The Western musical canon came about not merely by accumulation, but by opposition and subversion, both to the ruling powers on whom composers depended for their livelihoods and to other musics.
Brian FerneyhoughActually, most things I say in public lead more or less directly to my own compositional practice, so I should be careful about generalizing lest they come back to haunt me.
Brian FerneyhoughIn any case, the fewer boundaries that exist hindering free movement between all forms of articulate human cognition, the better.
Brian FerneyhoughComposers dialogue - and obsessively, bitterly argue - with other composers, often over the span of several centuries.
Brian Ferneyhough