Études transcendantales

Études transcendantales is a song cycle in 9 movements for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble composed by Brian Ferneyhough between 1982 and 1985.

Starting from the standard modernist Pierrot ensemble, he replaced the clarinet exchanged for an oboe, the piano for a harpsichord, and removed the violin altogether.

However, he could not find enough suitable poems on death and permanence, and instead commissioned a poet friend, Alrun Moll, to write texts for the remaining songs.

Like many other works by Ferneyhough and other New Complexity composers, Études transcendantales is infamously difficult to perform and is extremely complicated.

Almost each individual note also has its own unique dynamics and articulation, including extended techniques such as multiphonics on the oboe, glottal stops for the voice, and key-clicking for the flute.