{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"","title":"Harrison Birtwistle","description":"Donald Macleod talks to Sir Harrison Birtwistle about his life, inspiration and music.\n\nThis week Donald Macleod meets Sir Harrison Birtwistle, described as “the most forceful and uncompromisingly original composer of his generation.” We hear his major compositions, broadly in chronological order, and reveal the preoccupations and processes behind a singular music imagination. \n\nTo begin, we’ll hear about, Birtwistle’s daily working life, and about his early years among what became known as the Manchester school of composers. The premiere of his first opera Punch and Judy at Aldeburgh was infamous - much of the audience – including its commissioner Benjamin Britten – walked out at the interval. Next, we’ll hear about Birtwistle’s time in America and his friendship with Morton Feldman. They discuss some of his non-musical inspirations too: the power of mythology, the paintings of Paul Klee and the films of Quentin Tarantino. Birtwistle reveals how time, and the instruments for measuring time, have inspired many of his compositions, and how a lifelong fascination with moths inspired a new work meditating on loss.\n\n\nMusic featured:\nOockooing Bird\nRefrains and Choruses\nPunch and Judy (The Resolve; Passion Aria; Adding Song)\nTragoedia\nDinah and Nick’s Love Song\nTrio \nChronometer\nThe Triumph of Time\nDuets for Storab (Urlar; Stark Pastoral; Crunluath)\nCarmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum\nThe Mask of Orpheus (13th, 14th 15th Arch from Act 2, Scene 2)\nSilbury Air\nNine Settings of Lorine Niedecker (There’s A Better Shine; How The White Gulls; My Life; Sleep’s Dream)\nEarth Dances\nHarrison’s Clocks (Clock 2; Clock 5)\nPanic\nVirelai (Sus une fontayne)\nThe Minotaur (Part Two)\nThe Moth Requiem\nIn Broken Images\nDuet for Eight Strings \n\nPresented by Donald Macleod\nProduced by Iain Chambers for BBC Wales\n\nFor full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Harrison Birtwistle https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009r3h \n\nAnd you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z","author_name":"BBC Radio 3"}