Harrison Birtwistle (1934 - 2022)

[Joseph K]

He passed away, today.



He is among my favourite post-WWII British composers.

[hmvman]

That's sad news.

R.I.P, Sir Harrison.

[ardcarp]

That's sad. I have to admit that I never quite 'got' his music, but he was an influential figure of the 20th Century, and I think one of the so-called Manchester School which included (I think) Peter Maxwell Davies, John Ogden and Elgar Howarth. RIP HB.

[Bryn]

He passed away, today.



He is among my favourite post-WWII British composers.

Where did you hear of this? I can find nothing to the effect elsewhere on the Internet, as yet.

Ah, his Wikipedia entry has just been updated.

[Joseph K]

Where did you hear of this? I can find nothing to the effect elsewhere on the Internet, as yet.

I heard it from Ian Pace's facebook. And his wiki entry has been changed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Birtwistle

[Serial_Apologist]

One of my favourite composers, unusual-sounding as that may seem coming from the Romantic that is me. One of those composers whose idiom I never have quite worked out, but which has always made sense in some inexplicable way for me. From his Desert Island Discs we shared many the same enthusiasms, apart from the one pop song he included, tongue-in-cheek.

[Pulcinella]

Sad news.

He passed away, today.



He is among my favourite post-WWII British composers.

Like ardcarp, it would seem, I've never really 'got' his music either, though I have got a fair bit on CD:

Antiphonies/Nomos/An Imaginary Landscape (Collins)
Tragoedia/Five Distances/Three Settings of Celan/Secret Theatre/Endless Parade/Panic/Earth Dances (Decca 2CD set)
Earth Dances (Collins single: a different recording from the one in the Decca set)
The Triumph of Time/Gawain's Journey (Collins)
Harrison's Clocks (Sound Circus)

Pointers and advice on where to start MY journey would be welcome.

[Quarky]

RIP Harrison Birtwistle.

I knew his work a little, but he left a very considerable body of work. I'll always remember Mask of Orpheus, semi-staged at a Proms Performance.

If asked, I would cite Silbury Air as a fitting tribute:: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVjEFpB57ek

[Serial_Apologist]

RIP Harrison Birtwistle.

I knew his work a little, but he left a very considerable body of work. I'll always remember Mask of Orpheus, semi-staged at a Proms Performance.

If asked, I would cite Silbury Air as a fitting tribute:: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVjEFpB57ek

Sometimes he almost seems to have anticipated trends which have been made fashionable by populist mass media: Techno in his one (?) electroacoustic piece Chronometer, and the later Carmen Arcadiae of 1977's mechanical polymetric drive - the former of which I still have on the Argo release coupled with The Triumph of Time, which commentators remarked on, mistakenly, as anticipating a new direction, closer in spirit to late Mahler. If Birtwistle was close to anybody, it was the Stravinsky of the chamber works immediately following Le Sacre.

[kernelbogey]

Where did you hear of this? I can find nothing to the effect elsewhere on the Internet, as yet.

Ah, his Wikipedia entry has just been updated.

Guardian news story, filed an hour ago:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/18/composer-harrison-birtwistle-dies-aged-87

[Lordgeous]

Sad news. I was at the Aldeburgh premiere of Punch And Judy, which I'm afraid I found tough going! And still find his music tough - I must try harder.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/18/composer-harrison-birtwistle-dies-aged-87

[Mandryka]

Sad news. I was at the Aldeburgh premiere of Punch And Judy, which I'm afraid I found tough going! And still find his music tough - I must try harder.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...e-dies-aged-87

Norman Lebrecht's article says something very daring, viz:

Like Samuel Beckett, he mystified those who could not penetrate his works and delighted those who could.

https://slippedisc.com/2022/04/britains-last-great-composer-has-died/

[Petrushka]

This is sad news indeed. My favourites among his work are The Triumph of Time, Earth Dances and the deliberately provocative Proms piece, Panic.

I'd suggest the excellent The Cry of Anubis to anyone looking for a way in. I found the hardest listen to be Theseus Game which remains impenetrable.

Bumped into HB (almost literally) in the Albert Hall corridor prior to a CBSO/Rattle Prom performance of The Triumph of Time and again in the RFH when he was in the audience for a BPO/Abbado Mahler 5.

[RichardB]

I'm very fond of many of his works and I felt very privileged to meet and share a stage with him in Cologne five years ago. But I really don't understand why he has a reputation with many people for writing "difficult" or "imprenetrable" music, I mean it's easy listening compared to a lot of things written by composers of his generation and older: his work consists overwhelmingly of notes for traditional instruments and voices to perform in a traditional sort of way, no interest in electronic music apart from a couple of brief forays, none in improvisation, none in microtonality, etc.

[teamsaint]

This is sad news indeed. My favourites among his work are The Triumph of Time, Earth Dances and the deliberately provocative Proms piece, Panic.

I'd suggest the excellent The Cry of Anubis to anyone looking for a way in. I found the hardest listen to be Theseus Game which remains impenetrable.

Bumped into HB (almost literally) in the Albert Hall corridor prior to a CBSO/Rattle Prom performance of The Triumph of Time and again in the RFH when he was in the audience for a BPO/Abbado Mahler 5.

Always enjoyed his music. I don’t know “ The Cry of Anubis” , so will give that a spin.

I remember Ferney describing Earth Dances as being like seeing two different views out of a train window(s) , going at different speeds. At least I think thats what he said. It’s what I remember anyway, and it was very helpful.