Ferneyhough's Plough

[bwv 1080]

Aeon has now announced the long-awaited recording of Ferneyhough's complete string quartet and string trio cycle by the "new" Arditti Quartet.

3 CDs, Claron McFadden is the soprano in the String Quartet No. 4. Looks good.

been waiting for a recording of the 6th qt.  And it looks like all new recordings of the earlier quartets - not reissues

meanwhile, if you are jonesing for the 6th quartet Arditti put up a couple of cool videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJVj60z-TVc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojafApMFCAQ

[CRCulver]

been waiting for a recording of the 6th qt.  And it looks like all new recordings of the earlier quartets - not reissues

Ferneyhough's String Quartet No. 6, as performed by the Ardittis, has long been available on a Neos set of recordings from the 2010 Donaueschinger Musiktage. Even if you are looking forward to the Aeon complete string quartets, that Neos release is well worth having for three different performances of Dillon's String Quartet No. 6 (by the Ardittis, the JACK Quartet and the Quatuor Diotima), recent major works by Manoury and Haas, etc.

[snyprrr]

Ferneyhough's String Quartet No. 6, as performed by the Ardittis, has long been available on a Neos set of recordings from the 2010 Donaueschinger Musiktage. Even if you are looking forward to the Aeon complete string quartets, that Neos release is well worth having for three different performances of Dillon's String Quartet No. 6 (by the Ardittis, the JACK Quartet and the Quatuor Diotima), recent major works by Manoury and Haas, etc.

All that on ONE disc??

But WAIT!

There's More!!

Order Now and Receive a Complimentary 'Le Sacre' Ringtone!

Seriously, all that on one disc???

[bwv 1080]

looks to be a good year with Ian Pace's recording of the complete piano works coming out as well

[amw]

All that on ONE disc??

But WAIT!

There's More!!

Order Now and Receive a Complimentary 'Le Sacre' Ringtone!

Seriously, all that on one disc???

4 discs. But all available in the same compilation at least, which is an unparalleled bargain with 4 discs for the price of... um... 5.

Also featuring the 2nd string quartet of Aaron "I AM the avant-garde, bitch" Cassidy and a 45 minute piece by Vinko Globokar I still can't make head or tail of. There's a quota of one of those per Donaueschinger Musiktage compilation, I think.

[Mandryka]

Elgar Howarth's LP of Transit has just been uploaded to symphonyshare - I asked for it after being impressed with the music as heard on youtube. Normally I'm not so interested in music from this period of his output (i.e. early), but this seems to stand out as a masterpiece.

I'm seriously interested in Ferneyhough at the moment, especially the more recent pieces. Again my interest was peeked when I came across the UK premier of Liber Scintillarum on youtube.

Has anyone read Lois Fitch's book?

[Mandryka]

I found this on the web, but i'm putting it here for ease of access.

Here's the text of the Transcendental Etudes



I. Etüden (Auszug)

Nacht, wo der
Diamantberg glänzt
und Rabe und Nachtigall
zur Schaukel machen
den werenden Mond.


II. Etüden (Auszug)

Diese langen
Regenfäden
enden nicht
in deiner Hand.

Wo das Kreuz ist
der Sanduhr
wurzelt der Blitz.

Die Sorge; als Wind
bespringt sie
den Rand
erblickter See,
verdingt sich,
als Segel
dem Grunde.

Woran gebrichts?
Kind sagt dirs nicht
noch Vogel
Ziel zielzüchtig sonst
spricht plötzlich dir
von Raum.

Mit schönen Knien
kommt
Vernunft vorbei

(E.M.)

III. Komet

ich lote
die stürzende Tiefe
in den gefesselten Sprung

zur Dunkelhaft
verglühten
basaltgefiederte Schwingen

kaltgeschlagen
ufert
die Ebbe

(A.M.)

IV. Kartusche

in Gold gefaßt
die Lapisnacht
am Kratermund
der Skarabäen

fossile Glut
ritzt ihre Schwerkraft
in die Sonnenzeichen

[zielsuchtige]

die Feuerprobe
in Wendekreis
des Nichts

mein Schläfenbrand
will euch
die Sohle wetzen

Inbrunst verseigeln
am Flügelblei
der Silbe

Mohnstaub
hinfällig
ausgespien

verwurzelt
eure Blitze


(A.M.)

V. Elysium

im Aufwind
leuchten
die Fesseln

lichtgestrandet
treiben
die Flügel

Fadenkreuze
fanden
Gewißheit

jenseits
der Blendung
   Duftschwere noch
   in seligen Gefilden

(A.M.)


VI. Der Grund kann nicht reden

Der schreibt kein Tagebuch
Grund, der aus Totem und Toten steht
der die Säulen aus Wasser trägt
under die immer
geschlagene Flotte der Worte...

Er, behäuft mit Verrott und Dunkel
kehllos Ohnsilbiger unter
rudernden Flossen, fahrenden Kielen!

Stoß ich hinab?
Ich griffe im Finstern wohl
wie faulen Zunder
phönizischen Kindes Gewand,
gelöstes Lotblei
irrendes Echo, das
Wrack einer Laute...

Tauche ich?
Ich suchte mit Lampen, ich fände
eine Logbuch, welches jedoch
von des Totseins Bewandtnis
nicht sprich, sondern allein
von des Unterganges Beginn:
WIR SINKEN. WIR
WERDEN GRUND.

(E.M.)

VII. Kalypso

Sirenenschliff

Steinschlag
verzückt
die rächenden Zikaden
eintönig
fiebergetrieben
Aufruhr
im Brennglas der Flügel

Windrisse über den Dünen

schrill
meiß eln die Peitschenhiebe
Stimmbruch
in gläserne Schwingen
sprunghaft
erlicht
das Begehren
verödet
bleichen die Segel

Medusen treiben an Land

(A.M.)

VIII. Pythia

du reimst die dunkle Saat vergebens

zur Neige liebte mich die Fackel
die Todesrunen warf das Licht
ausbluten will das Unsichtbare

raffgierig vergilbte der Marmor
trägt noch die Worte zur Schau
stimmlos
    bis Lava dir die Sichel bleicht

[Flügeltau]

Grünspan
auf lichten Anemonen

Wundbrand der Schwerelosen

wirft Anker
über Nacht

(A.M.)


IX. Persephone

entflügelt
treiben meine Ruder
   steil
   ruht der Abgrund
   bleicher Spiegel
mit fahler Iris
sank die Flut

im Widerschein
Hochzeit
der wildernden Kristalle
    das Irrlicht blaut
    mondsteinenstrückt
ein Gletscherbrand
in atemloser Halle

der Taube Schrei
am Flammenriff
der Stalaktiten
    in lodernder Gewißheit
    eisgeborgen
    versteinert
    das Gefieder
Weißdorn
in blütenloser Trauer

die Netzhaut riss
Mundraub frohlockt
    an schattenleerer Mauer

And here's a translation


I Studies (excerpt)

Night, where the
diamond mountain gleams
and raven and nighingale
turn the ?werenden? moon    [becoming moon?]
into a swing


II Studies (excerpt)

These long
threads of rain
do not end
in your hand.

Where the cross
belongs to the sand-hour
lightning is rooted

Care: it jumps
in windform
on the edge
of the beheld sea,
employing itself
to the ground
as sail.

What's missing?
It speaks to you
of child nor bird

Goal otherwise chaste of goal
suddenly speaks to you
of space.

With beautiful knees
reason
passes by.


[E.M.]


III

COMET

I plumb
the plummeting depth
in the jump in chains

wings with basalt feathers
did glow away
into dark confinement

ebb
struck cold
is shoring


[A.M]


IV

CARTOUCHE

night of lapis
made in gold
by the scarabs'
crater-mouth

fossil blaze
incises its gravity
into the sign of suns

[craving of goal]

the trial of fire
in the tropic
of the nothing

the fire of my temple
wants to sharpen
for you the sole

to seal fervency
to the winged lead   [also plummet, or pencil]
of the syllable

poppy dust
brittle
spat out

root
your lightnings

_scarabs_


[A.M.]


V

ELYSIUM


in the rising wind
the chains
are sparkling

stranded in light
the wings
are floating

crosses of threads
found
certitude

beyond
the blinding
  heaviness still of fragrance
  in the fields of the blessed

_locking of insects in amber_


[A.M.]


VI

THE GROUND CANNOT SPEAK

It does not write a diary,
the ground, standing out of totem and the dead,
that carries the pillars out of water
and the always
beaten fleet of words ...

It, loaded with rot and dark,
throatless unsyllabic under
rowing fins, sailing keels!   [or quills]

Do I shove off?    [also: repel]
I grasp well in the dark        [in this passage I'm at a loss as
like foul tinder                [to the proper use of articles
(the? a?) garb of Phoenician children
(the? a?) dissolved plummet,
(the? an?) erring echo, the
wreck of a lute ...

Do I dive?
I sought with lamps, I would find
a log-book, which however
did not speak of
the condition of death, but only
of the start of undoing:
WE ARE SINKING. WE
BECOME GROUND.


[E.M.]


VII

CALYPSO

siren's grindings

rubble
enchants
the avenging cicadas
monotonous
driven by fever
a revolt
in the sunglass of wings

cracks of wind over the dunes

the whiplashes are chiseling
in a shrill way
breaking of voice
in glass wings
erratically
the craving
dies away
desolate
the sail bleaches

Medusas are washed ashore

_Island of the cicadas_


[A.M.]


VIII

PYTHIA

in vain you rhyme the dark seed

the torch loved me to the last
the light cast the runes of death
the invisible wants to bleed away

avariciously the marble turned yellow
still carrying the words to exposure
voiceless
  until lava bleaches for you the sickle

_Delphi_

[rope of wing]

verdigris
on bright anemones

gangreen of the weightless

throws anchors
on the night

_shooting star_


IX

PERSEPHONE

diswinged
my oars float
   steeply
   the abyss is resting
   pale mirror
with sallow iris
the flood sank

in the reflection
acme                            [or: wedding]
of poaching crystals
   the will-o-the-wisp turns blue
   patched up from moonstones
a fire on a glacier
in a breathless hall

the scream of the dove
on the flaming riff
of stalactites
   in blazing certitude
   hidden in ice
   petrified
   the feathers
hawthorn
in blossomless mourning

the retina splits
petty theft exults    [litterally for petty theft, theft of mouth
   by the wall empty of shadows

_caverns in ice_

[snyprrr]

What's new fellas? I'm embarrassed I haven't gotten that Arditti set yet.

[Mandryka]

What's new fellas? I'm embarrassed I haven't gotten that Arditti set yet.

Have you heard Plötzlichkeit?(it may be on youtube, unfortunately because you're still living in the 19th century I can't upload it for you.)

Truth is I've been listening to more Finnissy and Birtwistle than Ferneyhough recently.

[snyprrr]

1) Elision(?) on Kairos

2) Expose on

3) Recherche on Stradivarius

4) on Accord

5) Trio SurPlus on

6) on Etcetera

[nathanb]

KAIROS is always #1 priority.

[snyprrr]

I remember hating Carter's Pulitzer Pfrize winning String Quartet No.3 (1971), simply for all the noisy complexity. So, the other week when I was dusting off the Arditti's original Ferneyhough recording and checking out SQs 2-3, it hit me, "Who is as complex as Ferneyhough?" Well, the obvious answer was Carter in 1971.

So I compared Carter's SQ3 (Julliard) with Ferneyhough's SQ3 (1989?). The Carter really impressed me this time around, what with all the oodles of pizz and the various states of being. The Fern didn't quite do as much for me, I didn't hear the same kind of imagination in complexity that I heard in the Carter.

I start thinking... both of their first SQs were both looong and drawn out paens... they both seem to have a similar trajectory... what do you think?

NEW Complexity? WHAT ABOUT CARTER???

Carter, the original Ferneyhough?

[Mandryka]

I remember hating Carter's Pulitzer Pfrize winning String Quartet No.3 (1971), simply for all the noisy complexity. So, the other week when I was dusting off the Arditti's original Ferneyhough recording and checking out SQs 2-3, it hit me, "Who is as complex as Ferneyhough?" Well, the obvious answer was Carter in 1971.

So I compared Carter's SQ3 (Julliard) with Ferneyhough's SQ3 (1989?). The Carter really impressed me this time around, what with all the oodles of pizz and the various states of being. The Fern didn't quite do as much for me, I didn't hear the same kind of imagination in complexity that I heard in the Carter.

I start thinking... both of their first SQs were both looong and drawn out paens... they both seem to have a similar trajectory... what do you think?

One interesting thing to do is listen to Night Fantasies and lemma icon epigram.

NEW Complexity? WHAT ABOUT CARTER???

Carter, the original Ferneyhough?

I think that there's more variety in Ferneyhough's quartets, esp 6, than in any of Carter's. More emotional variety. I much prefer Ferneyhough's music  to Carter's. Try comparing Lemma Icon Epigram with Night Fantasies. Maybe add in Snowdrift (Finnissy)

[nathanb]

I remember hating Carter's Pulitzer Pfrize winning String Quartet No.3 (1971), simply for all the noisy complexity. So, the other week when I was dusting off the Arditti's original Ferneyhough recording and checking out SQs 2-3, it hit me, "Who is as complex as Ferneyhough?" Well, the obvious answer was Carter in 1971.

So I compared Carter's SQ3 (Julliard) with Ferneyhough's SQ3 (1989?). The Carter really impressed me this time around, what with all the oodles of pizz and the various states of being. The Fern didn't quite do as much for me, I didn't hear the same kind of imagination in complexity that I heard in the Carter.

I start thinking... both of their first SQs were both looong and drawn out paens... they both seem to have a similar trajectory... what do you think?

NEW Complexity? WHAT ABOUT CARTER???

Carter, the original Ferneyhough?

I have often heard Carter named as a predecessor to the New Complexity school, yes.

[Crudblud]

Carter probably contributed a lot to New Complexity, but I think Cage's Freeman Etudes may be even more vital to that "school."

[Mandryka]

, but I think Cage's Freeman Etudes may be even more vital to that "school."

Why?

[Mandryka]

Look, can we have some examples that I can hear? I can't see much of a resemblance between Carter's music and Ferneyhough's or Finnissy's - they may both be hard to play of course.

[nathanb]

Carter probably contributed a lot to New Complexity, but I think Cage's Freeman Etudes may be even more vital to that "school."

FREEMAN ETUDES. YES.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Elliott Carter's music is significantly easier to play than Ferneyhough. I like Ferneyhough a lot, one of my favourite composers, but I still think his solo guitar music is Kurze Shit-en to play compared to Carter's.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I've never been able to get into Ferneyhough's music, no matter how hard I try.
There are a few pieces I like, but "like" is the maximum enjoyment I've gotten.

One of the biggest turning points for me with his music was listening to the sonatas for string quartet along with the score. Do you know the work?