Birtwistle - Linoi for clarinet in A and piano

In legend, Linos, the inventor of melody, was killed
by a jealous Apollo. Songs of mourning (linoi) were sung in his memory.

In Birtwistle’s
Linoi a melodic line unfolds
from a single note and slowly climbs through an octave. A second melody begins,
this time crossing two octaves. When the third melody reaches a point three
octaves from its start, the sustained line is shattered by an episode of
extreme violence (perhaps recalling the savagery of Apollo’s attack). A reeling
melodic descent to Hades follows, as Linos’ life drains from him. The closing
section spans the four octaves that are made possible by Birtwistle’s use of
Mozart’s extended clarinet; in a way the piece is about the extension down of a
high
instrument.

The plucked piano represents the lyre (at this time
Birtwistle was looking for an instrument to represent it in his Orpheus opera)
and at the violent climax it turns, as it might in Bosch, into an instrument of
death.

Composed in 1968 in Alan Hacker’s kitchen in
Battersea, Linoi was first performed in London, Purcell Room by Alan Hacker
(clarinet) and Catherine Edwards (piano) on 11th October 1968.

(JW)

Programme note from the Composers Ensemble Concert on
18th September 1992