Harrison Birtwistle

Harison Birtwistle

Sir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer who, like Peter Maxwell Davies and Alexander Goehr, first came to public attention in the 1950s as a member of the New Music Manchester group.

Quotes

• My attitude to writing is.. it's like when you do wallpapering, you know, you remember where all the little bits are that don't meet, you think: "Oh my God that's horrible..." And then your friends come and say: "Who did this wallpapering? It's terrific!"
  • Interviewed by Dan Warburton, July 8, 1995. [1]

• I like to think that if music hadn't existed, I could have invented it.
  • Interviewed by Dan Warburton, July 8, 1995. [2]

• Composing's not voluntary, you know. There's no choice, you're not free. You're landed with an idea and you have responsibility to that idea.
  • In The Observer, April 14, 1996.