"In any case, the fewer boundaries that exist hindering free movement between all forms of articulate human cognition, the better"
About this Quote
Ferneyhough is arguing for permeability: fewer fences between ways of thinking, fewer toll booths between disciplines, fewer customs checks between intuition and analysis. Coming from a composer synonymous with “New Complexity,” the line reads like a preemptive defense against the caricature of his music as forbiddingly cerebral. He’s not pleading for less rigor; he’s insisting that rigor shouldn’t become a gated community.
The key phrase is “articulate human cognition.” He’s not romanticizing pure feeling, nor sanctifying raw data. “Articulate” implies thought that can be shaped, communicated, and contested: theory, craft knowledge, embodied practice, poetic metaphor, even the messy verbal approximations musicians use in rehearsal. Ferneyhough’s intent is to keep those modes in active traffic with each other so composition doesn’t collapse into either technocracy (music as solved problem) or anti-intellectualism (music as ineffable vibe).
The subtext is a critique of institutional sorting. Conservatories, academic departments, and stylistic tribes train people to defend borders: composer vs. performer, analysis vs. expression, “experimental” vs. “accessible.” Ferneyhough’s work has lived inside those debates for decades, often treated as a stress test for what audiences, players, and critics will tolerate. The line reframes the controversy: the enemy isn’t difficulty, it’s quarantined difficulty - complexity sealed off from narrative, politics, sensation, and human speech.
Contextually, this is a late-20th-century modernist speaking after the peak of manifesto culture. Instead of declaring a single correct method, he makes a liberal plea for cognitive freedom. It’s both generous and strategic: if the traffic flows, his music can be heard not as a puzzle to decode, but as one dialect among many in the shared city of thought.
The key phrase is “articulate human cognition.” He’s not romanticizing pure feeling, nor sanctifying raw data. “Articulate” implies thought that can be shaped, communicated, and contested: theory, craft knowledge, embodied practice, poetic metaphor, even the messy verbal approximations musicians use in rehearsal. Ferneyhough’s intent is to keep those modes in active traffic with each other so composition doesn’t collapse into either technocracy (music as solved problem) or anti-intellectualism (music as ineffable vibe).
The subtext is a critique of institutional sorting. Conservatories, academic departments, and stylistic tribes train people to defend borders: composer vs. performer, analysis vs. expression, “experimental” vs. “accessible.” Ferneyhough’s work has lived inside those debates for decades, often treated as a stress test for what audiences, players, and critics will tolerate. The line reframes the controversy: the enemy isn’t difficulty, it’s quarantined difficulty - complexity sealed off from narrative, politics, sensation, and human speech.
Contextually, this is a late-20th-century modernist speaking after the peak of manifesto culture. Instead of declaring a single correct method, he makes a liberal plea for cognitive freedom. It’s both generous and strategic: if the traffic flows, his music can be heard not as a puzzle to decode, but as one dialect among many in the shared city of thought.
Quote Details
| Topic | Freedom |
|---|
More Quotes by Brian
Add to List
