I think music has gone through a period of something very severe, rather radical, rather the way painting did with cubism.

quote by 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.

quote by Harrison Birtwistle
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Minimalism now is a reaction to what came before. It's absolutely of its time. Music moved into the set theory thing, and moved out of it.

quote by Harrison Birtwistle
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People say my music is English. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's not me writing English music, but that English music is becoming more like me.

quote by Harrison Birtwistle
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My attitude to writing is like when you do wallpapering, you remember where all the little bits are that don't meet. And then your friends say: It's terrific!

quote by 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.

quote by Harrison Birtwistle
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The theatre only knows what it's doing next week, not like the opera, where they say: What are we going to do in five years' time? A completely different attitude.

quote by 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.

quote by Harrison Birtwistle
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