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Harrison Birtwistle: the best recordings

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Harrison Birtwistle: the best recordings

With a catalogue of works that combine a modernist aesthetic with ancient mythology, Harrison Birtwistle is one of Britain's foremost contemporary composers. Here, we name some of the best recordings of his music

UK - "The Minotaur" Performance in London

BBC Music Magazine

Published: November 12, 2021 at 8:31 AM

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Punch and Judy

London Sinfonietta/David Atherton

NMC D138

Birtwistle’s violently ritualistic first opera, vividly delivered.

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Melencolia 1, Ritual Fragment, Meridian

London Sinfonietta/Oliver Knussen

NMC D009

Exemplary readings of three contrasting representative scores.

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The Mask of Orpheus

BBC Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Davis & Martyn Brabbins

NMC D050 (3 discs)

Superb realisation of Birtwistle’s most awesome work for the musical stage.

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Birtwistle: Chamber Music

Lisa Batiashvili (violin), Adrian Brendel (cello0, Till Fellner (piano), Amy Freston (soprano), Roderick Williams (baritone)

ECM 476 5050

'The performances are definitive, they certainly sound confident.'

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Angel Fighter

Andrew Watts (countertenor), Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts (tenor); BBC Singers; London Sinfonietta/David Atherton

NMC D211

Pungent pizzicato rhythms, visceral trumpets, groaning lower brass and winds shrilling overhead drive the three-way confrontation between taunting chorus, Jacob himself (a committed but occasionally strained Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts) and the Angel (a charismatic Andrew Watts).