List of compositions by Harrison Birtwistle


This is a list of compositions by Harrison Birtwistle, a British composer of contemporary classical music. Birtwistle's music was published by Universal Edition until 1994, and since then by Boosey & Hawkes.

Opera and other dramatised works

Orchestra

  • Chorales, for orchestra
  • Nomos, for 4 amplified instruments and orchestra
  • The Triumph of Time, for orchestra
  • Melencolia I, for clarinet, harp and 2 string orchestras
  • Earth Dances, for orchestra
  • Endless Parade, for trumpet, strings and vibraphone
  • Machaut à ma manière, for orchestra
  • Gawain's Journey, for orchestra
  • Antiphonies, for piano and orchestra
  • The Cry of Anubis, for tuba and orchestra
  • Panic, for alto saxophone, jazz drummer, wind, brass and percussion
  • Exody, for orchestra
  • Sonance Severance 2000, for orchestra
  • The Shadow of Night, for orchestra
  • Night’s Black Bird, for orchestra
  • Concerto for Violin and Orchestra Responses, for piano and orchestra
  • Deep Time, for orchestra
  • Variation IX in Pictured Within: Birthday Variations for M.C.B., for orchestra

Chamber ensemble without voices

  • The World is Discovered, 6 Instrumental Movements after Heinrich Isaac, for chamber ensemble
  • 3 Movements with Fanfares, for chamber orchestra
  • Tragoedia, for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, harp and string quartet
  • Chorale from a Toy Shop, open scoring
  • Three lessons in a frame, for piano solo, flute, clarinet, violin, cello and percussion.
  • Medusa, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion and electronics
  • Verses for Ensembles, for 3 instrumental ensembles
  • Some Petals from my Twickenham Herbarium, for piccolo, clarinet in Bb, glockenspiel, piano, violin and violoncello
  • An Imaginary Landscape, for brass, percussion and double basses
  • Tombeau in memoriam Igor Stravinsky, for flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet
  • Grimethorpe Aria, for brass band
  • For O, for O, the Hobby-Horse is Forgot, Ceremony, for 6 percussionists
  • Silbury Air, for chamber ensemble
  • Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum, for chamber ensemble or orchestra
  • Mercure: Poses Plastiques, arranged for 14 players
  • Still Movement, for 13 solo strings
  • Secret Theatre, for chamber ensemble
  • Fanfare for Will, for brass ensemble
  • Salford Toccata, for brass band
  • Ritual Fragment, for chamber orchestra
  • Fanfare for Glyndebourne, for brass ensemble and timpani
  • Bach Measures, for chamber ensemble
  • Slow Frieze, for piano and ensemble
  • Placid Mobile, for 36 trumpets
  • The Silk House Tattoo, for two trumpets and side drums
  • Sonance 2000, for brass ensemble
  • 17 Tate Riffs, for ensemble
  • Fanfare, for brass and percussion
  • Tenebrae David, for brass ensemble
  • Theseus Game, for large ensemble with two conductors
  • Cantus Iambeus, for thirteen instruments
  • The Io Passion: Nocturnes, for clarinet and string quartet
  • Cortege, for 14 musicians
  • Virelai , for 12 players
  • Crescent Moon over the Irrational, for flute doubling piccolo, clarinet, harp and string quartet
  • Fantasia upon all the notes for flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet,
  • In Broken Images, for woodwind, brass and percussion
  • Five Lessons in a Frame, for ensemble
  • Sonance for a New Space, for 3 trumpets, 4 trombones and bells Donum Simoni MMXVIII for woodwind, brass and percussion

Instrumental groups of 5 or fewer performers, without voices

  • Refrains and Choruses, for wind quintet
  • Précis, for piano
  • Verses, for clarinet and piano
  • Linoi, for basset clarinet in A and piano, or clarinet, piano, tape and dancer; or clarinet, piano and cello
  • Four Interludes for a Tragedy, for basset clarinet and tape
  • Ut Heremita Solus, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and glockenspiel
  • Hoquetus David, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and glockenspiel
  • 8 Lessons for Keyboards
  • Signals, for clarinet and tape
  • Dinah and Nick's Love Song, for 3 melody instruments and harp
  • Sad Song, for piano
  • Chanson de Geste, for amplified sustaining instrument and tape
  • Clarinet Quintet, for clarinet and string quartet
  • Pulse Sampler, for oboe and claves
  • Duets for Storab, for 2 flutes
  • Berceuse de Jeanne, for piano
  • Antiphonies from the Moonkeeper, for trumpet
  • Hector's Dawn, for piano
  • An Interrupted Endless Melody, for oboe and piano
  • 5 Distances for 5 Instruments, for flute, oboe, clarinet in B flat, bassoon and horn in F
  • Hoquetus Petrus, for two flutes and piccolo trumpet
  • 9 Movements, for string quartet
  • Harrison’s Clocks, for piano
  • The Silk House Tattoo, for two trumpets and 3 side drums
  • Betty Freeman: Her Tango, for piano
  • Ostinato with Melody, for piano
  • The Axe Manual, for piano and percussion
  • Saraband: The King's Farewell, for piano
  • Crowd, for solo harp
  • The Io Passion - Aubades and Nocturnes, for basset clarinet and string quartet
  • Dance of the metro-gnome, for piano
  • Five Little Antiphonies for Amelia, for two trumpets
  • Double Hocket, for piano trio
  • The Tree of Strings, for string quartet
  • 3 Fugues from The Art of Fugue, for string quartet
  • The Message , for E flat clarinet, trumpet in C and military drum
  • Bourdon , for violin and viola
  • Roddy's Reel, for bass clarinet with audience participation
  • Oboe Quartet
  • Duet 3, for cor anglais and bassoon
  • Trio, for violin, cello and piano
  • Gigue Machine, for piano
  • Beyond the White Hand, for guitar
  • Variations from the Golden Mountain, for piano
  • Duet 4, for violin and flute
  • Duet 5, for horn and trombone
  • Hoquetus Irvineus, for string quartet
  • The Silk House Sequences, for string quartet
  • Intrada, for piano and percussion
  • Keyboard Engine, for two pianos
  • Duet for Eight Strings, for viola and cello

Vocal music (with and without instruments)

  • Monody for Corpus Christi, for soprano, flute, violin and horn
  • Narration: A Description of the Passing of a Year, for a cappella chorus
  • Music for Sleep, for children's voices, piano and percussion
  • Entr'actes and Sappho Fragments, for soprano and instruments
  • Ring a Dumb Carillon, for soprano, clarinet in B flat and percussion
  • Carmen Paschale, motet for choir and organ
  • The Visions of Francesco Petrarca
  • Monodrama
  • Cantata, for soprano and instruments
  • Nenia: The Death of Orpheus, for soprano, 3 bass clarinets, crotales and piano
  • Meridian, for mezzosoprano, 2 three-part women's choirs and instruments
  • Prologue, for tenor and 7 instruments
  • The Fields of Sorrow, for 2 sopranos, 8-part choir and instruments
  • Epilogue, "Full fathom five", for baritone, horn, 4 trombones and 6 tam-tams
  • La Plage: 8 Arias of Remembrance, for soprano and 5 instruments
  • Five Chorale Preludes, for soprano, clarinet, basset horn and bass clarinet
  • … agm …, for 16 voices and 3 instrumental ensembles
  • On the Sheer Threshold of the Night, Madrigal, for 4 soloists and 12-voice choir
  • Deowa, for soprano and clarinet in B flat
  • Songs by Myself, for soprano and chamber ensemble
  • Words Overheard, for soprano and chamber orchestra
  • 4 Songs of Autumn, for soprano and string quartet
  • An die Musik, for soprano and chamber ensemble
  • The Wine Merchant Robin of Mere, for male voice and piano
  • 4 Poems by Jaan Kaplinski, for soprano and 13 instruments
  • 9 Settings of Celan for soprano, 2 clarinets, viola, cello and double bass
  • Pulse Shadows
  • The Woman and the Hare, for soprano, reciter and ensemble
  • Love Cries, from the opera The Second Mrs. Kong, for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor and orchestra
  • Three Latin Motets, from The Last Supper, for unaccompanied choir
  • 9 Settings of Lorine Niedecker, for soprano and cello
  • The Sadness of Komachi, for tenor and prepared piano
  • The Ring Dance of the Nazarene, for baritone, tombak, choir and ensemble
  • The Gleam, for unaccompanied choir
  • 3 Brendel Settings, for baritone and orchestra
  • 3 Arias by Bach, for soprano, countertenor and chamber ensemble
  • 26 Orpheus Elegies, for oboe, harp and countertenor
  • Today Too, for tenor, flute and guitar
  • Neruda Madrigales, for chorus and ensemble with live electronics
  • The Mouse Felt…, for baritone and piano
  • Lullaby, for two sopranos, unaccompanied
  • Song of Myself, for baritone, double bass and percussion
  • Bogenstrich for baritone, cello and piano
  • Angel Fighter, for chamber chorus, tenor, countertenor and ensemble
  • From Vanitas, for tenor and piano
  • Semper Dowland, semper dolens, for tenor and ensemble
  • 3 Settings of Lorine Niedecker, for soprano and cello
  • The Moth Requiem, for twelve female voices, three harps and alto flute
  • Songs from the Same Earth, for tenor and piano
  • Chorale-Prelude, for SATB chorus a capella
  • Three Songs from The Holy Forest, for soprano and ensemble
  • ...when falling asleep, for soprano, speaker and ensemble

Electronic music

  • Chronometer, for 2 asynchronous 4-track tapes

Incidental music for theatre

National Theatre productions

Other

Film scores