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Finnissy
Michael Peter Finnissy (born 17 March 1946) is an English composer, pianist, and pedagogue. An immensely prolific composer, his music is "notable for its dramatic urgency and expressive immediacy". Although he rejects the label, he is often regarded as the foremost composer of the New Complexity movement. Biography Early life Michael Finnissy was born at 77 Claverdale Road in Tulse Hill, London at roughly two in the morning on 17 March 1946 to Rita Isolene (''née'' Parsonson) and George Norman Finnissy. His father was employed at the London City Council. When he was four, he received his first piano lessons from his great aunt Rose Louise (Rosie) Hopwood, soon after writing his first compositions, He attended Hawes Down Infant and Junior schools, Bromley Technical High, and Beckenham and Penge Grammar schools and excelled in graphic art, mathematics, and English literature. Student years Finnissy received the William Hurlstone composition prize at the Croydon Mus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Verdi Transcriptions (Finnissy)
The 36 ''Verdi Transcriptions'' for piano by the British composer Michael Finnissy were composed between 1972 and 2005. They are based on the works of Giuseppe Verdi. Background The '' Transcriptions'', in the words of the composer, "are ...not simply about Verdi. They form a critique of a musical culture which is over-saturated in its past...by dissection, analysis, parody, and by self-dramatised intent." In four books of nine pieces each, they include in chronological sequence at least one transcription from each of Verdi's operas, together with one transcription drawn from his string quartet, and conclude with a transcription of the first section of his '' Requiem''. In creating the ''Transcriptions'' Finnissy was influenced by the concepts of Ferruccio Busoni, who believed that musical notation "is itself the transcription of an abstract idea. The moment that the pen takes possession of it, the thought loses its original form". The implication is that all composition is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer. Ferneyhough is typically considered the central figure of the New Complexity movement. Ferneyhough has taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and the University of California, San Diego; he teaches at Stanford University and is a regular lecturer in the summer courses at Darmstädter Ferienkurse. He has resided in California since 1987. Life Ferneyhough was born in Coventry and received formal musical training at the Birmingham School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music from 1966 to 1967, where he studied with Lennox Berkeley. Ferneyhough was awarded the Mendelssohn Scholarship in 1968 and moved to mainland Europe to study with Ton de Leeuw in Amsterdam, and later with Klaus Huber in Basel. Between 1973 and 1986 he taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, Germany,Richard Toop, "Ferneyhough, Brian", '' Grove Music Online'' (Updated 22 October 2008), edited ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Complexity
New Complexity is a label principally applied to composers seeking a "complex, multi-layered interplay of evolutionary processes occurring simultaneously within every dimension of the musical material". Origins Though often atonal, highly abstract, and dissonant in sound, New Complexity music is most readily characterized by the use of techniques which require complex musical notation. This includes extended techniques, complex and often unstable textures, microtonality, highly disjunct melodic contour, complex layered rhythms, abrupt changes in texture, and so on. It is also characterized, in contrast to the music of the immediate post–World War II serialists, by the frequent reliance of its composers on poetic conceptions, very often implied in the titles of individual works and work-cycles. The origin of the name ''New Complexity'' is uncertain; amongst the candidates suggested for having coined it are the composer Nigel Osborne, the Belgian musicologist Harry Halbreich, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Humphrey Searle
Humphrey Searle (26 August 1915 – 12 May 1982) was an English composer and writer on music. His music combines aspects of late Romanticism and modernist serialism, particularly reminiscent of his primary influences, Franz Liszt, Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, who was briefly his teacher. As a writer on music, Searle published texts on numerous topics; he was an authority on the music of Franz Liszt, and created the initial cataloguing system for his works. Biography Searle was the son of Humphrey and Charlotte Searle and, through his mother, a grandson of Sir William Schlich. He was born in Oxford where he was a classics scholar before studying—somewhat hesitantly—with John Ireland at the Royal College of Music in London, after which he went to Vienna on a six-month scholarship to become a private pupil of Anton Webern, which became decisive in his composition career. Searle was one of the foremost pioneers of serial music in the United Kingdom, and used his role a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Clarke (composer)
James Clarke (born 15 October 1957) is an English composer sometimes associated with the New Complexity school. Background Clarke was born in London, on 15 October 1957. Education According to fellow English composer and music scholar Christopher Fox, in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', "After studying at Southampton University and City University, London, larkewas awarded a Finnish Government Scholarship to study composition with Usko Meriläinen in Helsinki." Christopher Fox, "James Clarke", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', n.d., as qtd. in James Clarke"Biography", ''jamesclarke.org'', 2007, accessed 10 May 2008. Career In 1979, with his colleague Richard Emsley, Clarke co-founded the new music ensemble, Suoraan, "a small band of outstanding specialist performers" based in London "which dedicatedly promoted the music of, centrally, Iannis Xenakis but also younger British and European composers such as Michael Finnissy and James Dillon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Flesch International Violin Competition
The Carl Flesch International Violin Competition (also known as the International Competition for Violinists "Carl Flesch" and the City of London International Competition for Violin and Viola (Carl Flesch Medal)) was an international music competition for violinists, and later viola players, held between 1945 and 1992 in London. Founded in honour of the Hungarian violinist Carl Flesch, it was originally organised by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and after 1968 formed part of the City of London Festival. Particularly in the City of London Festival era, it was regarded as among the "most prestigious" competitions for string players, and "one of the most important testing grounds for aspiring soloists up to the age of 32." History The competition was founded in 1945 in honour of the Hungarian violinist Carl Flesch (1873–1944), who was particularly noted as a violin teacher. It was founded in the form of the "Flesch Medal" by Max Rostal and Edric Cundell of the Guildhall Sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Emsley
Richard Emsley (born December 1951 in Goole, Yorkshire) is a British composer, sometimes associated with the New Complexity school. Emsley initially studied with Arnold Whittall at University College, Cardiff, after which he moved to London, where he still lives. He attended Peter Maxwell Davies' composition classes at the Dartington Summer School of Music, and co-founded the Cardiff Composers' Ensemble while a student there. In the 1970s he co-founded, with James Clarke, the ensemble Suoraan, which specialised in performances of music by contemporary composers, including Iannis Xenakis, Michael Finnissy and James Dillon. In 2002, Métier released a CD of Emsley's music, entitled '' Flowforms''. In addition to composing, Emsley works as a music engraver. He was the first ever user of the notation software Sibelius, having tested it extensively before it was released, and engraved the first score published using Sibelius: ''Antara'' by George Benjamin (published by Faber Music ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernard Stevens
Bernard (George) Stevens (2 March 1916 – 6 January 1983) was a British composer. Life Born in London, Stevens studied English and Music at St John's College, Cambridge with E. J. Dent and Cyril Rootham, then at the Royal College of Music with R. O. Morris and Gordon Jacob from 1937 to 1940.'University News', ''The Times'', 19 June 1936, p. 18. His Opus 1, a violin sonata, attracted the attention of Max Rostal, who commissioned a Violin Concerto, which Stevens wrote while on army service. In 1946 his First Symphony, entitled ''Symphony of Liberation'', won first prize in a competition sponsored by the ''Daily Express'' newspaper for a 'Victory Symphony' to celebrate the end of the war with a premiere at the Royal Albert Hall. In 1948 Stevens was appointed Professor of Composition at the Royal College of Music, a post he combined from 1967 with a professorship at the University of London. As an examiner he travelled widely, especially in Eastern Europe. Although he resign ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tulse Hill
Tulse Hill is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in South London that sits on Brockwell Park. It is approximately five miles from Charing Cross and is bordered by Brixton, Dulwich, Herne Hill, Streatham and West Norwood. History The area known as Tulse Hill is part of the former Manor or Manors of Bodley, Upgroves and Scarlettes whose precise boundaries are now uncertain. The name of the area comes from the Tulse family who came into ownership of farmland in the area during the period of the Commonwealth in the 1650s. Sir Henry Tulse was Lord Mayor of London in 1683 and his daughter Elizabeth married Richard Onslow, 1st Baron Onslow. The land remained in Onslow ownership until 1789 when most of it was purchased by William Cole. The estate was further divided on Cole's death in 1807. The western part was left to "Mercy Cressingham, spinster" (now commemorated by the Cressingham Gardens estate in the area) and the eastern part -now mostly occupied by Brockwell Park - w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Society For Contemporary Music
The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music. The organization was established in Salzburg in 1922 as Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) following the Internationale Kammermusikaufführungen Salzburg, a festival of modern chamber music held as part of the Salzburg Festival. It was founded by the Austrian (later British) composer Egon Wellesz and the Cambridge academic Edward J Dent, who first met when Wellesz visited England in 1906. In 1936 the rival Permanent Council for the International Co-operation of Composers, set up under Richard Strauss, was accused of furthering Nazi Party cultural ambitions in opposition to the non-political ISCM. British composer Herbert Bedford, acting as co-Secretary, defended its neutrality. Aside from hiatuses in 1940 and 1943-5 due to World War II and in 2020–21 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the ISCM's core activity has been an annual festiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homosexual
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to people of the same sex. It "also refers to a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions." Along with bisexuality and heterosexuality, homosexuality is one of the three main categories of sexual orientation within the heterosexual–homosexual continuum. Scientists do not yet know the exact cause of sexual orientation, but they theorize that it is caused by a complex interplay of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences and do not view it as a choice. Although no single theory on the cause of sexual orientation has yet gained widespread support, scientists favor biologically based theories. There is considerably more evidence supportin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains to the west, Hawkesbury to the north, the Royal National Park to the south and Macarthur to the south-west. Sydney is made up of 658 suburbs, spread across 33 local government areas. Residents of the city are known as "Sydneysiders". The 2021 census recorded the population of Greater Sydney as 5,231,150, meaning the city is home to approximately 66% of the state's population. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2017. Nicknames of the city include the 'Emerald City' and the 'Harbour City'. Aboriginal Australians have inhabited the Greater Sydney region for at least 30,000 years, and Aboriginal engravings and cultural sites are common throughout Greater Sydney. The traditional custodians of the land on which modern Sydney stands are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
