A pregnant silence, a peaty belch from the tuba, and the scrape of brass on brass as gears lock into position and judder forward. It’s almost worth making a bingo card for a Harrison Birtwistle première these days, and I’m not complaining. His last big orchestral work, Deep Time, showed worrying signs of him mellowing into some sort of late period.
Richard Bratby
Bingo with Birtwistle
Plus: Aurora Orchestra’s Beethoven Fifth, played entirely from memory, was a nerve-shredding experience
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