Birtwistle, Harrison: Refrains And Choruse

Harrison Birtwistle: Refrains and Choruses

1. Hoquetus Petrus
2. Refrains and Choruses
3. Hector’s Dawn

Duets for Storab
4. Urlar
5. Stark pastoral--
6. Fanfare with birds
7. White pastoral
8. From the church of lies
9. Crunluath

10. Linoi
11. Berceuse de Jeanne
12. Verses
13. Chorale from a Toy-Shop
14. Sad Song

An interrupted Endless Melody
15. I
16. II
17. III

18. Oockooing Bird
19. Five Distances

A varied selection of Birtwistle’s wind ensemble works covering a broad range of instrumentation, influences and structure. Extending from his first published and acknowledged wind ensemble Refrains and Choruses (1957), to the beautiful, melancholic Sad Song (1971) for solo piano, to the Duets for Storab (1983) for two flutes, and to An Interrupted Endless Melody (1991) for oboe and piano. Each piece, though typically Birtwistlian, embraces flavours and influences from composers such as Satie, Vaughan Williams, Stravinsky and Varese, whilst individually exploring the possibilities of varied musical form.