Sir Richard Rodney Bennett needs his own topic.
Another fine English composer, he was born in Broadstairs, a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in Kent in 1936. Died in New York, where he lived since 1979. He was something of a child prodigy, writing music at a very early age. Studied with Lennox Berkeley at the Royal Academy of Music. Depending on which bio one reads, either his father, or his mother, was also a pupil of Gustav Holst. Winning a scholarship from the French, he was able to study under Boulez. He was a also played jazz piano, and accompanied many notable female vocalists in various venues, besides his many performances as a classical pianist. While his reputation is probably based on his film scores (for which he won a BAFTA in 1975), he was a prolific composer of modernist Classical music. He won the Arnold Bax Society Prize in 1964, and then the 1965 Ralph Vaughan Williams Award for composer of the year. Those of us who are
Hammer Film aficionados recognize his name on the credits for such movies as
The Man Who Could Cheat Death [1959],
The Nanny [1965],
The Witches [1966]. He was a teacher of composer Christopher Gunning. As a pianist, he gave the British premiere for Boulez's
Structures 1a for Two Pianos. Bernstein conducted his second symphony in 1968. His early
Symphony No.1 (1965) [first recorded in 1968 by Igor Buketoff & the RPO, and performed later that year by Colin Davis and the BSO] and
Piano Concerto (1968) are interesting, quite-listenable avante-garde pieces - later in his career his music became more lyrically conventional.
(some) film scores chamber music
================ ========================Interpol, 1956 String Quartet Nr.1, 1951
A Face in the Night, 1956 String Quartet Nr.2. 1953
The Safecracker, 1957 String Quartet Nr.3, 1953
The Devil’s Disciple, 1958 String Quartet Nr.4, 1964
Indiscreet, 1958 Trio for Flute, Oboe & Clarinet, 1965
The Man Inside, 1958 Sonata for Wind Quintet & Piano, 1986
The Angry Hills, 1959 Clarinet Quintet, 1992
Blind Date, 1959 Music for String Quartet, 1981
The Man Who Could Cheat Death, 1959 A Canon for Stravinsky (String Trio), 1967
The Mark, 1961 Oboe Quartet, 1975
The Devil Never Sleeps, 1961 'Jazz' Calendar, for Chamber Ensemble, 1960
Only Two Can Play, 1961 Sonata after Syrinx, for Flute, Viola & Harp, 1985
The Wrong Arm of the Law, 1962 Saxophone Quartet, 1994
Heaven’s Above, 1963 Concerto for Wind Quintet, 1983
Billy Liar, 1963 Fanfare for 2 Trumpets, Horn, Trombone & Tuba, 1962
One Way Pendulum, 1964 Quintet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn & Bassoon, 1968
The Engineers, 1965; The Nanny, 1965 Travel Notes 1 for String Quartet, 1975
European Tapestry, 1965 Travel Notes 2 for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet & Bassoon, 1976
A Penny for Your Thoughts, 1966 Sounds and Sweet Aries for Piano, Flute & Oboe, 1985
The Witches
/The Devil's Own, 1966 Studies for 5 Players (Flute-Oboe-Clarinet-Alto Sax-Percussion), 1957
Far from the Madding Crowd, 1967 Lamento d'Arianna for String Quartet, 1986
Billion Dollar Brain, 1967 Metamorphosis (4 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos), 1980
Secret Ceremony, 1968 Dream Dancing, for Chamber Ensemble, 1986
The Buttercup Chain, 1970 Commedia I, 1972 (winds & percussion)
Figures in a Landscape, 1970 Commedia II, 1972 (flute, cello & piano)
Nicholas and Alexandra, 1971 Commedia III, 1973 (winds, percussion, strings)
Lady Caroline Lamb, 1972 Commedia IV, 1973 (horn, 2 trumpets, trombone & tuba)
Voices, 1973 Reflections on a Theme of William Walton (6 vn, 2 va, 2 vc, db), 1985
Murder on the Orient Express, 1974 Arethusa for Oboe & String Trio, 1989
Tender is the Night, suite, for String Quartet, 1986
A Book of Hours, for Chamber Ensemble, 1991
orchestral works for brass/winds
=========================== ====================Horn Conc., 1956 Morning Music, 1986
5 Pieces, 1956 Concerto for 10 Brass Players, 1988
Music for an Occasion, 1959 The Four Seasons, 1991
Journal, 1960 Flowers of the Forest, 1989
Suite française, 1961 Concerto for Trumpet & Wind Orchestra, 1993
Nocturnes, chbr orch, 1962–3
Farnham Festival Ov., 1964
Aubade, 1964
Symphony no.1, 1965
Suite, 1966 [arr. from movts of The Aviary and The Insect World], small orch
Symphony no.2, 1967
Piano Conc., 1968
Vocal with OrchestraOboe Conc., ob, str, 1969–70
=============================Gui Conc., gui, chbr orch, 1970 The Approaches of Sleep (T. Browne), 4 voices & chbr ens, 1960
Party Piece, pf, small orch, 1971 London Pastoral (Wordsworth-Lydgate-Binyon), T, chbr orch, 1962
Viola Conc., va, chbr orch, 1973 Epithalamion (R. Herrick), chorus, orch, 1966
Conc. for Orch, 1973 Soliloquy (J. Mitchell), lv, jazz ens, 1966
Violin Conc., 1975 Jazz Pastoral (Herrick), 1v, jazz ens, 1969
Zodiac, 1975–6 The Bermudas (A. Marvell), chorus, school orch, 1971
Serenade, small orch, 1976 Sonnet Sequence (W. Shakespeare), T, str orch, 1974
Actaeon, hn, orch, 1977 Spells (K. Raine), S, chorus, orch, 1974
Music for Strings, 1977 5 Sonnets of Louise Labé, S, chbr ens, 1984
Double Conc., db, chbr orch, 1978 Lovesongs (e.e. cummings), T, orch, 1984
Sonnets to Orpheus, vc, orch, 1978–9 Ophelia (A. Rimbaud), Ct, ondes martenot, harp, strings, 1987
Harpsichord Conc., 1980
Anniversaries, 1982
OperaFreda’s Fandango, 1982
===================Memento, flute, strings, 1983 The Ledge, 1961
Sinfonietta, 1984 The Midnight Thief, 1964
Moving into Aquarius, 1984, collab. T. Musgrave The Mines of Sulphur, 1965 [libretto-B. Cross]
Symphony no.3, 1987 A Penny for a Song, 1967
Clarinet Conc., cl, str, 1987 All The King's Men, 1968 [libretto-B. Cross]
Marimba Conc., mar, chbr orch, 1988 Victory, 1970 [libretto-B. Cross]
Saxophone Conc., a sax, str, 1988
Diversions, 1989
BalletPercussion Conc., perc, chbr orch, 1990
==================Conc. for Stan Getz, t sax, timp, str, 1990 Isadora, 1981
Celebration, 1991 Jazz Calendar, 1968
Variations on a Nursery Tune, 1992
Bassoon Conc., bn, str, 1994
Partita, 1995
Reflections on a Sixteenth Century Tune (1999)
chamber music for 2 instruments solo instrument
============================== ===================Theme and Variations, violinn, viola, 1952 Sonata Nr.1, violin, 1955
Study, trumpet, piano, 1957 Stanzas, organ, 1960
Music for 2 pianos, 1957–8 Impromptu on a Theme of Henri Dutilleux, piano, 1994
Winter Music, flute, piano, 1960 Excursions, piano, 1993
Sonata, oboe, piano, 1961 Scena II, cello, 1973
Conversations, 2 flutes, 1964 Telegram, piano, 1976
Crosstalk, 2 basset horns/2 clarinets, 1966 Sonata Nr.2, violin, 1965
Capriccio, piano duet, 1968 Impromptu on the Name of Haydn, piano, 1981
4 Piece Suite, 2 pianos, 1974 Alba, organ, 1971
Kandinsky Variations, 2 pianos, 1977 Impromptu, flute, 1969
Sonata, horn, piano, 1978 Scena I, piano, 1973
Sonata, violin, piano, 1978 Sonatina, clarinet, 1981
Up Bow, Down Bow, bk 1, vn, pf, 1979 Partridge Pie, piano, 1990
Up Bow, Down Bow, viola, piano, 1979 Impromptu, guitar, 1968
After Syrinx I, oboe, piano, 1982 6 Tunes for the Instruction of Singing Birds, flute, 1981
Summer Music, flute, piano, 1982 Noctuary, piano, 1981
Serenade II, ondes martenot, piano, 1984 After Syrinx II, marimba, 1984
Duo concertante, clarinet, piano, 1985 Arabesque, oboe, 1992
Romances, horn, piano, 1985 Rondel, viola, 1997
Sonata, soprano sax, piano, 1986 Diversions, piano, 1964
After Ariadne, viola, piano, 1986 Cyclarinete I–IX, piano, 1956–8
Suite for Skip and Sadie, piano duet, 1986 Sonata, guitar, 1983
Capriccio, cello, piano, 1990 Fantasy, piano, 1962
Over the Hills and Far Away, piano duet, 1991 Variations, oboe, 1953
Sonata, cello, piano, 1991 Sonatine, flute, 1954
Sonata, bassoon, piano, 1991 Scena III, clarinet, 1977
3 Sondheim Waltzes, arr. a sax, piano, 1992 Stanzas, organ, 1960
3 Piece Suite, alto sax, piano, 1996 Piano Sonata, 1954
4 Improvisations, violin, 1955
Eustace and Hilda, piano, 1977 [arr. of theme from BBC TV incid music]
5 Studies, piano, 1962–4
3 Romantic Pieces, piano, 1988
Tango After Syrinx, piano, 1985
Something to listen to and ponder while you eat your fisn 'n' chips.
