Ferneyhough - La Terre Est Un Homme/Plötzlichkeit

The Guardian 100

BBCSO/Brabbins / Exaudi / Ensemble Recherche
(NMC)

While not quite a musical scandal on the level of the premiere of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, the first performance of Brian Ferneyhough’s La Terre Est Un Homme in Glasgow in 1979 is remembered as a disaster; sabotaged, so the story goes, by the orchestra’s hostility to a score of such challenging density. The London premiere a few weeks later, conducted by no less than Claudio Abbado in his inaugural concert as principal conductor of the LSO, seems to have been only a marginal improvement, and together they confirmed Ferneyhough’s reputation for producing music of unrealisable and incomprehensible complexity.

In the UK at least, he’s remained a remote and often misunderstood figure, but the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s revival of La Terre Est Un Homme in 2011 went a long way to redressing the balance. A recording of that outstanding performance, conducted with astonishing lucidity by Martyn Brabbins, dominates this NMC disc, confirming La Terre as one of the most remarkable orchestral achievements of the last half-century.

Related: A guide to Brian Ferneyhough's music