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All Harrison Birtwistle Quotes
My operas usually come from musical ideas rather than ideas about subject matter.
Harrison Birtwistle
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The piece that had a large influence on me was Turangalila.
Harrison Birtwistle
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When I was confronted with official tuition, the academic thing, I could see no relationship whatever between that and the music I'd been writing since I was 11.
Harrison Birtwistle
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This sounds horribly pretentious, but I like to think that if music hadn't existed, I could have invented it.
Harrison Birtwistle
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There are rhythmic ideas which sometimes only work up to a point. In writing there are moments when it just comes off the page, it's not just a collection of notes.
Harrison Birtwistle
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I don't have ideas so much as there are things which constantly evolve... there are various threads or layers, if you like, which change.
Harrison Birtwistle
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When I was a kid, I wrote music - from the age of 11 until the age of 18.
Harrison Birtwistle
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The opera tells the story with all the built-in contradictions and from many different angles.
Harrison Birtwistle
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