Composing’s not voluntary, you know. There’s no choice, you’re not free. You’re — Harrison Birtwistle
I think there are influences that you open the door to, and influences that come under the door. — Harrison Birtwistle
I think music has gone through a period of something very severe, rather radical — Harrison Birtwistle
This sounds horribly pretentious, but I like to think that if music hadn’t existed, I could have invented it. — Harrison Birtwistle
The thing about influence is that any composer worth anything will give you the same names. — Harrison Birtwistle
The theatre only knows what it’s doing next week, not like the opera, where they say: — Harrison Birtwistle
The opera tells the story with all the built-in contradictions and from many different angles. — Harrison Birtwistle
One thing I’ve tried to do in writing music is take on very basic things, very archetypal things. — Harrison Birtwistle
When I was confronted with official tuition, the academic thing, I could see no — Harrison Birtwistle
When I dealt with set theory, I could never make it be the music that I wanted. — Harrison Birtwistle