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Daily Inspiration Quote by Brian Ferneyhough

"This was possible only by dint of extended periods of frequently quite painful reflection and digestion"

About this Quote

“Extended periods of frequently quite painful reflection and digestion” is Ferneyhough in a nutshell: artistry framed not as inspiration but as metabolizing difficulty until it becomes technique. The phrase “by dint of” matters. It’s old-fashioned, almost grudging, insisting that whatever “this” refers to (a breakthrough, a piece, a method) wasn’t unlocked by talent or luck but earned through brute duration. He’s staking an ethic: the work is the point.

“Reflection and digestion” is a telling pairing. Reflection flatters the mind; digestion drags the body into it. Ferneyhough’s music - famously dense, hyper-notated, and physically taxing - asks performers to do exactly this: think and chew, over time, with resistance. The pain isn’t romanticized as suffering-for-art; it’s procedural, the discomfort of confronting limits. “Frequently quite painful” reads like dry understatement, a British hedging that actually intensifies the claim. He’s not posturing. He’s normalizing struggle as the necessary condition for clarity.

Contextually, this aligns with the so-called New Complexity, often caricatured as difficulty for difficulty’s sake. Ferneyhough’s language pushes back: complexity is an outcome of sustained engagement, not a stylistic flex. The subtext is also institutional: contemporary music’s gatekeeping can hide behind talk of “rigor.” Ferneyhough quietly admits the toll while reaffirming the bargain. If you want the result, you submit to the process - and the process will not be comfortable.

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APA Style (7th ed.)
Ferneyhough, Brian. (2026, January 17). This was possible only by dint of extended periods of frequently quite painful reflection and digestion. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/this-was-possible-only-by-dint-of-extended-72452/

Chicago Style
Ferneyhough, Brian. "This was possible only by dint of extended periods of frequently quite painful reflection and digestion." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/this-was-possible-only-by-dint-of-extended-72452/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"This was possible only by dint of extended periods of frequently quite painful reflection and digestion." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/this-was-possible-only-by-dint-of-extended-72452/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.

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Only by Dint of Painful Reflection: Ferneyhough's Insight
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About the Author

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Brian Ferneyhough (born January 16, 1943) is a Composer from United Kingdom.

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