A Portrait of Sir Harrison Birtwistle

Albert Hall, London
Kensington Gore London SW7 2AP
United Kingdom
http://www.royalalberthall.com

Christine Rice mezzo-soprano
Exaudi
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
Oliver Knussen conductor

Along with fellow Lancastrian composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Sir Harrison Birtwistle celebrates his 80th birthday this year. The Proms marks the occasion with a concert from one of the UK’s leading new music ensembles, the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

The group’s relationship with Birtwistle’s music is a long one, and here it performs three of the composer’s classic early works. Each explores the spatial dramatisation of music, playing aural games with the audience and exposing them to intriguing and unfamiliar textures, while never neglecting the ever-unfolding melody that is at the core of all Birtwistle’s music.

Harrison Birtwistle : Verses for Ensembles
Harrison Birtwistle : Dinah and Nick's Love Song
Harrison Birtwistle : Meridian