Essential Birtwistle
A giant of post-war modernism, English composer Harrison Birtwistle (1934 – 2022) composed works of unflinching power and integrity, mixing tradition and structure with a physical, earthy power that is unmistakable. Born to working class parents in Accrington, Lancashire, he studied clarinet and composition in nearby Manchester where his peers included the pianist John Ogdon and fellow composers Alexander Goehr and Peter Maxwell Davies. Only over a decade later did he fully devote himself to composition, building a reputation as one of Britain's most unflinching modernists with works, more often than not, inspired by and rooted in theatre and ritual. The 1970s saw major orchestral works and important opera commissions, as well as the start of a period as director of music at London's National Theatre. As the prizes and honours piled up in later decades, Birtwistle undoubtedly became an "establishment" figure (a label he disliked), but his music never lost its power and edge, only growing in its single-minded integrity, with his later works allying earthy, ritualistic power and beauty to a new mastery of structural integration.