Today is the 80th birthday of Sir Harrison Birtwistle, a composer whose music I can’t say I’ve ever really warmed to. Despite sharing his fascination with Gawain, Punch, the Minotaur, Anubis, Orpheus, King Kong(!) and any other number of subjects which form the bases for his operas and concert works, I have a hard time finding anything on which to get a toehold. I’m not really sure quite what it is, since I don’t really need music to be “easy” or even tonal.

At least his most famous contemporary and former fellow enfant terrible of the so-called Manchester School, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (now Master of the Queen’s Music and therefore part of “the establishment”), was not afraid to allow some wit to show through his music from time to time. Perhaps it is my own shortcoming for not taking the trouble to immerse myself totally in Birtwistle’s work.

Birtwistle has a local connection, by the way. He attended Princeton University on a Harkness Fellowship, starting in 1965. There, he completed his opera “Punch and Judy,” which begins with Punch tossing his baby into the fire, then commencing a murder spree, beginning with the stabbing of his wife, Judy. All this is enacted in human form, inevitably making it much more disturbing than when played out by puppets.

Perhaps you will find something to like in one of these pieces recommended in The Guardian.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2014/jul/15/harrison-birtwistle-80th-birthday-five-introductory-pieces

If I had to recommend one with which to start, it would be “Earth Dances” from 1986. I confess, listening to it now, it is not as impenetrable as I remember it being. In fact, it actually kind of makes sense. Good Lord, I may actually be warming to it!

In general, I sense a primordial connection in Birtwistle’s work, though it’s not someplace I choose to live. At least the music seems to have integrity, which can’t always be claimed of many pieces of an easier disposition.

See what you think. Here’s “Earth Dances” again, on YouTube. The poster certainly had a field day with the imagery:

Stark, uncompromising, often brutal, always provocative – enjoy your special day, Harry!