The Triumph of Time

Harrison Birtwistle’s The Triumph of Time (1972) is an unsettling, powerful and expertly crafted funeral march for large orchestra. This single-movement programme work is inspired by Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s woodcut of the same name, depicting a procession in which Time personified rides a chariot, followed by Death; in the background, no villager will be spared from the doings of this inexorable duo. One of Birtwistle’s best-known works, the 28-minute Triumph portrays the procession with tone clusters in the strings and brass, and a large percussion battery. It emerges from tentative harp gestures, followed by dissonant melodies on the cor anglais, muted trumpet and an amplified soprano saxophone, suggesting that something sinister is lurking. Near the middle, the brass burst forth alarmingly, with clangorous percussion. Beginning from near silence, the second half brings back the cor anglais theme. After a moment of woodwind serenity, clusters and ringing percussion erupt again, this time with shrieking fragments of melody that are sustained piercingly. After a climactic volley on percussion, the commotion dies down, creating a dissonant, hazy ambience with acidic strings. A final, clamorous appearance by the saxophone, with lingering snippets from the cor anglais, brings Triumph to a close.