Quote by Harrison Birtwistle

“You either are or you're not.”

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More by Harrison Birtwistle

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.

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I didn't have a record player.

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The thing about influence is that any composer worth anything will give you the same names.

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I always write the pieces I want to write.

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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…

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I think there are influences that you open the door to, and influences that come under the door.

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I wrote music as soon as I knew notation.

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The opera tells the story with all the built-in contradictions and from many different angles.

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I'm not a music lover in the sense that I look for something to have on. I've never had that attitude to music.

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

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The piece that had a large influence on me was Turangalila.

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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,…

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