Recordings of modernist music rarely hit the classical charts, but this album of chamber pieces by Harrison Birtwistle is an exception, scoring commercial success early in 2022. The reasons aren't too hard to find. Birtwistle is a listener-friendly modernist whose structures are clear. Pulse Sampler, originally composed in 1981, features an oboe part in 28 well-defined sections, each with its tempo set by the percussionist (originally a claves player, but here in a version for a larger percussion battery). He is, by turns, ...
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Recordings of modernist music rarely hit the classical charts, but this album of chamber pieces by Harrison Birtwistle is an exception, scoring commercial success early in 2022. The reasons aren't too hard to find. Birtwistle is a listener-friendly modernist whose structures are clear. Pulse Sampler, originally composed in 1981, features an oboe part in 28 well-defined sections, each with its tempo set by the percussionist (originally a claves player, but here in a version for a larger percussion battery). He is, by turns, lyrical and even humorous and in ways accessible to ordinary listeners. Moreover, the Nash Ensemble has pitch-perfect control over Birtwistle's music, having worked closely with the composer for some years. The album is of great interest to listeners who already like Birtwistle, for the Trio for violin, cello, and piano and Duet for Eight Strings are recent works, from 2011 and 2018, respectively, and the Oboe Quartet is not much older. The arrangement of Pulse Sampler is also...
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