The Specter of
Repetition: Uncanniness and (Anti-)Narrative in Brian Ferneyhough's AllgebrahMidway through Brian Ferneyhough's Allgebrah,
something distinctly unsettling—indeed, uncanny—occurs: relatively brief but
clearly audible ‘ostinati’ surface and become increasingly prominent in
dynamics and register, eventually reaching a climax that seems to owe its
effect more to Stravinsky than to the serial and post-serial composers to whom
Ferneyhough's lineage is more frequently traced. These repetitive figurations
register as markedly transgressive in the context of Ferneyhough's normative
style, yet close analytical examination reveals that they had been ominously
foreshadowed in the music preceding this ‘uncanny episode’—and that they
continue to haunt the music that follows it.To understand this strange episode and its place within Allgebrah's larger trajectory, I combine
the concept of the uncanny—which Sigmund Freud theorized as “something
repressed which recurs”—with Almén and Klein's recent work on musical
narrative. I propose a reading of Allgebrah in terms of the return of the
repressed—the uncanny ‘ostinati’—and the subsequent attempts of the
protagonist (the solo oboe) to negotiate this threat. Ultimately, however, I
argue that Ferneyhough's music thwarts our narrative expectations, neither
affirming the oboe's mastery nor its defeat but veering instead towards
anti-narrative. In so doing, Allgebrah
provides an immanent critique of our attempts, as listeners and analysts, to
grasp and master the uncanny. Following my analysis, I briefly consider how
this reading relates to Ferneyhough's compositional methods, examining in
particular his deployment of the software PatchWork to generate rhythmic
material.In putting forth such a reading, I seek to move beyond tired notions of
‘complexity’ in order to argue for a more nuanced, hermeneutically-informed
understanding of Ferneyhough's music. Indeed, Ferneyhough has explicitly
called for attention to questions of meaning in his music. Burgeoning
theoretical interest in questions of musical narrative in post-tonal music
suggests ideal analytical means through which to answer this call.
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