Ferneyhough solo flute by Julian Elvira flautist

[quebolonasere]

ja......... tremendo arrebato ja.......

[Shreeni1216]

Stop this! PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

[Shreeni1216]

My goodness! Pls. do not ever broadcast this! Tks!

[Araujox10]

I'll go deaf with that ...

[ThePirateCritic]

Wtf is this?

[coolsnak3]

this guy is incredible.. geez

[SuperNoobTroll]

almost as good as will ferrell in anchorman

[BlueCougar]

Cage would of course comment that the birds you hear in the background are an important part of this performance. (I think they actually complete the performance...)

[Brochles]

between godlike and madness, pure genius :)

[pyrioni]

Aesome tune and tones

[anyeong91]

I wonder how the piece would look like......! XD

[fremsley001]

"There would seem to be a limit, even for an art preoccupied with boundaries and transgressions, beyond which a work reaches its breaking point and becomes an actual failure, a mere experimentation".

Brian Ferneyhough

I couldn't have put it better myself, Brian.

[MusicaRicercata]

@fremsley001 ur funey

[lovesGenet]

His style of music actually has been around a while now and thinking musicians appreciate Ferneyhough if they can decipher his dense scores. People really should be aware of their limitations in aesthetics, art history ,philosophy etc.before they make comments. Be quiet :you don't have the criterion to judge . .Understanding comes after wonder and curiosity .Many sadly will never be elected because they erect gates of ignorance!

[jazzflutist]

Excellent flutist. Takes a lot of skill to do that. Well done.

[theGandB]

I LOVE this! Talk about using the flute as an instrument with which to made new sounds! It's the first time I've ever heard a Brian Ferneyhough piece, and to hear it so ably played by the adorable Julian Elvira - fantastic! It looks like the piece is a real challenge to perform, and if we could see the pages of music, I bet it would be even more impressive. Thanks for the great recording!

[DarkoBeautyFantasia]

This style of composing will die soon, anyway.

[BlueCougar]

@DarkoBeautyFantasia It has been around for decades and will be around for decades. Styles don't die. Sometimes they go underground for some time.

[fremsley001]

If there's a musical equivalent of Tourette's Syndrome this is it.

[lizarddidges]

The flautist is paramount and the most talented I have ever herd ,however the composer must be insane to think his works are real.

[tubeporuntubo]

he is not reading a scores. He is viewing a porn photos.

[mynameisandycostello]

@tubeporuntubo HAHA!

[arete1952]

He made a mistake at 6:21

[alxandros]

@arete1952 Dude, you really miss the point, don't you?

[peradonai]

fea la caga

[rickintx1125]

There is a difficult balance between repetitiveness (predictability) and complexity (less predictability). Both aleatoric and serial music lean toward unpredictability (for different structural reasons). Every composer must find that balance on his own, and every listener must determine the limits of his tolerance at both extremes. In listening to Eliott Carter's string quartets, I often feel like a child listening to adult conversation: the meaning is just out of my grasp..

[plasnu]

Incredible technic. The score of Ferneyhough actually sounds no different than an improvisation, though. BTW, he does look sexy.

[SairraLM]

I'm sorry. I don't want to be mean but this is truly AWFUL. The flute is a beautiful instrument but this hurts my ears. Experimentation is a great thing and so is innovation but not when it sounds this abysmal. Innovate and experiment some more until it sounds pleasing to the ear. Just my two cents.

[flammesombres]

you should email that to the composer. Just promise you'll go easy on him, he's only been composing music since the 1960s.

[Rexicano]

SairraLM;

You speak the truth.

[heatherlenay2007]

I like it! I am so tired of same old same old. Thank God for something refreshing for a change! So tired of all the ridiculous repetition! coolness.

[PattiCardona]

Stunning!!!!!

[BORLOG360]

i'm not a flute expert but some1 can tell plz

wAsGoInG oN with this fellow..?

[hedones]

Tout simplement unique. Et les sacs à foutre qui n'ont pas mis 5 étoiles doivent les réserver pour tout ce que youtube contient de médiocre, savoir 99%...

[chu71]

This piece is like an architect building a hoise where NO ONE can live or work. Waste of effort imho. What i do not get is why mere experimentation has to be considered good music per se. Manufacturing a square footbal is experimenting too, but totally pointless.. More error than trial for me on this one.

[topazgoldify]

I was a Ferneyhough skeptic until I recently saw Steve Shick perform "Bone Alphabet ". I was dreading it but it ended up being the highlight of on of the best concerts ever.

As Steve so brilliantly explained. .There is a spacial element specific to live performance that is lost through loudspeakers, and cannot be recovered.

[Tocinator]

What's the point of playing an almost-impossible piece that requires A LOT of study and effort, but sounds like SHIT?

[beezedtoo]

yea I am not a massive fan of Ferneyhough but this piece explores textures and rhythmic patterns and is really hard to play, an this dude does it well!

and why is it pretentious to like complicated music? yea I am sure Ferneyhough is as he comes from that high and low art school of thought. but this music is interesting and of equal validity to any other serious music, and i don't just mean classical music, its only pretentious if you think music must be complex, or music must sound nice

[smurfygoo]

stop being such a bunch of pretentious arses....this is shite

[xxhamburgularxx]

This isn't art. I sounded like this went I didnt know how to play and was trying to blow notes. Get over yourselfs.

[RyanJBridge]

@xxhamburgularxx I sincerely doubt that.

[maccomposers]

ive been to a seminar of his. Ferneyhough's great !

[apollonmusagete]

Sorry if I've posted too much, but I wanted to give a full reply.

Kudos to Julian Elvira! His passionate performance makes the piece sound better than it may actually be. ;-)

[apollonmusagete]

Stanford and a Siemens Prize notwithstanding, I am not at all sure Ferneyhough's work will survive except as a footnote in twenty-second-century music history textbooks. But I'll continue to listen. Thus far "Mnemosyne" is the most memorable of his works for me, although it may be too protracted and "filmic" in its YouTube presentation.

[apollonmusagete]

Has the mature Ferneyhough ever composed anything "serious" in a tonal idiom? Schoenberg certainly did, and that lent credibility to his once iconoclastic but now very traditional and academic atonal language. Ferneyhough seems to remain comfortably within that non-tonal idiom, even though it's now a century "old" and its intrinsic shock value has long since expired.

[mynameisandycostello]

I agree that flexibility is admirable for a composer. But you can't hold a grudge on someone for NOT being experimental. That's the joy of contemporary music: you can do whatever you want whenever you want! (under the assumption that you have enough courage). A composer like Arvo Part comes to mind. He does the same thing over and over, but I think there's no debate that what he does is truly wonderful. And, who knows, Ferneyhough may compose tonal music, just not for public.

[apollonmusagete]

Are you sure "contemporary music" is that open to stylistic diversity? At some publicly funded universities there isn't a single tonal composer on the faculty. Non-tonal monoculture isn't very "liberal" or inclusive at all. The avant-garde has become a rather reactionary phenomenon in today's musical landscape.

If Ferneyhough composes tonally, why hide that from a public that craves something musically intelligible?  Complexity, special effects, and prestidigitation just aren't enough.

[mynameisandycostello]

Well, from personal experience, I would say it has become more and more of an open landscape for self-expression (in terms of progression from American 12-tone education led by Schoenberg)... However, new-complexity still reigns all as far as academic "legitimacy," and the Schoenbergian disregard for the public is still very much alive.

[villiummord]

actually, it (new complexity) is very much a bastard child of academic utopianism in music and really only "reigns" in one or two universities and perhaps a summer course worldwide.. i don't know which academy's "legitimacy" you're talking about.

[mynameisandycostello]

I described the situation in much too black-and-white terms. However, I hold with the assertion that music scholars readily accept more outwardly complex music over that of the outwardly simplistic sort. Bach over Scarlatti, Debussy over Gottschalk, and in modern times, Berio and Ferneyhough over Reich and Adams (over = found their home in academia over). Outward complexity is generally more readily accepted in scholastic settings, and therefore more easily recognized as legitimate.

[hexatonico]

I don`t think that is a matter of complexity. You are comparing Reich with Berio?????? the styles are very different, and each one is complex in his own manner. I think that If you want to compare complexity you have to look for two exponents of the same style. But the difference between great composers and minor composers is that  they have the ability to play with your expectation! Reich is very predictible, you always know how his works are going to develop.

[mynameisandycostello]

I don't see the problem with comparing the two. They both thrived in America in the second half of the 20th century, one with academic support, the other without. And, to compare two composers of similar style, how is that even possible? Outward complexity is a stylistic attribute. Also, I don't think you are recognizing a distinction between "complexity" in general terms, and "outward complexity." And yes, I enjoy both composers (Reich and Berio) but for very different reasons.

[hikarikage01]

@mynameisandycostello

The biggest and saddest mistake many people have been making when it comes to music is the idea of complexity existing in any of these works to begin with. Yeah sure the notation (and the composer's explanation) can be mind-warping, but at the end of the day, it just non-musical relationships that literally exist only in that given composer's head. Ferneyhough does make for some pretty notational artwork.

[mynameisandycostello]

@hikarikage01 I can only assume that since you are responding to me, you are saying that I am making a mistake by thinking that complexity exists in this music. I most definitely think it does exist, and it's pretty ludicrous to deny it. As for the second half of your comment, I think you are referencing the way in which Ferneyhough talks ABOUT his music, which I would agree, exists solely in his head, in the sense that he does not express his musical ideas clearly in writing.

[apollonmusagete]

Ferneyhough seems to pursue both with unusual zeal, which may go a long way towards accounting for his appeal to those given to esoterica--and for the apparent disregard if not revulsion he has inspired among non-academic audiences.

[apollonmusagete]

The overall impression is one of romantic exhibitionism in the hypervirtuosic Paganini-Liszt tradition, but without the meaning and coherence conferred by their tonal idioms.

It's ironic that a composer of "new music" seems so fond of ancient mythological titles to contextualize his work. However, we live in a "postmodern" age of complexity and contradiction.

[mynameisandycostello]

I completely agree with the Paganini-Liszt comparison. Except you forgot a monumental difference: Ferneyhough doesn't have to perform these works himself!!!

[apollonmusagete]

Ferneyhough is a case of vicarious exhibitionism. ;-) Besides, if he tried to perform pieces like this he'd probably end up doing himself a mischief., so better to let others take all the risks (like hyperventilation) and bask in their reflected glory--if they survive.

Do musicians' insurance policies cover occupational hazards like performing Ferneyhough? Even if they do, I'd hate to pay the premiums!

[mynameisandycostello]

Haha! I believe it's part of the Ives/Ferneyhough group rate.

[apollonmusagete]

What is the title of this piece? The performance is brilliant, but the music upon repeated hearings sounds like little more than a lengthy concatenation of special effects. (I should not be surprised if the score looks like a blueprint for building a photon torpedo, based on others of this composer's works I've seen in print.)

[mynameisandycostello]

Haha, a photon torpedo.. Well, this guy's playing sure shot out like one!

[apollonmusagete]

Andy, I think your own YouTube music and piano performances are excellent. You make use of contemporary idioms and technical resources in a way that communicates. You also have a great sense of humor. :-)

Ferneyhough, if he has something to say at all in this piece, ends up obfuscating rather than clarifying his "message." The net result sounds frantic and pedantic, and can't really be rescued by a "contextualizing" title.

Julian Elvira--not Ferneyhough--should get all the credit.

[mynameisandycostello]

Thank you so much for the kind words.

[Tylersaysjump]

I can't take this.

[mitrudent]

oh! i love him so muchhhhh. greatt

[R19P82]

Advanced flute playing.

[adambellcomp]

This dude is awesome.

[redhairedstepchild]

yeah!!!

[wandacecilepr]

I know people will think I am crazy but I love this piece and how he plays. It is very silver sounding but it is because of the aesthetic of the piece and the acoustics of the room. I have seen the score and it is crazy!

[BlazeChia]

The sound is a silver flute...i mean that's how a silver flute should sound like but is too violent ... well that's what i think because i nearly scared me to death

[sarahsarahnow]

this is great! and i love the birds in the background. :-)

[kidvicious24]

UGHH

[lijiaqianh]

that's cracy and foolish

[ramune64]

That would be very hard to play and write down. I actually thought he was just pretending to look at music while just making it up.

However.. It's not the most aesthetically pleasing of compositions, is it?

[Quadrupelfuge]

YEAHHHHHH!!!!!

[loveheartsxxx]

Wow, I have to say, I was a bit unsure at the beginning of this performance, but I kept listening and actually think this is amazing!! It must take so much control and focus to perform like that.

[Rexicano]

Someone actually wrote this nonsense down?

Awful noise.

And look at my cooooool tattoo!

Pretentious claptrap.

[ariawave]

The performer might not be to our tastes in presentation, but please don't comment on compositions you've never studied. Aesthetics of all styles and cultures should be respected, not ignorantly dismissed.

Get a real background in music before you spout off like that [read: NOT high school band or "playing piano" for 10 years.]

[Rexicano]

And what about YOUR ignorance about my ability and knowledge? Thanks, 21 year old know it all. Let's see now, it was 20 years before you were even born that I took up flute; Jazz, Classical & World music.

Art can be commented on; both good or bad...

but you seem to think anyone who dares say anything negative about this is as ignorant or deaf as yourself.

Now go cry to Mommy, but don't tell me. Read: not interested.

[davidhackston]

I don't care how long you've played the flute, Rexicano. Nobody with a true appreciation of music would use words like "nonsense" or "pretentious claptrap" to describe one aesthetic amongst many. You don't have to like this music, but you might care to treat it and its performer with the deference they deserve. As it stands, your comments seem to indicate that this is all a bit above your pay grade.

[chu71]

I would. If i studied composition, harmony, counterpoint etc etc for twenty years and end up writing THAT, i d feel like a total failure.

Just because it's wrtitten by schooled musicians doesn´t mean it's worth a sh1t. This to me definitely isnt. It´s like a demo from a cheap synthesizer.

[MuzakConcrete]

I would. If i studied composition, harmony, counterpoint etc etc for twenty years and end up writing THAT, i d feel like a total failure.

No you wouldn't. Not if you wrote it.

[chu71]

Yes i would, honestly.

[MuzakConcrete]

Actually you wouldn't. The effort you'd have to go through to compose this. You should see the score. You wouldn't do it if you didn't believe in it.

[JJ600RR]

I'd like to add:

just because one does not like it does not make it less than art.

(i.e.) i don't like beer. doesn't mean it's not an alcoholic beverage.

[SirJonathanTavener]

This is actually one of this better pieces. But must of his art is in the score - although I think this is a pretty damn good piece of his.

[Rexicano]

Want to see flutists who actually play music while doing something new?

See;

Hrepenenje / Yearning for flute quartet

This here is a joke.

[pinciata2]

You are a joke. This piece is much better than Yearning for flute quartet.

[Rexicano]

Thanks for letting me know there are idiots in Holland.

Wasn't quite sure about that.

[pinciata2]

Oh no?? That would make you the idiot, I guess.

[Rexicano]

Go smoke another bowl and listen to that high quality video you got there of Klaas the horrible.

And cry to someone else about your brain damage—no one can fix that messed up brain. Dumb is forever.

[pinciata2]

As opposed to your non-existent posts possibly because not even your phone has a camera...nobody is crying here. I'm fed up with you. Go ahead and respond, or don't. I'm through with you. By the way, brilliant...people watch videos...they listen to sound, when watching a video, we sometimes hear sound. Go away now.

[Rexicano]

Blah blah blah; my phone doesn't have a camera?

Wow, what a deep cut into my life you've made!

And you —who have been successfully marketed to, believe you need a cheap camera in your phone.

Thanks for to disconnected rant. Goes well with the disconnected music.

Yup sometimes you hear sound and sometimes music. But music is Organized sound, not spittle, like your thoughts.

[Tommaths]

What exactly are you trying to acheive with your arguing?

[Rexicano]

and I ask you the same question.

I didn't start it; I made an observation and a lot of Pussies had to start up with me.

Na d now you.

What's yer point?

[Tommaths]

You just seem to be trying to antagonise people with your comments instead of saying anything constructive

[Rexicano]

Back at ya.

[Tommaths]

Well, you described this performance as a "joke", what do you consider ludicrous about this performance?

[davidhackston]

We shouldn't hold our breath waiting for an answer here. I imagine people like Rex find actually substantiating their invective pretty difficult. It's no surprise that Ferneyhough's music is lost on him. Oh well, there will always be people who think their ill-informed opinions are worth sharing with others... A shame we can't just enjoy the commitment and virtuosity of this performance. Bravo, Mr Elvira!

[zaffiro61]

Bravo, bravo! !

[nebula32]

great performance!

[japanesesweet]

this piece is called Carcheri d`invenzione 2b- perfromance has tonnes of energy...the way it is recorded is unfortunate.

some people mention about innacuracy of rhythhm but every performance of BF is not going to be accurate in this respect.that`s widely understood.

[jalapalois1]

im sophisticated :)

[manufall]

BRAVO! BRAVO!

[PCPTPCPT]

I love this work by Ferneyhough, and, as a flautist (still a student, indeed) I know how difficult it can be. Many executions have been recorded, and this live performance should be considered with some indulgence. Colour and timbric richness are really enjoiable, and phrasing is really clear (sometimes a little bit emphatic, but I like it in this way). However, dynamics and rythmic precision could be improved. Anyway, I thank you for posting this video.

[adalbertovidal]

Very good! New music. Excelent music. Only, recorded too loud and distorted.

[frnhgh]

Ok, good but not enough. I have to say I agree with some comments corncerning the lack of precision in this performance: rythms,notes (many!) and dynamics(there are many "ppp" in the piece!!).

I have just heard this piece performed in concert at Harvard University by the great flutist Mario Caroli (Ferneyhough's preferred flutist) and my God: it really sounded like Bach!! Spectacular: he did virtually by heart! Ferneyhough himself, present to the concert, was very touched by the performance

[sddhrt]

...he's my teacher :)

[luisalvaz]

bueno, es difícil pedirle a alguien que toque a Ferneyhough con tanta precisión; aunque de hecho, él así lo requiere; es decir, la exactitud metronómica de Stockhausen, pero con el virtuosismo de Berio. La verdad a mí no me parece una interpretación mala. Una pregunta, ¿por qué tiene que sonar como Bach?... me parece que son lenguajes distintos.

[lastdreams]

Sounds like something I could improvise.

Oddly enough, I like it.

[anpedeco]

La música que haces es como la masturbación, sólo le gusta al que la hace. No estaría de más que tocaras algo de Bach , a ver si te relajas un poco y pisas la tierra.¡Suerte!

[luisalvaz]

No estoy de acuerdo contigo, a mí me gusta la música de Brian Ferneyhough, y no porque sea un pedante al que se le han ido las cabras en la búsqueda del arte total, sino porque considero que hay otras posibilidades en el sonido; y con esto no estoy negando a Bach, sino dando un lugar preponderante a la música, más allá de las figuras del pasado o del presente.

[bbreyv8]

To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose, under heaven :-)

[Rexicano]

"To everything there is a season..."  WTF?

Even for burning Jews?

You see how clichés work? Badly.

This sounds like the bad brakes in a car...Time for new brake pads!

[ilyana14]

Impresionante, artista. Me ha emocionado tu energía e interpretación, expresas tantas cosas. Gracias. Arantxita

[ashley41430]

what an amazing piece, and amazing performance. thanks for sharing. :)

[tubafatness]

I love the birds; they seem to be responding to the flautist as he plays.

[maslekovas]

awsome,thanks! It's realy one of the most amazing pieces for solo flute

[dardanus2007]

yo creo que ahora Brian Ferneyhough,tendria que chuparle la polla en publico y publicarlo en YouTube, asi algunos envidiosos saldrian de la duda.........all my love XXX

[MUJERX16]

Leer tu comentario me ha dado asco.

[dardanus2007]

ve al medico, creo que estas embarazada...

[MUJERX16]

aflojá con las drogas pibe!!!

[Roswellsounds]

Que imbecil e ignorante sos, man... No me explico como sabes escribir! Vamos, de vuelta a las cavernas! Esta musica seguro no es para vos...

[cybeavertoo]

ferneyhough writes music of such complexity that it is almost impossible to play the same twice, which is in a way the intend. So indeed the guy is 'trying' to play that something in front of him. Not much melodic help for the poor musician though! But yeah Brian Ferneyhough is a stern member of the modern movement! ;)

[BassfluteNB]

Cassandra's Dreamsong

is the name of this piece.

how about

Salvatore Sciarrino - "Hermes" (1984

[sddhrt]

Cassandra's Dreamsong is really another piece. The piece played here is Carceri d'Invenzione IIb (flute solo version)

[morgoth969]

nice job!!

[sabellixedda]

high energy, liked it! but lol, he does have bopeps!!!! kind of doesn't go along with the tatts.

[sddhrt]

It's not fair to reply in another language. If you're able to read, have to be able to write too. However it's not obligatory to play in a concert, I'm a simple student of 22 years old who plays contemporary music.

[exoflute]

señor sddhrt:

¡Eres un petardo!!! Dime como te llamas que ya me encargaré yo de que vaya a un concierto tuyo tu tía la de Strasburgo.

Ala!!!, que te traduzcan el mensaje. LOL

[sddhrt]

I'm flutist and I play this piece in time and rithmics indicated. I'm in Strasbourg...whenever you want.

[bbreyv8]

Ei! my dear friend litte player. Relax your karma and enjoy.

[iwanttowatchsomethin]

Do you believe this? Amazing!!

[bbreyv8]

No what? I think he is a great artist and flutist. Are you flutist? Could you play this piece? Maybe better? I'd like to listen you. I'm really interesting.

[sddhrt]

No precision of dynamics and rithms.

[ninaflute]

great energy!! publicar una respuestra en video on one of my videos if you want.

-Nina

[foreverwoodwinds]

Does he have bo-peps on his flute? lol

[petrapana]

what the fuck?!!I found what I search!!that is my favorite music!!!and you are the best!

[ManhattanMC]

scary beautiful-

[JJ77TTUU3]

beautiful and dangerous....the way great music should be performed. God Bless

[colossus999]

LOL

[chrometoast]

Very wonderfully played! This reminds me of the contemporary piece "Precious Metals" for flute.

[nicholasmorera]

Fantastic performance of Carceri d'Invenzione IIb.