Harrison Birtwistle

Harrison Birtwistle
Sir Harrison Birtwistleis a British composer...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth15 July 1934
I wrote music as soon as I knew notation.
pieces influence
The piece that had a large influence on me was Turangalila.
stories opera different
The opera tells the story with all the built-in contradictions and from many different angles.
writing people becoming
People say my music is English. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's not me writing English music, but that English music is becoming more like me.
writing music-is basic-things
One thing I've tried to do in writing music is take on very basic things, very archetypal things.
ideas musical matter
My operas usually come from musical ideas rather than ideas about subject matter.
theatre pieces opera
My operas and my theatre works are very formal pieces.
matter ends
In the end it doesn't matter what you do.
composer
I'm not an architectural composer.
theory reactions minimalism
Minimalism now is a reaction to what came before. It's absolutely of its time. Music moved into the set theory thing, and moved out of it.
problem music-is
Music is such a problem in the time it takes.
responsibility ideas choices
Composing's not voluntary, you know. There's no choice, you're not free. You're landed with an idea and you have responsibility to that idea.
thinking sound pretentious
This sounds horribly pretentious, but I like to think that if music hadn't existed, I could have invented it.
theory wanted
When I dealt with set theory, I could never make it be the music that I wanted.