Alan Ridout

Alan Ridout (born December 9, 1934 in London , † March 19, 1996 in Caen ) was an English composer and music teacher .

Life

Alan Ridout was born on December 9th in West Wickham, London, and studied briefly at the Guildhall School of Music before moving to the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied for four years. There he was tutored by Herbert Howells and Gordon Jacob . He was later instructed by Michael Tippett , Peter Racine Fricker and Henk Badings .

After graduating, he taught at the Royal College of Music, but also at the Universities of London , Cambridge , Birmingham and the King's School in Canterbury.

Alan Ridout wrote mainly church, orchestral and chamber music, but mostly for children.

He worked primarily with the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra (LSSO). Alan Ridout performed his piece "Three Pictures of Picasso", which was actually written for the National Youth Orchestra , with the LSSO in 1964, thus initiating his work with the latter. He also performed Ridout's Second Symphony with the LSSO in 1965 and dedicated it to his former teacher Sir Michael Tippett on the occasion of his 60th birthday. In 1967 Ridout performed the dance drama "Funeral Games for a Greek Warrior" with the LSSO and that same year he also recorded his first record with the Pye Golden Guinea label .

Alan Ridout lived in Canterbury most of the time . He died in Caen, France.

Awards

In 1955 and 1957 he received the composition prize of the Royal Philharmonic Society in London.

Works (selection)

Keyboard instruments

• Dance Bagatelles for piano (1959)
• Suite for clavichord or piano (1961)
• The Seven Last Words for organ (1965)
• Six Studies for Organ (1981)
• Toccata for organ (1989)
• White Notes, Black Notes, Key Notes for piano (1991)

Brass instruments

• Sonata for trombone (1984)
• Eclogue for trombone and piano (1995)
• Autumn Story for tuba and piano (1995)

Woodwind instruments

• Sonatina for clarinet and piano (1968)
• Pigs for four bassoons (1973)
• Tarka, the water wanderer for three flutes (1987)
• Snow Scenes for saxophone in E ♭ and piano (1993)
• Folies de Paris for contrabassoon and piano (op. Posth.)

String instruments

• Partita for cello solo (1959)
• Bagatelles for cello and piano (1971)
• Cello Concerto No. 3 "The Prisoner" for solo cello and 8 cellos (1995)
• Dance Preludes for double bass or cello and piano (1996)
• String Quartet No. 1 to No. 6th

Percussion instruments

• Sonatina for Timpani (1968)

orchestra

• Three Pictures of Picasso
• Symphony No. 2 (1965)
• Funeral Games for a Greek Warrior
• Concertante Music (1967)
• Concertino for tuba and strings (1979)
• Concerto for treble recorder, strings and percussion (1991)

Choir

• On Christ's Nativity for choir SATB (1955)
• St. John Passion for tenor, bass, chorus and organ (1964)
• Canticle of Joy for countertenor and tenor solo, mixed choir and orchestra
• The Beatitudes for female choir

swell

• Peter Hardwick: The organ music of Alan Ridout. In: The American Organist , March 1999.
• Alan Ridout: A Composer's Life. Thames Publishing, London 1995, ISBN 0-905210-54-9 .
• Robert P. Scott: Alan Ridout, the Complete Catalog. Emerson Wind Publications, Ampleforth 1997, ISBN 0-9506209-5-5 .