Details

Part of the BBC Proms. To celebrate Sir Harrison Birtwistle's 75th birthday the London Sinfonietta is rejoined by its founder-conductor David Atherton to perform three of the composer's major early works - all of which the ensemble premiered during its first decade. A virtuosic showpiece for brass, wind and percussion, the 1969 Verses for Ensembles was Birtwistle's earliest Sinfonietta score, and echoes the violent lyricism of his opera Punch and Judy. The other two works were both composed after Birtwistle had completed the first two acts of his massive 'lyric tragedy' The Mask of Orpheus (Prom 39). Silbury Air, named after the mysterious man-made mound in Wiltshire, uses a 'pulse labyrinth' to direct explorations of its 'imaginary landscapes', while in Carmen arcadiae mechanicae perpetuum, written for the Sinfonietta's 10th anniversary in 1978, six musical mechanisms are set in perpetual motion and then put on a collision course. Approx. finish time: 23:15

Creatives/Company

Conductor: David Atherton