A single question to Harrison Birtwistle - an obituary tribute

The composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle has died, aged 87. He had suffered a stroke a few months back.

[Image credit: Philip Gatward]

Famed for his uncompromisingly modern and coruscating compositional style, none of music makes for an easy listen. Those that 'get it', as they say, are often immovable in their support for Harry and his music.

In 1994, whilst studying for an MA in Arts Criticism at City University, London, I was urged by my tutor, Michael Oliver, to listen to several works by Birtwistle, and come to the following week's tutorial with my thoughts about them. He knew this would challenge me.

As it happened, during the week I was in central London, walking towards Trafalgar Square. As I approached the National Portrait Gallery, I saw Birtwistle approaching me. He saw that I had recognised him and said, "Hello." 

On the spur of the moment, perhaps prompted by having his music on my mind at the time, I responded, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but why is it that you insist on challenging listeners with your music?"

"What else should I do?", came his slightly terse reply, but a smile played momentarily on his lips. He kept walking.

This, I feel, might sum up the man. Whatever ones personal feelings, there is no doubt that the world of composition has lost one of its most individual voices. May he rest in peace.

Some recommended recordings:

Chamber works 

(Nash Ensemble, BIS, released 2022) 

Gramophone wrote: "All the music here retains a freshness and focus belying the composer’s age; it’s a long way from a mere rehashing of familiar ways of doing things."

The Mask of Orpheus

(BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers, Andrew Davis and Martyn Brabbins, NMC records, released 2010)

Gramophone wrote: "Birtwistle’s awe-inspiring masterpiece is a key work in the development of post-war opera, groundbreaking in its fusion of music, song, drama, myth and electronics."

Secret Theatre

(London Sinfonietta, Elgar Howarth, NMC records, released 2008)

Gramophone wrote: "Written between The Mask of Orpheus and the no less epic enterprise of Earth Dances, Secret Theatre really does mark a great leap forward, and this performance… is… highly charged, eloquent account of one of the composer's most powerful and most personal scores."

The Triumph of Time

(John Harle & Paul Clarvis, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern Orchestra, Pierre Boulez, Andrew Davis, Decca, released 2012)

Theseus Game & Earth Dances

(Ensemble Modern Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins & Pierre-André Valade, Pierre Boulez; DG; released 2012)

Gramophone wrote: "Theseus Game (2002-3) offers clear visual contrasts: an ensemble of 30 players has two conductors, and there's a central space at the front of the platform for the succession of soloists who emerge from the ensemble. Earth Dances (1985-6) demands total surrender; as the music unwinds to its end, spasms of the seismic dance stand in the way of any comforting sense of fulfilment, or resolution."

 

Gawain

(Marie Angel, Anne Howells, Richard Greager, Penelope Walmsley-Clark, Omar Ebrahim,Francois Le Roux, John Tomlinson, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Elgar Howarth; NMC; released 2014)

The Financial Times wrote: "Birtwistle’s difficult vocal lines and ritualistic patterns need a high level of commitment from the listener: this is an opera best experienced with eyes as well as ears. But for those prepared to submit to its baleful orchestral sound and riddle-strewn tale, Howarth and his fine cast...provide a definitive experience."