No Thought Of Compromise

Harrison Birtwistle is an uncompromising and single minded composer, ploughing his own course with no thought of diversions into the occasional simple or neo classical piece. This is the only disk of his music that I have and it contains two instrumental theatre pieces, Theseus Game and Earth Dances. This recording of Theseus Game was made at the world premiere in 2003 at the Ruhr Triennale by Ensemble Modern and two conductors, Martyn Brabbins and Pierre-Andre Valade. Two conductors are required because of the theatrical way in which the players move about the stage, the continuous theme of the work being passed around from one solo instrument to the next as they stroll around and the ensmble continues to provide a stark background. There is no theme to the theatricality as such, just the spectacle being enacted on stage by the orchestra. Earth Dances was also recorded live for this disk in Frankfurt, again by Ensemble Modern this time under Pierre Boulez. There are no stage effects for this work but there is a dramatic sense to the shifting layers and blocks of sound that evoke something ancient and mysterious, like the earth itself. The often repeated critical quote is that it is a Rite of Spring for the 1980s. I don't think the public ear has managed to become as accustomed to the sound world of Earth Dances as quickly as it did to the Rite eighty years earlier but it will be interesting to see if such acceptance does ultimately come ( given that the Rite is still too far out for some ).