Has Sir Harrison Birtwistle ever cracked a smile? One that isn’t at the expense of his audience, I mean?
Today is Sir Harry’s 85th birthday. Despite sharing his fascination with Gawain, Punch, the Minotaur, Anubis, Orpheus, King Kong, and any number of other subjects that form the bases for his operas and concert works, I find he’s a composer whose music I have only ever moderately warmed up to.
I vastly prefer the output of his contemporary and fellow former enfant terrible of the so-called Manchester School, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Late in life, Max may have been appointed Master of the Queen’s Music – you can’t get more establishment than that – but he never lost his impish glint. To some extent, it is that sense of mischief that makes even his earlier, more scandalous works somehow approachable.
I don’t really need music to be “easy” or even tonal. There are times when I can put on a Birtwistle record and totally go with it. But I don’t know that anything he has written engenders much affection in me. This is not an objective assessment, of course, and perhaps you will react differently.
Birtwistle has a local connection, by the way. He attended Princeton University on a Harkness Fellowship, beginning in 1965. There, he completed his opera “Punch and Judy,” which begins with Punch tossing his baby into the fire. This commences a murder spree that includes the stabbing of Judy, his wife. All this is presented in human form, making it much more disturbing than when enacted by puppets.
Perhaps you will find something to latch on to in one of these pieces recommended by The Guardian.
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.
There is something primordial in Birtwistle’s work, but it is not someplace I choose to live. At least the music has integrity, which I can’t always claim for some contemporary works of an easier-going disposition.
See what you think. Here is Birtwistle’s “Earth Dances.”
His music may not be the most conducive for wrapping up a work day, getting one through the afternoon commute, or enhancing the enjoyment of a cocktail hour, but we’ll see how I feel. One of his could be among the featured selections on my air shift today from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
If so, hang in there – it’s also the birthday of British Light Music master, Ronald Binge!
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