Quote:
Originally Posted by yerself
Call me a palestine as Del Boy might say, but listening to some of Harrison Birtwistle's music is surely a form of masochism. To me it sounds like the cat-gut of which the violin strings are made is still attached to the cat.
|
an old biblical cliche, rendered in modern English is "a prophet is never recognised in his own country, in his own time and by his own kin"!!!!!!! Birtwistle is a ground-breaker, and is widely recognised as such, being performed in many international settings, and high-profile cultural milieus e.g. in 2014 he reprised his 1969 visit to the Brighton festival with his chamber opera "Down by the Greenwood Side", first performed there on the now burned out Grade 1 West Pier, and in 2014 featured in the derelict Harveys brewery in Lewes. Birtwistle was also "in conversation" with Gavin Henderson in the Music Room at Brighton Royal Pavilion. Great to see an Accy lad made good and trumping all the cultural cognoscenti who flock to the town for this huge international event (the Festival). How many of us could stand the pace of such a solo "performance" at the age of 80? Birtwistle is one of the music moguls of our time.... it would be good to know how much his musicality was fired and inspired by the rich musical milieu of Lancashire in his formative years. For just one aspect of this musical milieu, see David Middlehurst's 2015 book "The Lancashire String Band"- social dance musicians of the county, 1880-1930... a far cry from the mega inventiveness of Birtwistle, but goes to show how the area was rich in music of all sorts.. pity we can't say the same today. By the way has anyone researched the "Bands" of the 1950's onwards.... plenty of local "groups", from which at least one "great" was spawned.. Jon Anderson. I for one never cease to be amazed at the number of major groundbreakers a small town llike Accy produces..... leaving technology aside for now, Ossie Clark in fashion, John Virgo, Artist, Harrison B......... performers like Jon Tomlinson, Jon Anderson and his recent innovative collaboration with Jean Luc Ponty.......