Brian Ferneyhough, the composer, is recognized as one of today's foremost living composers, gaining international recognition since the mid-1970s.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Brian Ferneyhough's early works from 1963-66, including "Epigrams," were "autodidactic projects" aimed at formulating and resolving specific issues of musical technique and form.
Performer Biography
Ian Pace, the pianist on this album, specializes in musical modernism and transcendental virtuosity, and has given world premieres of over 300 piano works.
Compositional Technique
The Sonata for Two Pianos uses continuous elaboration and transformation of basic harmonic and rhythmic 'cells' to create an "eruptive and febrile discourse."
Interpretation
Pianist Ian Pace employs a non-positivist model of notation for Ferneyhough's music, viewing notation as placing boundaries around possible audible results rather than dictating a single 'correct' sound.
Composition History
The piece "El Rey de Calabria" was written in memory of Brian and Stephanie Ferneyhough's three-legged cat, Trifolio, who lived to be 17 years old.
Composition History
The work "Opus Contra Naturam" is part of Brian Ferneyhough's opera project "Shadowtime," which is built around the death of German-Jewish cultural philosopher Walter Benjamin.
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