Hugh Wood
Encyclopedia
Hugh Wood is a British composer
.
, Anthony Milner
, Iain Hamilton
, and Mátyás Seiber
. Sometimes violently expressionistic, sometimes poignantly lyrical, his music is powerfully communicative and intensely felt, although when exploring lighter moods, such as in the jazzy Piano Concerto, his writing is equally eloquent. He typically prefers chamber music genres, though several of his large-scale works, such as his Symphony and Violin Concerto, are amongst his most striking. In recent years he has contributed several articles on music to The Times Literary Supplement. In 2007 his collected writings on music, 'Staking Out the Territory' was published by Plumbago Books and the following year Ashgate Books published 'The Music of Hugh Wood' by Edward Venn.
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
While Wood was brought up in a musical family, it was only after graduating in History from Oxford that he decided to dedicate his energies to composition; and he moved to London in 1954 to study with William Lloyd WebberWilliam Lloyd Webber
William Southcombe Lloyd Webber was an English organist and composer.-Life and career:Lloyd Webber was born in London...
, Anthony Milner
Anthony Milner
Anthony Milner was a British composer, teacher and conductor.Milner was born in Bristol, and educated at Douai School, Woolhampton, Berkshire. He won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, where he studied piano with Herbert Fryer and theory with R. O. Morris...
, Iain Hamilton
Iain Hamilton (composer)
Iain Ellis Hamilton was a Scottish composer.He was educated in London where he became an apprentice engineer, and remained in that profession for the next seven years. He undertook the study of music in his spare time...
, and Mátyás Seiber
Mátyás Seiber
Mátyás György Seiber was a Hungarian-born composer who lived and worked in England from 1935 onward.-Career:Seiber was born in Budapest, and studied there with Zoltán Kodály, with whom he toured Hungary collecting folk songs. In 1928, he became director of the jazz department at the Hoch...
. Sometimes violently expressionistic, sometimes poignantly lyrical, his music is powerfully communicative and intensely felt, although when exploring lighter moods, such as in the jazzy Piano Concerto, his writing is equally eloquent. He typically prefers chamber music genres, though several of his large-scale works, such as his Symphony and Violin Concerto, are amongst his most striking. In recent years he has contributed several articles on music to The Times Literary Supplement. In 2007 his collected writings on music, 'Staking Out the Territory' was published by Plumbago Books and the following year Ashgate Books published 'The Music of Hugh Wood' by Edward Venn.
Career highlights
- 1965 - highly acclaimed Proms premiere of BBC commission Scenes from Comus.
- 1969 - Proms premiere of Cello Concerto, commissioned by the BBC.
- 1982 - Proms premiere of Symphony by the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
- 1998 - UK premiere of Variations for Orchestra at Last Night of the Proms.
- 1999 - Serenade and Elegy premiered at Cheltenham Festival.
- 2001 - The Lindsays premiere String Quartet No 5 in Sheffield.
Key works
- Variations for viola and piano, Op 1 (1958)
- Trio for flute, viola and piano, Op 3 (1961)
- Scenes from Comus, Op 6 (1962–1965)
- Cello Concerto, Op 12 (1965–1969)
- Chamber Concerto for large ensemble, Op 15 (1971)
- Violin Concerto No.1, Op 17 (1970–1972)
- Song Cycle to Poems of Pablo NerudaPablo NerudaPablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
for high voice and chamber orchestra, Op 19 (1973–1974) - String Quartet No 3, Op 20 (1978)
- Symphony, Op 21 (1982)
- Piano Trio, Op 24 (1982–1984)
- Horn Trio, Op 29 (1989)
- Cantata for chorus and orchestra, Op 30 (1989)
- Piano Concerto, Op 32 (1991)
- Variations for Orchestra, Op 39 (1994–1997)
- Wild Cyclamen, Op 49 (2005–2006)
- Violin Concerto No.2, Op 50 (2003–2004)
- Michael BerkeleyMichael BerkeleyMichael Berkeley is a British composer and broadcaster on music.-Early life:His father was the composer Sir Lennox Berkeley...
Tribute for viola solo (2004) - Divertimento for Strings, Op 51 (2007)
- Clarinet Quintet, Op 53 (2007)
- Beginnings: Three Early Songs for soprano and strings, Op 54 (2010)
Recordings
- Clarinet Trio - Divine Art 25009
- The Kingdom of God - Hyperion CDA66758
- Overture; Variations Op.1; Paraphrase on 'Bird of Paradise'; Poem; Clarinet Trio; Piano Trio - Toccata Classics TOCC0075
- Scenes from Comus; Symphony - NMC D070
- String Quartet Nos 1-4 - Conifer 75605 51239-2
- String Quartet Nos 2 & 3; The Horses; The Rider Victory - Lyrita SRCD.304
- Violin Concerto; Cello Concerto - NMC D082
External links
- Hugh Wood's homepage at Chester Music
- 2002 interview with Hugh Wood for Classical Source
- Staking Out the Territory and Other Writings on Music, a collection of articles and essays by Hugh Wood.