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Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (born 16 January 1943 in Coventry) is a British composer.
Ferneyhough was awarded the Felix Mendelssohn Scholarship in 1968 and moved to Europe to study with Ton de Leeuw in
Amsterdam, and later with Klaus Huber in Basel. As of 1999, he is William H. Bonsall Professor in Music at Stanford
University.
Ferneyhough became closely associated with the so-called New Complexity school of composition, characterised by its
extension of the modernist tendency towards formalisation (particularly as in integral serialism). Ferneyhough’s actual
compositional app ...read more
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (born 16 January 1943 in Coventry) is a British composer.
Ferneyhough was awarded the Felix Mendelssohn Scholarship in 1968 and moved to Europe to study with Ton de Leeuw in
Amsterdam, and later with Klaus Huber in Basel. As of 1999, he is William H. Bonsall Professor in Music at Stanford
University.
Ferneyhough became closely associated with the so-called New Complexity school of composition, characterised by its
extension of the modernist tendency towards formalisation (particularly as in integral serialism). Ferneyhough’s actual
compositional approach, however, rejects serialism and other “generative” methods of composing; he prefers instead to use
systems only to create material and formal constraints, while their realisation appears to be more spontaneous. Unlike many
more formally-inclined composers, Ferneyhough often speaks of his music as being about creating energy and excitement
rather than embodying an abstract schema.
His scores make huge technical demands on performers — sometimes, as in the case of Unity Capsule for solo flute, creating
parts that are so detailed they are likely impossible to realise completely. Contrary to the widespread belief that Ferneyhough
is merely attempting to tie down interpretative possibilities by stipulating everything with such precision, the purpose here is
to give the performer creative freedom in deciding which aspects to focus on, which elements may be omitted and so on. « hide |
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