Harrison Birtwistle (1934-2022)

Started by Hector, July 12, 2007, 06:18:04 AM

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snyprrr

Quote from: snyprrr on December 25, 2017, 11:04:34 AM
I guess it's time to plow this field... looking at the Discography, there seems to be a couple of routes to go.

1) Earth Dances/Panic ???

2) ECM Chamber Music, with Piano Trio ??

3) NMC "Blackbird" CD ??

4) Complete Piano Music ??


All I have is the 'Pulse Shadows' Arditti disc, which, eh, I guess it's ok, but not my fav cup of tea. I feel HB is gonna be quite the noise-fest, am I right?

HELPS!!!

I'm assuming that the 'live' Boulez 'Earth Dances', with the 'Panic' and 'Triumph...', is the way to go? ...with the 'Blackbird' disc 2nd?

Mandryka

#61
Quote from: snyprrr on December 25, 2017, 11:04:34 AM
I guess it's time to plow this field... looking at the Discography, there seems to be a couple of routes to go.

1) Earth Dances/Panic ???

2) ECM Chamber Music, with Piano Trio ??

3) NMC "Blackbird" CD ??

4) Complete Piano Music ??


All I have is the 'Pulse Shadows' Arditti disc, which, eh, I guess it's ok, but not my fav cup of tea. I feel HB is gonna be quite the noise-fest, am I right?

HELPS!!!

I think you should hear the trio. The thing I think you'd also possibly like from the chamber music has never been commercially released, it's called Silk House. Arditti play it and I can let you have recordings of concerts, two concerts in fact, when you enter the real world and learn to download.

I feel in my heart of hearts that his real masterpiece is The Mask of Orpheus, and you should dedicate 2018 to coming to terms with it, absorbing and imbibing its magnificence.

I saw Gawain in Covent Garden, it was really magical. I don't have a clue what it's about, something to do with cyclical time I think, but it was magic. The problem is that these sort of things have to be seen, they're dramas.

And there's Punch and Judy - you NEED to hear Punch and Judy once before you die, it's so violent.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

ritter

Quote from: Mandryka on December 27, 2017, 12:43:59 PM
....

I feel in my heart of hearts that his real masterpiece is The Mask of Orpheus, and you should dedicate 2018 to coming to terms with it, absorbing and imbibing its magnificence.
...
I tend to agree...a "difficult" piece, but once you "get into it", it0s absolutely enthralling.

I'd say that Secret Theatre is also quite wonderful

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

snyprrr


snyprrr

Quote from: Mandryka on December 27, 2017, 12:43:59 PM
I think you should hear the trio. The thing I think you'd also possibly like from the chamber music has never been commercially released, it's called Silk House. Arditti play it and I can let you have recordings of concerts, two concerts in fact, when you enter the real world and learn to download.

I feel in my heart of hearts that his real masterpiece is The Mask of Orpheus, and you should dedicate 2018 to coming to terms with it, absorbing and imbibing its magnificence.

I saw Gawain in Covent Garden, it was really magical. I don't have a clue what it's about, something to do with cyclical time I think, but it was magic. The problem is that these sort of things have to  be seen, they're dramas.

And there's Punch and Judy - you NEED to hear Punch and Judy once before you die, it's so violent.

1) I liked what I saw of 'Panic'... much milder than I thought it would be...

2) Watched a bit of P+J but I immediately thought of Ligeti because of the staging... I think part of the problem with this for me is
    that I've heard stuff like this my whole life, through other media, and now it really just makes me think of 1986 for some reason!

3) Violin Concerto, a little bit, sounded like generic "cool" Modern to me, enjoyable enough

4) Triumph/Boulez seems to be the gateway, with 'Blackbird' as a pendant...

5) Trio sounding generically pleasing to me... what i would have asked for...


Why am i thinking Carter??

snyprrr

Earth Dances Boulez

Just finishing up my first listen here. Yea, I if you told me this was Carter I'd be impressed. It also has a little of Ives's 'Universe' Symphony,... just I suppose what I imagined it would sound like.

But, is Birtwistle the only one who could have composed this? Carter and Ferneyhough come to mind,... frankly, it would have made a great splash for Lutoslawski or Dutilleux or any of the 'Later' Composers. So, I guess it "sounds like a Masterpiece"!!

I liked it

snyprrr

The Cry of Anubis

To me, it sounds like a BAZ Tuba Concerto, dark and thorny, maybe with a little Black Rihm in there, or even Schnittke? Either way, I enjoyed it, as I'm sure I might the rest of the disc, but, it IS "dark and bleak", and I've got sooo much of that right now. So, for me, I like the more extrovert 'Earth Dances' or 'Panic'.

I just keep wanting to 'hyphenate' Birtwistle... Carter+BAZ...+Rihm+Schnittke,... I mean, one gets the picture I'm sure, there will be grimness! ::)

Mandryka

I trust you all have your tickets for the new production of The Mask of Orpheus at ENO in London, first performance on the 18th.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

DaveF

Quote from: Mandryka on October 16, 2019, 09:28:39 AM
I trust you all have your tickets for the new production of The Mask of Orpheus at ENO in London, first performance on the 18th.

I can't see that either Radio 3 will be broadcasting it, or that ENO Screen will be relaying it to cinemas anywhere.  Oh well... enjoy it on my behalf  :(
"All the world is birthday cake" - George Harrison

Mandryka

Quote from: DaveF on October 17, 2019, 11:18:43 AM
I can't see that either Radio 3 will be broadcasting it, or that ENO Screen will be relaying it to cinemas anywhere.  Oh well... enjoy it on my behalf  :(

My ticket is for the penultimate performance, mid November
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Biffo

Quote from: Mandryka on October 17, 2019, 08:48:31 PM
My ticket is for the penultimate performance, mid November

The review in i by David Nice (who also saw the 1986 production) describes the production as 'amoebic dysentery'. He is kinder about the performers.

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

San Antone

I don't listen to Birtwistle much,  but stumbled upon this when I was listening to Till Fellner's recordings.  Nice.

Birtwistle: Chamber Music
Lisa Batiashvili & Adrian Brendel & Till Fellner & Amy Freston & Roderick Williams



Three Settings Of Lorine Niedecker (For Soprano And Violoncello)
Trio For Violin, Violoncello And Piano
Bogenstrich (Meditations On A Poem Of Rilke)
Nine Settings Of Lorine Niedecker (For Soprano And Violoncello)

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

#75
Quote from: Biffo on October 25, 2019, 05:06:37 AM
The review in i by David Nice (who also saw the 1986 production) describes the production as 'amoebic dysentery'. He is kinder about the performers.

Camp regietheate. Many in the audience in the stalls were dressed appropriately - like The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This has clearly become a gay queer iconic opera. Very well conducted and sung. Complex busy staging, always eye-candy,  outstandingly, viscerally, choreographed. I'm not sure that there's much illumination to be had by trying to decode the drama, any more than in late Mallarmé, the staging seemed to provide a suitably surreal, engaging, perplexing (in a good way) thing to look at as the music, and what glorious music!, rolled on.

Too long, too much of a good thing.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

bhodges

Quote from: Mandryka on November 07, 2019, 12:31:59 PM
Camp regietheate. Many in the audience in the stalls were dressed appropriately - like The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This has clearly become a gay queer iconic opera. Very well conducted and sung. Complex busy staging, always eye-candy,  outstandingly, viscerally, choreographed. I'm not sure that there's much illumination to be had by trying to decode the drama, any more than in late Mallarmé, the staging seemed to provide a suitably surreal, engaging, perplexing (in a good way) thing to look at as the music, and what glorious music!, rolled on.

Too long, too much of a good thing.

I hope a DVD (or a broadcast) is in the works, for those of us who can't get there. (Wish the Met would consider staging this -- or frankly, any of his operas -- but that seems unlikely at the moment.)

--Bruce

Mandryka

#77
Very much enjoying the challenging quartet called The Tree of Strings, I was led to it by this review which I think is good. It's in the Arditti set

http://5against4.com/2013/03/30/harrison-birtwistle-tree-of-strings-uk-premiere/


https://www.youtube.com/v/KCTd36uWvUE
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen


Mandryka

This obit has a good line

QuoteLike Samuel Beckett, he mystified those who could not penetrate his works and delighted those who could.

https://slippedisc.com/2022/04/britains-last-great-composer-has-died/
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen