violin plays almost continuously, without rests, whereas the second contains long silences; indeed the violin is silent for the first partof the ensemble entry. Also prominentin the second section is the coalescing of the ensemble onto sustained pitches.
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Book Reviews
whichgovernthe rest away from the predominantsoft-focusof the fromthe socialconstraints of his contemporaries'. Yet,as he hascontinued to pointout, the determinednatureof the 'self doesnotmeanone shouldcompletelyreduceit to a passiveentityentirelyat the mercyof external forces (that would be a rathercrass form of post-modernism).These considerationsaffect Ferneyhough'sviews on teaching, which he discussesat manypointsin the volume.Whilst actuallydeclaringthatin reality'Youcan'tteach composition',Ferneyhough saysthathis type of teachingconsistsof attemptingto get studentsto expresscearly andverballywhatit is thatthey aretryingto achieve,thenattemptto helpthem realizetheir aims.Those of an empiricalbent (usually British) would no doubt balk at insistenceon this type of verbal Ferneyhough's but thinksit necessary explanation, Ferneyhough to teaseoutthe manyimplicitassumptions young composersoften passivelyaccept.Essentiallyhe wishes to make all his studentsthink actively aboutwhatthey are doing, 'not to be naive'(if thereis to be a Ferneyhough credo,perhapsthisis it), ratherthanforcethemto attemptmasteryof second-handcompositionaldevices- let alone handover to them his own 'toolbox'. WithToop,Ferneyhough the'ethical', discusses as opposedto the 'moral'dimensionof music. He says'I've often thoughthatI'm sittingon a desertisland,in termsof whatI thinkis quality in music',but also that 'I'm not one of those composers who is engaged in the banally social(ist)or evenfascistnotionof a workof art's "doinggood"in the worldin general'.Put this way, such exaggeratedclaimsdo seem superfluous,but nonethelessit is a bit too easy for those in a privileged,secure environmentto eschew questionsabout the relevanceof their art.Theconditionsthatmaketheproductionand dissemination of Ferneyhough's or anyoneelse's musicpossibleare highly interdependent with political culture and the implicit ideologies thereof,not to mentionthe extentto whichthe artist's consciousnessis impinged upon by dominantideologies,so surelytheseissuesneed to be comprehensivelyexamined.Thus when askedin 1990byJamesBoros'whatroledoes(or art play in our society?', should)contemporary 3 Theserecordingsare soon to be followedby an NMC reanswer suggests that he has Ferneyhough's release of the London Sinfoniettarecordingof Transit, addressedthis only in a relatively general togetherwitha newrecordingof MissaBrevis,myownNMC All thisisjustto suggestthelimitationof recitaldiscincludingLemma-Icon-Epigram anda discfeaturing manner. membersof ELISIONEnsemble,includingTimeandMotion the discourse,for all its seemingubiquity. Studies I & II, Unity Capsule, Bone Alphabetand a further of the complex understanding Ferneyhough's recordingof KurzeSchaten II. The majorgapsthatwill then nature of the self is taken further in his remainin the cataloguewill be ofEpicycle,Firecycle Beta,Time of dreamswhere he sees scores andMotionStudyIII andFunerailles (whicharebothavailable, descriptions in his mind, but only as partof costlyboxedsets),andespeciallyCarceri whichhe hasobviouslyconstructed d'InvenzioneI & II. butarepalablynotby the mindthatis dreaming: Pierrot Lunaire instrumentation, Ferneyhough wrote On StellarMagnitudes(1994) for precisely that combination. For the first time, the text is entirely his own: he devises a seriesof 17 acrostics from names of stars, an essentially arbitary limitation like his compostional 'grids' for shaping the flow of his creative imagination. Thus the work is shaped by formalistic rather than narrative concerns. Ferneyhough attempts to form 'characters' from specific vocal and instrumental combinations, within an overall sense of continual transformation. The delineation of the charactersbecomes more and more blurred as the piece progresses. Both this piece and Carcerid'InvenzioneIII (1986) for wind, brass and percussion were recordedlive, which I generallyfind problematic, though Ferneyhoughexpresses a preference for the spontaneityand immediacy of live performance over a potentially clinical studio recording. The situation seems to work better in Carceri, which has enormous elemental power through the wonderful sound of the instrumentalcombination. Various 'triggers' between events, in particular those initiated by the percussion, provide a clear backboneof structuralboundaries that are easy to latch onto on first hearing. The relative imperviousnessof the brass, in contrast to the more dynamically changing wind, has parallelswith Terrain,but the brass also seem to have an almost 'American' sound - could the fact that part of the piece was written in Chicago have anything to do with this?3 To my mind, the most fascinatinginterviewsin the new book are those with Joel Bons (1982), with Richard Toop (1983), the longest of all, which previously appeared in CONTACT, and the first interview with James Boros (1990), entitled 'Shattering the Vessels of Received Wisdom'. With Bons, Ferneyhough talks about the problem of the 'Nineteenth Century myth of the individual creative personality ... after the structuralistrevolution of the sixties' and how one can 'write romantic music without the basic underlyingconcept of the genial individual,freed
BookReviews 51 A more asin Lacan,the 'I'seeingandthe 'I'seenarenon- of blinddevotionor simplisticdismissal. critical and a readiness identical.He arguesthatthe creationof 'open- constructively approach, ended'worksis actuallyat oddswith the use of to enter into broaderartisticand other conindeterminatetechniques.When discussingthe textualization(includingbiographicalfactors) use of pre-existentformsin the work of other would add muchto the extantdebate. But Ferneyhough does not see himselfas the composers,Fereyhough statesthat such comof an centre 'are forced to an extexclusivelyvalid musicaluniverse. posers impose arbitrary, focus raneous,and very academicformal structure He is atpainsto pointoutthathisparticular stemfromthattowardswhich upontheseisolatedinstancesof whatmayor may andconcentrations not be authenticexpression'.But arbitrariness he feels a personalaffinity,andin no sensedoes canbe a positivething:the tensioncreatedin the he wishto prescribe(orproscribe)techniquesor differentmusicsof ChristopherFox or Chris aestheticsin the mannerof Boulez. As with Newman is partlya result of the relationship Michael Finnissyor RichardBarrett,Fereybetween materialand seeminglyindependent hough'sawarenessof the limitsandparticularity of whathe doesservesto strengthen, notweaken, processes. With Boros,Ferneyhough discussesperform- his work. It enableshim to have a sense of ance of his work, and the advantagesof perspective.As for the nonsensicalidea that is the lastrefugeof trulyhard-line, performersgaininga long-termfamilaritywith Ferneyhough as to 'the musician the modernism,I would aver non-capitulationary pieces, opposed "gig" betweenhisworkandthatof playerwho, in a couple of rehearsalsis justly thattherelationship realization either Boulez or Stockhausen,let alone other proudof producinga "professional" is of less consequencethanoften of just about anything';the way in which Darmstadters, rather I thinkpartof Fereyhough's differentinterpreters levels of notated supposed; prioritize his own new information;and the relationshipbetween the approachderivesfromconstructing physicalact of playingand the resultantsound, post-SecondViennese School tradition.It is somethingwhich Ferneyhoughis acutelycons- interestingto note how his students,or those cious of, to the extentthathe triesout most of influencedby him, try to reconcilehis achievewhathe writeson the instrument(s) concerned. mentswith a moreobvioussympathywith other As analyses of his working methods have post-wartraditions. This is not to say thatFerneyhough demonstrated,Ferneyhoughpointsout that his espouses pieces could not be createdby some super- open-endedpluralism.He is keento makeothers formula.Ratherthere is a great deal of non- consider the questions inherent in different formulabledecision-making; his techniquesare approaches,as in his commentthat 'most new toolsforthe creationof particular typesof result, music... seemsunableto escapebeingcrushed whichbearthetraceof theirmeansof derivation. between the extremes of material-immanent The use of gesture or rhetoricis to provide manipulationand an anaesthetically anecdotal audibledifferentiation of lines or textures. "poeticism"'.Whathe arguesmostpersuasively In the interviewwith Antoniode Lisa(1991), againstis the unexaminedcompositionalmind, the inevitable question arises of the 'New thatwhichblithelyor cynicallyexploitsthe preComplexity'.I forone havemanyproblemswith existentwithouteithercritiqueor understanding. the espousalof a schoolof 'complex'music,and The final interviewin the book, 'Leapsand the subsequentfactionalizing andghettoizingof Circuitsto Trail',withJeffreyStadelman(1992) thisapproachasthe onlypossiblevalidone. This concernsFereyhough'srecenttextsandpoetry, applies more to Ferneyhough'sdisciples and with generousexamples.In termsof levels of epigones than to Ferneyhoughhimself. The detail and simultaneousprocess the poetry asa refuge resemblesthe music,thoughwherethe gestural holdingupof excessiveintellectualism fromanyemotivepowerthatmusicmighthave vocabularyof the musicdrawson late expres(or the implicationthat the only permissible sionism,in these Englishtexts the style relates emotionsare those of violence, rage or other to para-absurdist Americanexperimental idioms. manifestations of negativity,with a concomitant But I thinkthereareconnexionswiththesesorts ruthlesscensuringof consonance,or those that of traditionsin the musicas well. can be expressedin archetypalterms,thus exFereyhough'swillingnessto accepttheresults cluding the personalor the particular)surely of his compositional processeshasa Cageianfeel a rathershallowmachoposturing.The aboutit, in contrastto the omnipresentcontrolrepresents factremainsthatdiscoursearoundFereyhough's lingpersonalitythatone findsin manyEuropean work is almostexclusivelyconductedby white composers. the book,Ferneyhough's Throughout malemusicians andis too oftenon theleveleither writingdisplaysan innocence,wondermentand
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excitementin shapingandmanipulating language, labyrinthinebut highly specific attempts at demarcationof semanticspace,which contrast stronglywith the pomposity,sanctimonyand self-righteousnessthat characterizeso much writingon music.There is a gamingaspectto what Fereyhough does, a fascinationwith abstract thingsoutsideof anypurposetheymight serve.Thisis a deeplyAnglo-Saxontrait(albeita non-conformistone), and one shouldquestion whetherFerneyhough reallyis 'deadcentrein the Europeantradition'.
This volume should be made compulsory readingfor all young studentsof composition (andquitea few olderonesaswell).Evenif they finally found a cause to reject most of what Ferneyhoughhas to say, it would bring intellectual upheavalin composers'understanding andvision,farmoreimportantthananyamount of rote-like studies of prescribedforms of harmony,counterpointor orchestration. lan Pace
Obituary RobertSimpson(1921-1997) - a Tribute recordingsof the majorworks will stimulate With the death of Robert Simpson on 21 greatinterestin Simpson'smusic,both in this November 1997, Britain has lost one of its countryand abroad. His finestworkshave a timelessqualityand leading composers and most forceful personalities. Central to his output are the cycles of 11 monumentalstature,placinghim in a unique, symphoniesand 15 stringquartetswhose mastery unchallengedposition in terms of late 20thof organic growth and grandeur of design are century music. The Ninth Symphony, for easily worthy of comparisonwith Shostakovich. instance, radicallyreassessesthe concept of Ina singletripartitemoveSimpson was blessed with the rare ability to re- moder symphonism. define symphonic thinking from a completely ment,lastingnearly50 minutes,it hasone basic modem perspective, proving that the form is pulse which remains consistent throughout. the just as durable, vital and crucial to our culture Withinthisvastspan,Simpsondemonstrates (such as it is) as it was in the era of Haydn or sheerversatilityof his maturelanguage,froman austereBrucknerian Beethoven. nobilityin the firstsection, His piano music, though less wide-ranging in througha centralscherzoof titanicenergyto a expression, reveals a craggy, uncompromisingly final set of variationsof epic proportions.The the lastfourminutes individual keyboard style stemming ultimately calmcodawhichconstitutes hasperhapsonlybeensurpassed from the greatcontrapuntists:Bach (Bach-Busoni of thesymphony even), the Beethoven of the Hammerklavier, in symphonicterms by the closing pages of later Nielsen and Reger. The works for brass Sibelius'sSixthSymphony. formfascinatedSimpsonthroughout Variation band comprise such an impressive corpus that his life. The Ninth all his Simpson easily surpasses Quartetis a setof 32 variations contemporaries minuetby Haydn. in this field. His three concerti, for Piano (1966), plus fugueon a palindromic andprofoundlyhuman Flute (1989) and Cello (1991) reveal a vivid Themajesty,spaciousness indentification with the human qualities of the qualitiesin thisworknaturally bringthreeother to mindas parallels:Bach's solo instrument concerned, combined with an greatvariation-sets advanced degree of structuralinnovation. 'Goldberg',Beethoven's'Diabelli'andBrahms's There are still lamentably few opportunities 'Handel'. to experience live performances of Simpson's Once,whendiscussingthe geniusofJ.S.Bach music. The physical excitement engendered by over a bottleof fine Irishwhisky,Bob Simpson such moments as the fiercelyjoyous closing pages maintainedto me that it was the 'magical of the FourthSymphonyor the drivingmomentum combinationof energyand serenity'thatmade in the finale of the Sixth make a shatteringimpact Bach'swork so compelling.These are also the in the concert hall. The Kensington Symphony qualitiesthatI mostgreatlycherishin the music Orchestra conducted by Russell Keable proved of RobertSimpson. MatthewTaylor this in the QEH performancesin recentyears. Let us hope that the impressive array of Hyperion
