Brian Ferneyhough: Fourth String Quartet; Kurze Schatten II; Trittico per g.s.; Terrain

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
A critical synthesis of the works of the past, Brian Ferneyhough's post-modernism confronts new aesthetic challenges, in the alternation of reversed and dislocated movements of Quartet No. 4, in the shimmering surface of Kurze Schatten II, where the cast shadow vacillates under the strings of the guitar (in reference to a phrase of Walter Benjamin), or in Terrain, a virtual symphonic poem in the form of a violin concerto, bristling like the eruptive, chaotic geology of the landscape that inspired it, the "land art" of Robert Smithson.

Brian Ferneyhough: Fourth String Quartet; Kurze Schatten II; Trittico per g.s.; Terrain, Music, Brian Ferneyhough, Stefano Scodanibbio, ASKO Ensemble, Magnus Andersson, Brenda Mitchell, Irvine Arditti, Chamber, Chamber Music, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Guitar Solo, Solo Voice(s) and Small Ensemble, Vocal
Brian Ferneyhough: Fourth String Quartet; Kurze Schatten II; Trittico per g.s.; Terrain
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • An excellent Ferneyhough compilation
 Brian Ferneyhough: Fourth String Quartet; Kurze Schatten II; Trittico per g.s.; Terrain

Manufacturer: Disques Montaigne
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000AKO6P
Release Date: 2003-11-18

Album Description

A critical synthesis of the works of the past, Brian Ferneyhough's post-modernism confronts new aesthetic challenges, in the alternation of reversed and dislocated movements of Quartet No. 4, in the shimmering surface of Kurze Schatten II, where the cast shadow vacillates under the strings of the guitar (in reference to a phrase of Walter Benjamin), or in Terrain, a virtual symphonic poem in the form of a violin concerto, bristling like the eruptive, chaotic geology of the landscape that inspired it, the "land art" of Robert Smithson.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars An excellent Ferneyhough compilation.......2003-11-19

Brian Ferneyhough, adopted father of the 'new complexity' movement, is often written of as one of the most significant composers of our time. However, comparatively few of his recent works are available on disc, so this reissue of pieces from the late 1980s and early 1990s is very welcome.

The Fourth String Quartet was written as a companion piece to Schoenberg's Second Quartet (the one with the soprano solo in the last two movements). Accordingly, this work also has a four-movement form and a solo soprano--though she sings in the second and fourth movements in this work. Stylistically, this quartet is largely similar to the two preceding quartets, though Ferneyhough has to some extent clarified his style, eliminating some excess detail without impairing expressivity. It is a very emotionally intense work--Schoenberg taken to the nth degree--and phenomenally virtuosic, particularly in the vocal line. Based on Jackson MacLow's deconstructions of Ezra Pound, the soprano part regularly falls apart into a hyper-Expressionist babble, which perfectly matches the overheated intensity of the string quartet writing. Towards the end, the solo voice has a long quasi-cadenza, before the strings rudely cut it off. This is an extreme work in almost every way--even within Ferneyhough's oeuvre--but I think a great one.

The rest of the disc is rather less intense, but still well worth hearing. Kurze Schatten II, a somewhat dry seven-movement suite for solo guitar, based on the writings of Walter Benjamin, explores the idea of approaching moments of revelation--without ever reaching them. Accordingly, the guitar starts off entirely microtonally tuned and gradually approaches normal tuning, but the work ends before this process is complete. Musically, the work is fractured, sudden bursts of activity being fragmented by fierce plucking where the strings slam off the guitar fingerboard.

Trittico per G. S., dedicated to the memory of Gertrude Stein, is written for solo double-bass. An expressive piece, with aggressive and dynamic writing that only occasionally falls into stasis, this is amongst the best works I have heard for this instrument.

The final work on the disc is a miniature concerto. Terrain is written for violin and wind octet (the instrumentation is intended to evoke Varese's Octandre--the first piece of 'modern' music that Ferneyhough heard). The violin plays almost continuously throughout, with extremely virtuoso writing for almost the whole work. After a long opening solo, the accompanying ensemble gradually enters, providing a more slow-moving landscape beneath which the violin's incessant scurrying flutters through. Towards the end, the violin's music is drawn more and more towards the orbit of the ensemble part, and the work is rounded off with a superb throwaway ending. If not quite the equal of the slightly earlier clarinet concerto La Chute D'Icare, this is still a significant achievement.

The performances on this disc are outstanding. Irvine Arditti (soloist in Terrain) and the Arditti Quartet (in the quartet) are tailor-made for this sort of music, and Brenda Mitchell's rendition of the solo part in the quartet is nothing short of phenomenal. The contributions of Magnus Andersson (in the guitar piece) and Stefano Scodanibbio (in the double bass one) should not be minimised either.

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