Sir Harrison Birtwistle
Secret Theatre
Short instrumentation: 1 1 1 1 - 1 1 1 0 - perc(1), pno, str(1 1 1 1 1)
Duration: 28'
Dedication: Dedicated to Sheila Birtwistle
Instrumentation details:
flute (+picc)
oboe
clarinet in Bb
bassoon (+cbsn)
horn in F
trumpet in C (+picc.tpt in Bb)
trombone
percussion
piano
1st violin
2nd violin
viola
violoncello
contrabass
Birtwistle - Secret Theatre for chamber ensemble
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Sir Harrison Birtwistle
Birtwistle: Secret Theatre for chamber ensembleOrchestration: for chamber ensemble
Type: Studienpartitur
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Work introduction
Secret Theatre is a classic of the international ensemble literature. As the title implies, it is instrumental theatre; great commotion predominates among the conflicting voices until one of them is allowed to present a monologue. The music becomes calm, the soloist “sings” a melody while the other voices comment, but soon the general ruckus returns. Birtwistle says, “What I do is something I call instrumental role-playing … I don’t write an actual piece and then add a number of instruments – it is more like a play with persons that way, how they sound and what they say.”