Harrison Birtwistle (1934 - 2022)

[Joseph K]

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.

For a second there I thought you meant Ferneyhough himself!

And yes about, Earth Dances. I happen to currently be spinning The Cry of Anubis, having just finished listening to Night's Black Bird, from this disk -

[silvestrione]

I heard him talk a few times. He definitely mellowed over the years. Once, when asked what his interests were as a composer, he replied with Northern laconic terseness, 'pitch and pulse'.

I would say the 'trumpet concerto', Endless Parade is very approachable, as is the beautiful Ritual Fragment. The Triumph of Time in the Boulez performance is terrific. Sometimes I think the larger orchestral works (and Gawain) have just too many notes, though for many years I did listen to and perhaps get something from Earth Dances.

[Joseph K]

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.

I don't find his music difficult, but despite the techniques you mention that he eschewed, I nonetheless would say there is something in terms of what the music expresses that could be described as 'tough', like its character, rather than being reducible to its technical attributes. Perhaps I would use the word 'hard' in the sense of how that word is used in the phrase 'hard rock', if that makes sense. I'd say there is a toughness in his music that is absent from some music that features microtones and nested tuplets etc. But perhaps this is not what other people on this thread meant by their use of the word 'tough'.

[teamsaint]

I don't find his music difficult, but despite the techniques you mention that he eschewed, I nonetheless would say there is something in terms of what the music expresses that could be described as 'tough', like its character, rather than being reducible to its technical attributes. Perhaps I would use the word 'hard' in the sense of how that word is used in the phrase 'hard rock', if that makes sense. I'd say there is a toughness in his music that is absent from some music that features microtones and nested tuplets etc. But perhaps this is not what other people on this thread meant by their use of the word 'tough'.

That chimes with me, if not so much with HB ( though doubtless it is there, and I shall re- listen to some works with your comment in mind. ) I generally enjoy pieces where I sense an inner “toughness” . Might make for an interesting separate thread.

[Mandryka]

I don't find his music difficult, but despite the techniques you mention that he eschewed, I nonetheless would say there is something in terms of what the music expresses that could be described as 'tough', like its character, rather than being reducible to its technical attributes. Perhaps I would use the word 'hard' in the sense of how that word is used in the phrase 'hard rock', if that makes sense. I'd say there is a toughness in his music that is absent from some music that features microtones and nested tuplets etc. But perhaps this is not what other people on this thread meant by their use of the word 'tough'.

His songs (voice and piano) are really tender and intimate, and interesting to hear too.


He IS a difficult composer. Gawain is difficult, with all that cyclic time stuff; God alone knows WTF is going on in Orpheus. The toughness is to do with the idea, the expression of a difficult idea, which may make no sense at the end of the day, hard to say because Birtwistle doesn’t make it easy to see what the idea actually is - that’s rather like Samuel Beckett in fact. Birtwistle makes Wagner look easy peasy crystal clear.

[RichardB]

I'd say there is a toughness in his music

That's true. (Although that aspect also "mellowed" as he got older.) Maybe the fact that his music consists of "ordinary notes" leads some to expect that it behaves thematically and structurally like more traditional musics, when in fact it doesn't. There are many pieces I haven't really got to know (like the ones on your NMC CD) but others like Antiphonies, Punch and Judy, The Mask of Orpheus and The Triumph of Time that I've kept coming back to, over many years in some cases. The way Triumph of Time develops is something I find especially inspiring, the way its materials develop at different and changing rates.

[Mandryka]

Maybe this is a good intro to his music, the film music for Sidney Lumet's"The Offence"

[Petrushka]

Can anyone say what his last piece was? I've not heard of anything more recent than Deep Time (another one I enjoyed) at the 2017 Proms.

[Joseph K]

Can anyone say what his last piece was? I've not heard of anything more recent than Deep Time (another one I enjoyed) at the 2017 Proms.

There was a recent release on BIS - perhaps some of the music on that?

edit - this: https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/BI%202561

[Bryn]

There was a recent release on BIS - perhaps some of the music on that?

edit - this: https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/BI%202561

The most recent works on that disc date from 2018.

...when falling asleep, for soprano, speaker and ensemble (2019), appears to be the last work listed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...son_Birtwistle

[Joseph K]

The most recent works on that disc date from 2018.

Ah ok, thanks.

[bluestateprommer]

Can anyone say what his last piece was? I've not heard of anything more recent than Deep Time (another one I enjoyed) at the 2017 Proms.

From a look at Boosey & Hawkes' page on HB, his Wallace Stevens setting of "An Old Man Asleep" looks to be the most recent work, dated 2020, premiered in 2021:

https://boosey.com/cr/music/Harrison-Birtwistle-An-Old-Man-Asleep/104232

[Serial_Apologist]

The most recent works on that disc date from 2018.

...when falling asleep, for soprano, speaker and ensemble (2019), appears to be the last work listed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...son_Birtwistle

If so, an appropriate "theme" to round off.

[Petrushka]

From a look at Boosey & Hawkes' page on HB, his Wallace Stevens setting of "An Old Man Asleep" looks to be the most recent work, dated 2020, premiered in 2021:

https://boosey.com/cr/music/Harrison...-Asleep/104232

Thanks, bsp. and presumably the same work noted by Bryn. As SA has said, an appropriate way to round off.

[Bryn]

Thanks, bsp. and presumably the same work noted by Bryn. As SA has said, an appropriate way to round off.

I would not be so sure. See, for instance, https://www.boosey.com/cr/music/Harr...-asleep/103785 and https://www.bcmg.org.uk/an-introduct...falling-asleep . An Old man Asleep has a slightly different description and is dated 2020. Interesting that the theme of sleep applies to both, though.