Brian Ferneyhough ~ Epicycle

Epicycle for an ensemble of 20 strings was written in 1968 and given in its first performance by Ernst Bour with the orchestra of the bavarian's radio in 1974.
This recording is supposing coming from this marvellous occasion.

"The term "epicycle" is taken from Renaissance astronomical theory. Since it was commonly
assumed that all heavenly bodies must necessarily move in perfectly circular orbits, observed
celestial anomalies could only be explained away by recourse to a complex system of circles
revolving around the circumference of still larger circles. Since I have always instinctively felt great
fondness for ingeniously elaborated, but erroneous theorising, it seemed natural to me to employ
this concept in the erection of large-scale formal structures based on the irregular re-presentation of
fundamentally cyclic patterns of activity. In view of the fact that the treatment of these cyclic models
is essentially recursive, and that two distinct cycles are presented simultaneously in the two 10-
instrument, antiphonally disposed string ensembles, the system has a built-in tendency to chaotic,
turbulent or conflictual states. Pursuing the astronomical analogy a step further, one might perhaps
regard the large circle as representing the overall form of the work, with each of the subsidiary
circles standing both for a particular sub-set of the original materials and that point in the overall
spiral process to which the progressively more complex re-reading of past events has brought us.
Thus, a sort of double vision ensues, whereby previous, more fundamental states share a
common, teeming musical space with their more wayward, entropic progeny.
The choice of spatially separated ensembles of identical instrumental composition was dictated not
so much by considerations of dramatic effect as for reasons of textural clarity. There are many
passages in Epicycle in which up to six distinct layers of activity are present, often superimposed,
at other times passing rapidly, in a form of approximate hocket, between the ensembles. The
relative transparency provided by the antiphonal layout is, therefore, crucial in guiding the ear
forward. Whilst moving largely independently in terms of the material treated with respect to the
latter's relative stage of evolution away from its original state, there are two important types of
structural impingement of the cyclic layers. Firstly, there are passages in which one or other" Brian Ferneyhough