# Happy birthday Brian Ferneyhough!



## Gallus (Feb 8, 2018)

76 years old today. Here's his 2nd string quartet:


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## Guest (Jan 16, 2019)

The second string quartet is nice, but man he did good with the 6th. 

Ferneyhough was my intro to a huge world of contemporary classical music and I have enjoyed his works since I was about 13 or 14 years old. Hope he’s having a nice day!


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Which is the quartet with Happy Birthday to You in it? Just joking. Happy Birthday to BF.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

I assume you guys have seen this, presumably done by one of his students


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^^............. Brilliant!


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## Guest (Jan 16, 2019)

I know that his students have shown it to him. Apparently he takes it with a gruff chuckle!


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Re the quartets, I like very much 6, but also 3, which seems a fabulous study in violence. 
Has anyone explored Shadowtime?

His collected writings is too expensive for me, but I'm tempted by this


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## Guest (Jan 16, 2019)

Yes, I know Shadowtime!


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

shirime said:


> Yes, I know Shadowtime!


Can you play the guitar music?


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Mandryka said:


> Re the quartets, I like very much 6, but also 3, which seems a fabulous study in violence.
> Has anyone explored Shadowtime?
> 
> His collected writings is too expensive for me, but I'm tempted by this
> ...


This is affordable and much easier to read than Brian's prose which I find horrendous


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Bwv 1080 said:


> This is affordable and much easier to read than Brian's prose which I find horrendous
> 
> View attachment 111715


What I want to read is the aesthetic ideas, I want to read about alchemy, about scintillation, about George Benjamin etc. I like that sort of stuff.


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Mandryka said:


> Can you play the guitar music?


You did not ask me, but I have played the first movement of KS II, which is surprisingly idiomatic. BF does not notate any of the quarter tones and the piece is written like it was in standard tuning (i.e. an open 4th string is written as a 'D' regardless of what it is actually tuned to). The piece gets more difficult after that, but the first movement is less challenging than, say, either of Carter's guitar pieces. Part of it is that BF's rhythms, while complex, are more forgiving than Carter's and there are more breaths and pauses.


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## Guest (Jan 16, 2019)

Mandryka said:


> Can you play the guitar music?


No, but I have been working at Kurze Schatten II on and off.


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