Famous quote by Brian Ferneyhough

"Hence my obstinate emphasis on stylistic continuity from work to work rather than specific sibling relationships between the individual work and other members of its stylistic 'family' in the world outside"

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Brian Ferneyhough draws attention to the concept of stylistic development in an artist’s oeuvre, prioritizing a sense of continuous evolution over the temptation to highlight overt relationships between discrete pieces. His position suggests that a composer’s body of work is best understood not by tracing direct lines and familial similarities between select pieces, a kind of cataloguing of obvious resemblances, but rather by perceiving a broader, underlying aesthetic trajectory that permeates all compositions. This stylistic continuity, he insists, is more significant than pointing out that two or three works might share direct motifs, structural solutions, or surface characteristics.

The notion of “stylistic ‘family’ in the world outside” evokes the idea of grouping works according to external classifications or perceived genealogies, perhaps the tendency of critics, historians, or audiences to organize and understand artworks by cataloguing similarities and influences. Ferneyhough resists such an approach, arguing implicitly that an artist’s “family” of works is not most deeply characterized by these surface correlations. Instead, there exists a persistent, evolving aesthetic fingerprint that can only be discerned through mindful engagement with the full continuum of creation and experiment over time.

By advocating for an appreciation of “stylistic continuity,” Ferneyhough valorizes the artist’s ongoing exploration, a process through which thematic, technical, or expressive concerns are continually re-examined and re-imagined in every new work. The “obstinate emphasis” he professes suggests a deliberate resistance to external pressures to frame his compositions within reductive categories or to annotate works as iterations of a formula. The living heart of musical creativity, for him, lies in the experience of ongoing transformation rather than the static mapping of relationships from piece to piece. He calls for a deepened sensitivity, one that seeks the organic passage of style and sensibility rather than the hierarchical taxonomy of output.

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United Kingdom Flag This quote is from Brian Ferneyhough somewhere between January 16, 1943 and today. He/she was a famous Composer from United Kingdom. The author also have 31 other quotes.
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