The first of a short series in which Stephen Plaistow introduces music by Birtwistle along with pieces which have influenced the composer's style.
1: Down by the Greenwood Side
Today's context is not perhaps the first to spring to mind: the English Pastoral Tradition.
Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a theme of Thomas
Tallis
BBC SO, conductor Andrew Davis
Birtwistle Melencolia I
Antony Pay (clarinet) London Sinfonietta, conductor Oliver Knussen
Hoist Egdon Heath BBC SO, conductor
Andrew Davis
Birtwistle Silbury Air London Sinfonietta, conductor Elgar Howarth