Alexander Abercrombie

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John Ralph Alexander Giles Abercrombie (also: Alex Abercrombie; * 1949 in London ) is a British pianist , composer and mathematician .

Life

Alexander Abercrombie was a piano student of Margaret Kitchin (1914-2008) and Louis Kentner . He also took lessons from Yvonne Loriod in Paris . Here he dealt intensively with the music of her husband Olivier Messiaen . He made his debut on February 6, 1972 at Wigmore Hall in London, among others with Snowdrift and Automnall, by Michael Finissy. Autumnall based on the poem Elegy IX: The Autumnall by John Donne, dedicated to Finissy Alexander Abercrombie. In 1972 Abercrombie won second prize at the International Gaudeamus Competition For Interpreters Of Contemporary Music 1972 in Rotterdam. On January 19, 1978 he played the world premiere of Green Meadows by Michael Finissy at Leeds Polytechnic . He has performed works by Nikos Skalkottas , Iannis Xenakis and Brian Ferneyhough . He also interpreted works by Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji , of which he edited some larger works before publication. Abercrombie has taught mathematics and given lectures at leading universities such as Imperial College London . In 1996 he obtained the Ph.D. at Liverpool University in Mathematics. Abercrombie is married to mezzo-soprano and vocal teacher Barbara Dix. In 1987 they jointly founded The Mozart Singing Competition , initially as a piano competition and from 1994 as a singing competition. Barbara Dix is ​​still a jury member and Abercrombie is the treasurer and piano accompanist. They lived together for many years in Southport , where they ran a music school together.

Pianist Philip Howard, who won the 2003 International Gaudeamus Interpreters' Competition , is a student of Abercrombie.

Works (selection)

Alexander Abercrombie wrote scientific mathematical articles:

  • AGAbercrombie: Subgroups and subrings of profinite rings . In: Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society , 116 (2), pp. 209-222. September 1994
  • AG Abercrombie, R. Nair: An exceptional set in the ergodic theory of rational maps of the Riemann sphere , Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Liverpool. In: Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems , 17 (2), pp. 253-267. April 1997

reception

Dominic Gill of the Musical Times reviewed his February 6, 1972 concert at Wigmore Hall. He praised the fluent technique and excellent command of piano sonority, lacked wit and dexterity in the interpretation of a symphony for piano by Charles Valentin Alkan and in turn praised the brilliance and elegance of the interpretation of a piece by Olivier Messiaen .

literature

  • Abercrombie, Alexander. In: Michael Kennedy, Joyce Bourne Kennedy: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 5th edition. Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-920383-3 .
  • Abercrombie, John Ralph Alexander. In: Tim Rutherford-Johnson, Michael Kennedy, Joyce Bourne Kennedy: The Oxford Dictionary of Music. 5th edition. Oxford University Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-957810-8 .

Recordings

Recordings on record

  • Olivier Messiaen: Première Communion De La Vierge. On: International Gaudeamus Competition For Interpreters Of Contemporary Music 1972 . Alexander Abercrombie, piano. Gaudeamus Foundation - 72001

Recordings and broadcasts for radio

  • Nikos Skalkottas: From the 32 piano pieces (1940): Passacaglia . Intermezzo: Catastrophe in the jungle. Four-part small canon. Small suite for piano No. 1 (1936). Broadcasted January 12th 1977 at 10:20 PM and June 20th 1979 on BBC3

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Marc-André Roberge: Sorabji Resource Site: Biographical Notes. Retrieved on August 26, 2017 .
  2. ^ A b Michael Kennedy: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music . Oxford University Press, USA, 2004, ISBN 0-19-860884-5 ( books.google.de ).
  3. ↑ a b Michael Kennedy, Tim Rutherford-Johnson, Joyce Kennedy: The Oxford Dictionary of Music . OUP Oxford, 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-957854-2 ( books.google.de ).
  4. ^ A b c d Dominic Gill: Music in London . In: The Musical Times . tape 114 , no. 1562 . Novello, London 1973, pp. 408 , JSTOR : 955214 .
  5. ↑ a b Michael Finissy. Retrieved on August 26, 2017 .
  6. ^ Poetry Foundation: Elegy IX: The Autumnal by John Donne. August 25, 2017. Retrieved August 26, 2017 (American English).
  7. ↑ a b Various - International Gaudeamus Competition For Interpreters Of Contemporary Music 1972. discogs.com, accessed on August 26, 2017 .
  8. ^ Richard Toop: Review of Gaudeamus Competition for Interpreters of Contemporary Music 1972, Andriessen, Berio, Kagel, Kunst, Loevendie, Messiaen . In: The Musical Times . tape 113 , no. 1557 , 1972, p. 1096-1096 , doi : 10.2307 / 956104 , JSTOR : 956104 .
  9. ^ David Nicholas Buck: A Musicology for Landscape . Taylor & Francis, 2017, ISBN 978-1-351-80496-7 ( google.de [accessed January 12, 2018]).
  10. ^ Marc-André Roberge: Sorabji Resource Site: Editors of Music Scores. Retrieved on August 26, 2017 .
  11. ^ A b Valerie Pedlar: Singing Teachers (2): Barbara Dix. In: Choral Singing in Southport. April 28, 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2017 .
  12. ^ Mozart Singing Competition: Home Page. Retrieved August 26, 2017 .
  13. ^ Mozart Singing Competition: Past & Present. Retrieved August 26, 2017 .
  14. ↑ AG Abercrombie: Subgroups and subrings of profinite rings . In: Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society . tape 116 , no. 2 , September 1994, ISSN  1469-8064 , p. 209–222 , doi : 10.1017 / S0305004100072522 .
  15. ^ AG Abercrombie, R. Nair: An exceptional set in the ergodic theory of rational maps of the Riemann sphere . In: Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems . tape 17 , no. 2 , April 1997, ISSN  1469-4417 , p. 253-267 .
  16. ↑ BBC Genomes. Retrieved August 26, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Abercrombie, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Abercrombie, John Ralph Alexander Giles (full name); Abercrombie, Alex
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British pianist, composer and mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH London