Composer of the Week: Harrison Birtwistle

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Harrison Birtwistle (b 1934): Harry in America

Harrison Birtwistle (b 1934)

Harry in America

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Harrison Birtwistle (b 1934), Harry in America

Donald Macleod speaks to Sir Harrison Birtwistle about his friendship with Morton Feldman.

Donald Macleod speaks to Sir Harrison Birtwistle about his friendship with Morton Feldman and the inspiration behind one of the great orchestral works of the 20th century.

This week Donald Macleod meets Sir Harrison Birtwistle, described as “the most forceful and uncompromisingly original composer of his generation”. We hear his major compositions, broadly in chronological order, and reveal the preoccupations and processes behind a singular music imagination. 

In this episode, Donald Macleod explores Birtwistle’s time in America, after an invitation to teach there by his great friend Morton Feldman.  We hear about his collaboration with the electronic music pioneer Peter Zinovieff on the tape piece Chronometer, and about how Breughel’s engraving The Triumph of Time foreshadows the structure of Birtwistle’s massive orchestral work of the same name.

Dinah and Nick’s Love Song
Helen Tunstall, harp
John Harle, saxophone
Simon Haram, saxophone
David Roach, saxophone

Trio 
Lisa Batiashvili, violin
Adrian Brendel, cello
Till Fellner, piano

Chronometer
Peter Zinovieff, tape

The Triumph of Time 
Philharmonia Orchestra
Elgar Howarth, cond.

Producer: Iain Chambers

Composer of the Week: Harrison Birtwistle (b 1934)

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod meets composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle to talk about his life and music.

This week Donald Macleod meets Sir Harrison Birtwistle, described as 'the most forceful and uncompromisingly original composer of his generation'.

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Harrison Birtwistle (b 1934)

Harry in America

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