Figure, allegory and performing practice in Brian Ferneyhough's music

Abstract

This study examines the concepts of figure and allegory in the music aesthetics of English composer Brian Ferneyhough, in particular relation to his works Lemma-Icon-Epigram (1981) for solo piano and Kurze Schatten II (1983-9) for solo guitar. In doing this, I approach the multiple mediations surrounding a score as a semiotic artifact, and particularly the potential impact of cultural allusions and composer intentions towards the performing practice of his notations. I analyze the commercial recordings of these two works employing the model of 'morphosyntactic analysis', correlating notated and performed sound – as well as quantified data and close listening – approaching the mediation between notation and performance, and finally evaluating the impact of the aforementioned concepts of figure and allegory in the performing practices of these notations.