Tippett: Piano Concerto / Ritual Dances

Description

Michael Tippett (1905-1998) Ritual Dances from TheMidsummer MarriagePiano ConcertoMichael Tippett was born in London on 2ndJanuary, 1905, the second son of Henry William Tippett (a retired lawyer) andIsabel Clementina Binny Kemp, Tippett's father was of Cornish origin, hismother from Kent. He studied for his BMus degree at the Royal College of Musicbetween 1923 and 1928, composition with Charles Wood and C. H. Kitson, pianowith Aubin Raymar and conducting with Malcolm Sargent and Adrian Boult.His creative maturity came relatively late (hedestroyed all of his early works), with his first acknowledged works being the String Quartet No.1 (1934-35, revised1943) and Piano Sonata No.1(1936- 37), this after a further period of study at the Royal College of Music underR.O. Morris. It was not until the premiere of his oratorio A Child of Our Time (1939-41) on 19thMarch, 1944, that Tippett's name became known to the general music public.By this time he was Director of Music atMorley College (a position once held by Gustav Holst), a post he held from 1940to 1951. Under Tippett's direction Morley College became one of London's mostimportant centres of musical activity. As well as directing the College choirhe also organised many ground breaking concerts of both early and contemporarymusic, including Tallis, Purcell (thus helping to instigate the revival ofinterest in Purcell's music), Monteverdi, Stravinsky, Hindemith and Britten.These concerts featured such future stars as Peter Pears, Alfred Deller and theAmadeus Quartet.The year before the premiere of A Child of Our Time, 1943, had been adifficult one for Tippett. In 1940 he had joined the pacifist organization, thePeace Pledge Union, and had applied for provisional registration as a conscientiousobjector. When he refused to comply with the conditions of his non-combatantmilitary duties, arguing that he was serving the community as a musician, hewas sentenced to the minimum term of three months' imprisonment in Woffi1woodScrubs.From 1951 onwards Tippett was able to give upteaching to concentrate entirely on composition, supplementing his income bybroadcasting for the BBC's Third Programme.Tippett's operas formed the backbone of hismature works: The Midsummer Marriage (1947-52),King Priam (1958-61), The Knot Garden (1966-70), The Ice Break (1973-76) and New Year (1986-88). His other worksinclude four symphonies, five string quartets and three concertos. Thanks inpart to recordings of his music, his international profile (particularly in theUSA) started to grow from his sixties onwards. Several major commissions camefrom America, such as the Fourth Symphony (1976-77) for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, TheMask of Time (1980-82) for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Byzantium (1989-90) again for the ChicagoSymphony Orchestra and Carnegie Hall. Throughout his career Tippett was therecipient of many honours, including a CBE (1959), a knighthood (1966), aCompanion of Honour (1979) and finally the Order of Meri