A Complete Guide to New Complexity and its Core Composers

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0:00 Introduction
9:51 Brian Ferneyhough
21:55 Michael Finnissy
33:09 Chris Dench
45:31 Richard Barrett
53:18 James Dillon
58:42 Conclusion

📚 Sources/further reading:
“Brian Ferneyhough” by Lois Fitch (Intellect, University of Chicago Press, 2013)
“Brian Ferneyhough: Collected Writings” edited by James Boros and Richard Toop (Routledge, 1995)
“Uncommon Ground: The Music of Michael Finnissy” edited by Henrietta Brougham, Christopher Fox, and Ian Pace (Ashgate, 1997)
“Modern Music and After (3rd Edition)” by Paul Griffiths (Oxford University Press, 2010)
“The Concept of New Complexity: Notation, Interpretation and Analysis” by Stuart Paul Duncan (DMA dissertation, Cornell University, 2010)
“Re-Complexifying the Function(s) of Notation in the Music of Brian Ferneyhough and the ‘New Complexity’” by Stuart Paul Duncan (Perspectives of New Music, Winter 2010, Vol. 48 No. 1)
“On Complexity” by Richard Toop (Perspectives of New Music, Winter 1993, Vol. 31 No. 1)
“Brian Ferneyhough's Lemma-Icon-Epigram” by Richard Toop (Perspectives of New Music, Summer 1990, Vol. 28 No. 2)
“Developing an Interpretive Context: Learning Brian Ferneyhough's Bone Alphabet” by Steven Schick (Perspectives of New Music, Winter 1994, Vol. 32 No. 1)
“Michael Finnissy's History of Photography in Sound: Under the Lens” by Christopher Fox (The Musical Times, Summer 2002, Vol. 143 No. 1879)
“Discontinuous Dialogues: Chris Dench in Conversation with Bruce Petherick” by Chris Dench (Context, Vol. 15/16)
“Portfolio of Original Compositions: Music of Possibility” by Richard Barrett (PhD thesis, University of Leeds, 2017)
“Resistance and Reflection: Richard Barrett in the 21st Century” by Arnold Whittall (The Musical Times, Autumn 2005, Vol. 146 No. 1892)
“Everything is Connected: Richard Barrett at 60” by Tim Rutherford-Johnson (Tempo, July 2020, Vol. 74 No. 293)
“Codex: Embodied Communication in Richard Barrett’s Scores for Improvisation” by Hannah Reardon-Smith (Directions of New Music, February 2017, Vol. 1 No. 1)
“Contemporary British Composers 3: James Dillon: Currents of Development” by Keith Potter (The Musical Times, May 1990, Vol. 131 no. 1767)
“Divisions Without Hierarchy: Four-Dimensional Modeling of Submeter and its Use in Empirical Analysis of the Musics of the New Complexity” by Aaron J. Kirschner (PhD dissertation, University of Utah, 2017)

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Music:
- Brian Ferneyhough: Transit, performed by the London Sinfonietta conducted by Elgar Howarth [original upload: rGFHH2YW8CQ]
- Thomas Little: Dance! #2, performed by Rachel Fellows, Michael King, and Bruce Tippette
- Brian Ferneyhough: Dum Transisset I-IV, performers unknown [original upload: 06dUqMrd5aQ]
- Brian Ferneyhough: Time and Motion Study II, performed by Neil Heyde and Paul Archbold [original upload: rW2b4ByT8dM]
- Brian Ferneyhough: Bone Alphabet, performed by James Beauton [original upload: eyedqvWwY5Y]
- Michael Finnissy: String Trio, performed by the Gagliano Trio [original upload: NE3gEI2s33I]
- Michael Finnissy: Piano Concerto No. 2, performed by Michael Finnissy, orchestra unknown [original upload: O0TaBKLEhuc]
- Chris Dench: severance, performed by Geoffrey Morris [original upload: RbD-BUHkx-U]
- Richard Barrett: codex I, performed by Ensemble Studio6 [original upload: ptEa_Zkk4jU]
- James Dillon: echo the angelus, performed by Noriko Kawai [original upload: UuCZhVwIf_U]

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[ClassicalNerd]

*Show notes:*

0:27 The support of patron *Alice Wyan* _doubled_ the weight of this request! If you want to speed up the process of making certain videos, consider becoming a patron for as little as $2/month.
15:28 Ferneyhough’s “filtering” procedures date back to his 1967 wind sextet _Prometheus, _ another indication of how well-formed his language was, even as a young composer.
28:02 Composers typically use lots of extended techniques in a score, or avoid them altogether, as their occasional inclusion usually sounds “off.”
29:45 Conlon NANcarrow, technically … which means that everyone I’ve ever heard say it in real life has been wrong.
31:43 While Tchaikovsky’s true end will likely never be known, Finnissy believes that news of Tchaikovsky’s sexuality was about to hit the St. Petersburg press, hence the plot of _Shameful Vice._
34:32 Not to be confused with the _album_ from whence the piece came, also called _City of Glass._
36:13: The timeline is a little confusing here; _helical_ is listed in various places as a 1975, 1976, 1978, and 1993 composition. I believe that this reflects the various iterations of the score over the years. Dench’s official Web site (link in the sources in the video description) has the date at 1975.

[wids]

Man dude youre really out here enriching us for free. Thank you

[grantveebeejay]

Out of all the many episodes you have produced this is my favourite Thomas. Your grasp of the combined aesthetics and techniques used of these more modern composers is excellent because you have context reaching back centuries through western music composition. This point of reference adds such depth and clarity, not to mention "context" to this very significant episode. It inspires deep internal pondering about where classical music needs to move toward in order to survive. Wherever that place is I hope it makes one as an appreciator feel as much as think. Bravo Thomas!

[james.t.herman]

This is a great survey. I can't say this kind of music does anything for me, but I'm glad to have it explained.

[DeflatingAtheism]

“Sometimes musicians will re-notate Ferneyhough's scores to be more playable. Ferneyhough doesn't like this. This makes Ferneyhough mad. You won't like Ferneyhough when he's mad.”

[skylarlimex]

thanks so much for this video! it's crazy how much effort was put into this and i am very grateful for the content that you are putting out to a wider audience! please continue doing what you do

[hansmartin]

I liked this video and would be interested in a similar content about spectralist composers.

[AsgerAlstrupPalm]

This is so densely packed with information that I used the slow playback speed of YouTube for the first time in my life! The presentation is excellent but give us a moment to breathe. When a key point is made, a pause would be nice to allow to let it sink in. Keep up the good work

[EverGreenElephant]

Amazing introduction! Thanks. Chris Dench is a great discovery for me.

[fartwrangler]

To paraphrase, I believe it was Gardner Read, "the composer who vaguely notates the possible, or meticulously notates the impossible, then avers that the agonized approximation produced by the performers is exactly what he intended, is guilty of unconscionable sham." :)

[Olivier-Jaquet]

5:11 I had the chance to study with Roger Redgate at Goldsmiths. Great to see him on your video ! Although I am not an atonal composer, at all, but It was great to learn loads of new compositional technics and what a breath of fresh air to approach music in such a different way.

[codascheuer]

For the longest time, I was trying so hard to understand new complexity. After watching this video, I still don’t get it, but I can appreciate it more.

[body_drift]

This video is one of my favourites!!! Great research and structure. Definitely worthy of multiple viewings.

[hauthot]

14:32 love how the most normal thing abt this is the time signatures

[martinappleby]

Thanks. The potential of music to find new ideas, new ways of looking at things, never seems to end.

[uzgbgbv]

49:42 In case anyone was wondering, the "obsession" with the note F apparently refers to a colloquial expression in English that means "nothing" and begins with that letter. This is described in Barrett's thesis.

[alanhlozek]

Greetings Thomas,

Great work you are doing! I would just like to request that you please consider doing a video on living Latvian composer Peteris Vasks. A truly underrated gem of our time, IMO...

I know you have a lot of requests, but I just wanted to add yet another penny to your bucket full of pennies ;)

Thank you!

[alcyonecrucis]

Thanks classical nerd, there’s not many of us so it’s great to see your videos!

[johncoltranesethic]

I had a really brief interchange with Chris Dench once and i can say he is a lovely soul. The stratification of meaning in his charts is something that is beyond remarkable. It's the Kabbalah of music making.

[kevycanavan]

I’m never going to feel guilty about writing something a bit outlandish for a few bars ever ever again.