Re-Complexifying the Function(s) of Notation in the Music of Brian Ferneyhough and the "New Complexity"

Re-Complexifying the Function(s) of Notation in the Music of Brian Ferneyhough and the "New Complexity" Stuart Paul Duncan THE ACTS OF COMPOSING, performing, and listening to music are inherently complex, a complexity that is mediated by the musical score: It might be said that a composition mediates between the composer and his ideas, for which the score becomes a representation of "the work." Likewise, a performance mediates between the performer's prior experiences and the score, for which the realization becomes an instantiation of "the work," while the instantiation's reception is similarly filtered by the receiver's listening habits and expectations. Where then does the complexity of music reside, especially in the case where the music is extremely complex such as music referred to as the "New Complexity"? As we shall see, several Re-Complexifying the Function(s) of Notation I 37 theorists locate the complexity of New Complexity in the notation. It is claimed by these scholars that the notational complexity simply reflects the need to match the complex underlying compositional processes. Such an argument seeks to simplify the relationships between composer and score resulting in a one-to-one relationship. Viewed through this simplifying lens, the composers associated with New Complexity are indicted with attempting to perfect this one-to one relationship at the expense of both the performer and listener. However, I will argue that the complexity these composers seek, in fact, resides in the interstices between the composer and score, score and performance, and performance and reception. Therefore, the resulting notation encapsulates these interstices, 'complexifying' the relationships between composer, score, performer and listener. In response to the question "What is meant by complexity in music?" the musicologist Harry Halbreich states that the prevalent view limits complexity to the density of notation alone: By complexity today one generally means so called 'black scores' replete with millions of notes, preferably (almost) unplayable. This is a very restrictive view, which does not take into consideration the complexity of the problem. In fact, complexity—not to be confused with complication!—is a prerequisite of any great art wishing to satisfy not only the sense and feelings, but also the mind. As such, it has always existed (Halbreich 1990, 24). Complexity, according to Halbreich, became synonymous with the term complication, reducing its ephemeral and ambiguous nature to a concrete depiction through the notes on the page. Several responses to the question of complexity in music were published during 1993-95, including collections of articles in Complexity in Musici, Perspectives of New Music, and Contemporary Music Review. From just a brief acquaintance with these journals it is possible to see how an entrenched frustration with notationally dense scores has fed into a larger argument involving underlying compositional processes. Those composers who embraced the notion of complexity did so, not as a notational fetishization, but as a reflection of the complexity of the world that surrounds us. However, such an approach was called into question by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho: It is true that the world is complex, as are also our perceptive mechanisms through which we are receiving the fragments of the reality around us. Should our music reflect the endless informa I 38 Perspectives of New Music tion surrounding us, or should it reflect our personal way of filter ing the world? The latter seems to me more interesting (Saariaho 1990, 34). Saariaho implies that although the world is undeniably complex, art should seek to filter this complexity in order to reflect the composer's own views. Much of the discussion on complexity during the early 1990s stemmed from the 1960s, and in particular focused on the music of Brian Ferneyhough. Ferneyhough's scores, replete with intricately woven nested rhythmic strands, abrupt dynamic changes, and spectacular shifts in pitch register reflected Saariaho's "endless information." However, Ferneyhough defends his position: Things in the present day world surely move rather quickly. It seems rather anomalous to expect our art to be easily understandable; I don't see music as providing a sort of breathing space between bouts of confrontation with the outside world! It is also not directly about offering privileged insights, but more about how to create...