On 23 Mar 2008, at 3:40 PM, shirling & neueweise wrote:
Performances of Ferneyhough (at least the ones I've heard) tend to
be approximate at best. I don't fault the performers -- I very much
doubt the composer could clap his own rhythms with any accuracy
either.
as i understand it he has actually performed in one of his recent
works, and i think things just might depend on where you have heard
it and by whom...
I hadn't heard that -- good for him.
As for the rest of your post, I wish you wouldn't give me credit for
saying things I'm not saying.
Many professional classically-trained musicians -- most, I would say,
although younger generations are considerably better -- can't play
*Piazolla's* rhythms accurately or convincingly, let alone
Ferneyhough's. A great many of them cannot play a long string of
quarter notes without speeding up or slowing down, or play three
quarter-note triplets of equal length (which is kind of an important
prerequisite before attempting 5/6). Rhythmic authority is not
something that is emphasized in conservatory training. Many
established classical teachers even disdain rhythmic accuracy as
"mechanical," something to be avoided at all costs in all situations,
and heap even more disdain on music that requires a regular, stable
pulse. And god forbid you suggest that they might want to break out
the metronome on occasion.
So it's a bit galling for someone coming from a tradition where it
don't mean a thing if it ain't got that rhythmic authority to hear
players who clearly have zero emotional connection to rhythm, and who
have not spent the long hours necessary to develop a solid internal
sense of time, fake their way through the rhythmic minefileds laid by
composers like Ferneyhough (especially when you know these are players
who fall all over themselves trying to find the "and" of three in a
bar of 4/4). And then to have people congratulate them on their
uncanny ability to perform such rhythmically challenging music!
I also find it frustrating that performers can mostly get away with
this sloppiness in this kind of music, because it so often lacks an
audible rhythmic grid, some kind of regular reference point against
which the "irrational" rhythms are juxtaposed. I find the jazz-based
and postminimalist/totalist/metametric/Downtown approach to these
rhythms much more satisfying. And in those situations, you can tell
instantly if someone is faking it. But, you know, that's just my
personal preference.
I don't like Ferneyhough's stuff -- it's not my thing. But I certainly
don't begrudge him his music or his admirers, nor performances by
musicians who take his music's considerable rhythmic demands
seriously. It's only the pikers I can't stand.
Cheers,
- Darcy
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Brooklyn, NY
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