Adrian Jack
Encyclopedia
Adrian Frederick Joseph Jack (born 16th March 1943, England) is a British
Composer
.
, near Slough
, Buckinghamshire
, England. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood (1954–60), and the Royal College of Music
, London (1961–64), where he studied composition with Peter Racine Fricker
, fugue and orchestration with Gordon Jacob
, piano with Antony Hopkins
and organ with John Birch
. From 1967 to 1969 he studied composition and electronic music with Włodzimierz Kotoński at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw, Poland.
Jack started composing at the age of 13. He later studied at the Royal College of Music
. The main conscious influence at that time was Messiaen. Hearing Boulez's "Le marteau sans maitre
" brought a new atonal complexity to his music, replaced by an austere paring-down following his discovery of Edgard Varèse
. He actually wrote to Varèse to ask if he could study with him in New York and received a letter of refusal, not very long before Varèse died in November, 1965.
For the next 20 years, Jack composed somewhat intermittently, but his works included "Holly Bush", written in Poland and given a public rehearsal by the London Sinfonietta
under Roger Norrington
at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London; a piano concerto for Roger Woodward
, which was never performed; a monodic piece for any instruments or voices, "You told me so yourself", which received performances by different soloists and groups both in England and abroad; and "A piece for learning" – a "variable" score performed under Richard Bernas
's direction at the Dartington Summer School.
Jack lectured at the Royal College of Music
from 1969 to 1977, then he joined BBC Radio 3
as a script-writer for music programmes. He left the BBC in 1993 and for the next ten years was active as a freelance music critic and devised and presented several radio programmes on music and architecture for BBC Radio 3 with the producers Tim Thorne and Antony Pitts
. Jack had written about music regularly since 1970, first for the monthly Music and Musicians, then for Time Out, where he was Classical Music and Opera Editor from 1975 to 77, as well as for most of the quality national papers, notably The Guardian
and, later, The Independent
. The other activity was as director of a series at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
(ICA) in London, devoted to new music. It ran from 1978 to 1995.
In 1986 the American pianist Yvar Mikhashoff
requested a tango ("Tin-Pan Tango") to perform at the Almeida Festival in London. This kick-started a revival in Jack's composition. Reacting against his own earlier music and most of the experimental or avant-garde music
he promoted at the ICA, Jack now wrote music which is, broadly speaking, tonal
, and in which the emphasis is on continuity and a sense of line. Among his ensemble pieces, "Jigsaw" and "Notelette" were requested and performed by Sounds Positive, while "Zigzag" was requested and performed (including a broadcast on Radio 3) by Cambridge New Music Players (now known as "New Music Players". His "Piano Trio" (the first of three works for the medium) was originally requested and performed by London New Music and became his most widely played work, taken up by three other groups and broadcasted twice in different performances. Jack's first two string quartets were played and broadcast by The Smith Quartet, and the third, fourth, fifth and sixth recorded by the Arditti Quartet
for the Deux-Elles. Of over 50 solo piano pieces, many have been performed and broadcast by Noriko Kawai and Iain Burnside
, and all of Jack's music for piano duo has been performed by the Danish-based duo, Ingryd Thorson and Julian Thurber. Many of his scores are lodged with the British Music Information Centre (BMIC) and recordings at the British Library Sound Archive
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Biography
Adrian Jack was born on 16 March 1943, in DatchetDatchet
Datchet is an English Thameside village and civil parish situated in the unitary authority of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire. It was transferred to Berkshire from Buckinghamshire in 1974....
, near Slough
Slough
Slough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road and the Great Western Main Line, west of central London...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, England. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood (1954–60), and the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
, London (1961–64), where he studied composition with Peter Racine Fricker
Peter Racine Fricker
Peter Racine Fricker was an English composer who lived in the United States for the last thirty years of his life....
, fugue and orchestration with Gordon Jacob
Gordon Jacob
Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob was an English composer. He is known for his wind instrument composition and his instructional writings.-Life:...
, piano with Antony Hopkins
Antony Hopkins
Antony Hopkins CBE is an English composer, pianist, conductor, and radio broadcaster.Hopkins was born in London under the name Ernest William Antony Reynolds; his surname was changed during his childhood to Hopkins...
and organ with John Birch
John Birch
John Birch may refer to:* John Birch , soldier in the English Civil War and MP for Leominster* John Birch , nephew of Col...
. From 1967 to 1969 he studied composition and electronic music with Włodzimierz Kotoński at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw, Poland.
Jack started composing at the age of 13. He later studied at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
. The main conscious influence at that time was Messiaen. Hearing Boulez's "Le marteau sans maitre
Le marteau sans maître
Le marteau sans maître is a composition by the French composer Pierre Boulez. It is a setting of the surrealist poetry of René Char for alto and six instrumentalists. It was first performed in 1955.-Movements:...
" brought a new atonal complexity to his music, replaced by an austere paring-down following his discovery of Edgard Varèse
Edgard Varèse
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, , whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
. He actually wrote to Varèse to ask if he could study with him in New York and received a letter of refusal, not very long before Varèse died in November, 1965.
For the next 20 years, Jack composed somewhat intermittently, but his works included "Holly Bush", written in Poland and given a public rehearsal by the London Sinfonietta
London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and...
under Roger Norrington
Roger Norrington
Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington, CBE is a British conductor. He is the son of Sir Arthur Norrington and his brother is Humphrey Thomas Norrington....
at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London; a piano concerto for Roger Woodward
Roger Woodward
Roger Woodward AC OBE is an Australian classical concert pianist.-Biography:Roger Woodward was born in 1942 in Chatswood, a suburb of Sydney, the youngest of four children to Gladys and Frank Woodward...
, which was never performed; a monodic piece for any instruments or voices, "You told me so yourself", which received performances by different soloists and groups both in England and abroad; and "A piece for learning" – a "variable" score performed under Richard Bernas
Richard Bernas
Richard Bernas is a British-based conductor.He studied Music at York University and conducting with Witold Rowicki in Warsaw ....
's direction at the Dartington Summer School.
Jack lectured at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
from 1969 to 1977, then he joined BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
as a script-writer for music programmes. He left the BBC in 1993 and for the next ten years was active as a freelance music critic and devised and presented several radio programmes on music and architecture for BBC Radio 3 with the producers Tim Thorne and Antony Pitts
Antony Pitts
Antony Pitts is a British composer, producer and conductor.His compositions have been published by Faber Music, with 2 CDs of choral music on Hyperion Records and other recordings on Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, and Unknown Public. He was a Senior Producer at BBC Radio 3 until 2005...
. Jack had written about music regularly since 1970, first for the monthly Music and Musicians, then for Time Out, where he was Classical Music and Opera Editor from 1975 to 77, as well as for most of the quality national papers, notably The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and, later, The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
. The other activity was as director of a series at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
(ICA) in London, devoted to new music. It ran from 1978 to 1995.
In 1986 the American pianist Yvar Mikhashoff
Yvar Mikhashoff
Yvar Emilian Mikhashoff was an American virtuoso pianist and composer...
requested a tango ("Tin-Pan Tango") to perform at the Almeida Festival in London. This kick-started a revival in Jack's composition. Reacting against his own earlier music and most of the experimental or avant-garde music
Avant-garde music
Avant-garde music is a term used to characterize music which is thought to be ahead of its time, i.e. containing innovative elements or fusing different genres....
he promoted at the ICA, Jack now wrote music which is, broadly speaking, tonal
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
, and in which the emphasis is on continuity and a sense of line. Among his ensemble pieces, "Jigsaw" and "Notelette" were requested and performed by Sounds Positive, while "Zigzag" was requested and performed (including a broadcast on Radio 3) by Cambridge New Music Players (now known as "New Music Players". His "Piano Trio" (the first of three works for the medium) was originally requested and performed by London New Music and became his most widely played work, taken up by three other groups and broadcasted twice in different performances. Jack's first two string quartets were played and broadcast by The Smith Quartet, and the third, fourth, fifth and sixth recorded by the Arditti Quartet
Arditti Quartet
The Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974. The quartet is associated particularly with contemporary music.-Early history:The quartet was founded in 1974 by violinist Irvine Arditti together with John Senter, Levine Andrade and Lenox Mackenzie...
for the Deux-Elles. Of over 50 solo piano pieces, many have been performed and broadcast by Noriko Kawai and Iain Burnside
Iain Burnside
Iain Burnside is a Scottish pianist and presenter on BBC Radio 3.Following study at Oxford University, the Royal Academy of Music and the Chopin Academy in Warsaw he became a freelance pianist, specialising particularly in song repertoire. He has collaborated with many singers, and was particularly...
, and all of Jack's music for piano duo has been performed by the Danish-based duo, Ingryd Thorson and Julian Thurber. Many of his scores are lodged with the British Music Information Centre (BMIC) and recordings at the British Library Sound Archive
British Library Sound Archive
The British Library Sound Archive in London, England is one of the largest collections of recorded sound in the world, including music, spoken word and ambient recordings....
.