Harrison Birtwistle : Ancora: Triumph of Time


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Harrison Birtwistle : Ancora: Triumph of Time



The Triumph of Time is one of Birtwistle's most memorable images in sound: an immensely slow and baleful processional for vast orchestra, inspired by Breughel the Elder's engraving of the same name depicting Time as a remorseless destroyer. Birtwistle's 1992 opera Gawain was another of his large-scale treatments of the passing of time, and his orchestral paraphrase Gawain's Journey draws together music from various parts of the opera round its turning point of Gawain's journey northward from the court of King Arthur to fulfil his wager with the mysterious Green Knight. These two works are joined by a reissue of the London Sinfonietta's recording of Ritual Fragment, also released on NMC D009.

"It is good to have [these] excellent recordings of two of the composer's major orchestral works resurrected from their Collins Classics grave by the ever-welcome new-music specialist label NMC."
The Daily Telegraph 2004

Mention Composition Today in the NMC comments box of the order page and get a free copy of NMCs sampler, New Stock,


Track ListingTrack TimeMP3
The Triumph of Time: Crotchet= c.404'27
The Triumph of Time: Fig 4, soprano sax4'01
The Triumph of Time: Fig 10, muted horns2'41
The Triumph of Time: Fig 14, senza tempo3'22
The Triumph of Time: Fig 19, cor anglais/ flute dute1'37
The Triumph of Time: Fig 21, central climax4'26
The Triumph of Time: Fig 31, string chorale4'41
The Triumph of Time: Fig 37, senza tempo2'29
The Triumph of Time: Fig 39, cor anglais solo1'54
Ritual Fragment11'23
Gawain's Journey: Introduction2'23
Gawain's Journey: The Opening of the Door1'43
Gawain's Journey: The Challenge2'24
Gawain's Journey: The Court becomes Visible2'19
Gawain's Journey: He strikes the blow1'11
Gawain's Journey: Lullaby1'50
Gawain's Journey: Vision of the Hunt I1'19
Gawain's Journey: Seduction Scene0'56
Gawain's Journey: Vision of the Hunt II2'42
Gawain's Journey: The Journey3'29
Gawain's Journey: Vision of the Hunt III3'09
Gawain's Journey: Morgan goes through into the Blizzard1'14

Composers on this disc

Harrison Birtwistle