Birtwistle, Sir Harrison (Paul)

(born July 15, 1934, Accrington, Lancashire, Eng.) British composer. He began as a clarinetist, shifting to composition in his 20s. He cofounded the Pierrot Players with Peter Maxwell Davies (1967) but felt limited by the group's size. He concentrated on exploring large-scale time structures; his music's form is controlled by complex cyclical principles that he declined to discuss. His works include the theatre pieces (1966–67), (1973–86), and (1991), and the orchestral works (1972), (1977), and (1984).

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