Harrison Birtwistle
Harrison Birtwistle
Sir Harrison Birtwistleis a British composer...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth15 July 1934
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.
theory wanted
When I dealt with set theory, I could never make it be the music that I wanted.
You either are or you're not.
kids age
When I was a kid, I wrote music - from the age of 11 until the age of 18.
writing sea tuition
When I was confronted with official tuition, the academic thing, I could see no relationship whatever between that and the music I'd been writing since I was 11.
names giving influence
The thing about influence is that any composer worth anything will give you the same names.
irrational interest
It's the irrational things that interest me.
writing want pieces
I always write the pieces I want to write.
player records record-players
I didn't have a record player.
writing ideas pages
There are rhythmic ideas which sometimes only work up to a point. In writing there are moments when it just comes off the page, it's not just a collection of notes.
attitude writing littles
My attitude to writing is like when you do wallpapering, you remember where all the little bits are that don't meet. And then your friends say: It's terrific!
thinking usa american-music
I don't think there is much American music.
attitude alaska looks
I'm not a music lover in the sense that I look for something to have on. I've never had that attitude to music.
thinking way gone
I think music has gone through a period of something very severe, rather radical, rather the way painting did with cubism.