Tristram Cary

Tristram Ogilvie Cary (born May 14, 1925 in Oxford , † April 24, 2008 in Adelaide ) was a British - Australian composer .

Life

Cary was the son of the author Joyce Cary and attended Westminster School in London , which is attached to Westminster Abbey . While working as a radar technician in the Royal Navy during World War II , he developed his own electronics and tape technology for use in electronic music. He is one of the pioneers of this music genre.

After the war, Cary built one of the first music studios for electronic music. He was best known for his work on numerous film and television productions. Between 1962 and 1973 he wrote the music for many episodes of the successful British television series Doctor Who and the music for the film Ladykillers by Alexander Mackendrick .

Cary was one of the first British composers of musique concrète and was involved in the development of the first portable synthesizer , the VCS3 .

Works (selection)

Movie

• 1955: Ladykillers ( The Ladykillers )
• 1957: A city is on trial ( Town on Trial )
• 1957: In the Last Hour ( Time Without Pity )
• 1960: The stolen Million ( The Boy Who Stole a Million )
• 1963: My Friend, the Diamond Joe ( Sammy Going South )
• 1963: Sinister Playground ( Silent Playground )
• 1964: Reluctant Detective ( Daylight Robbery )
• 1967: The Green Blood of Demons ( Quatermass and the Pit )
• 1968: Sebastian - Sputik Code
• 1971: The grave Blood from the Mummy ( Blood from the Mummy's Tomb )

watch TV

• 1963: Jane Eyre
• 1964: Madame Bovary
• 1964: Mill on the Floss
• 1964-1966: Doctor Who
• 1966: The Head Waiter
• 1968: The Million Pound Banknote
• 1972: A Christmas Carol

theatre

• 1960: Macbeth Old Vic Theater
• 1961: Henry IV, Pt.I Old Vic Theater
• 1965: La Contessa (Druon, dir: Helpmann)
• 1965: The Ballad of Peckham Rye Salzburg Festival
• 1967: Escalator Music and Center Music EXPO 67, Montreal
• 1968: Hamlet Theater Roundabout,
• 1968: Music for Light Olympia London
• 1969: "H" (Wood) National Theater
• 1984: Echoes till Sunset - 3 hours of open air entertainment, Adelaide Festival

radio

• 1959: The Children of Lir) (Craig
• 1960: La Machine Infernale (Cocteau)
• 1960: The End of Fear (Saurat)
• 1960: King Lear (Shakespeare)
• 1961: The Flight of the Wild Geese (Dillon)
• 1962: The Ballad of Peckham Rye (Spark)
• 1963: The Ha-Ha (Dawson)
• 1964: The Rhyme of the Flying Bomb (Peake)

Orchestra / chamber music

• 1972/76: Peccata Mundi for Chorus, Orchestra, Speaking voice, Four tracks of tape
• 1976: Contours & Densities at First Hill - Fifteen Landscapes for Orchestra
• 1991: The Dancing Girls Four Mobiles for Orchestra
• 1991: Sevens Concertino for Yamaha Disklavier and Strings
• 1993: Inside Stories for chamber orchestra and prerecorded CD
• 1955/96: The Ladykillers Suite for Orchestra

Chamber music / solo

• 1959: Sonata for Guitar Alone
• 1955: Three Threes and One Make Ten Mixed decet
• 1955: Narcissus for Flute and two tape recorders
• 1955: Romantic Interiors for violin, cello and tape
• 1955: Family Conference for four clarinets
• 1955: Seeds Mixed Quintet
• 1955: String Quartet No. 2
• 1955: Rivers Four percussionists and two tape recorders
• 1955: Black, White & Rose Marimba and tape
• 1955: Strange Places piano solo
• 1955: Messages cello solo
• 1955: Through Glass Piano and electronics

Vocal

• 1973: Divertimento (1973) - for Olivetti machines, 16 singers and jazz drummer
• 1979: Two Nativity Songs from the Piae Cantiones (arr.)
• 1980: I Am Here Soprano and Tape
• 1993: Earth Hold Songs Soprano and Piano
• 1959/98: Songs for Maid Marian Soprano, Piano

Electroacoustics - For analog tape

• 1955: Suite - the Japanese Fishermen
• 1967: 4 5 - A Study in Limited Resources
• 1967: Birth is Life is Power is Death is God is ....
• 1969: Continuum
• 1972: Suite - Leviathan '99
• 1978: Steam Music

For computers

• 1955: Nonet (1979)
• 1955: Soft Walls (1980)
• 1955: Trellises (1984)
• 1955: The Impossible Piano (1994)

Books

• 1992: Dictionary of Musical Technology (also known as "Illustrated Compendium of Musical Technology")

Awards

• 1977: Albert H. Maggs Composition Award
• 1991: Medal of the Order of Australia
• 2005: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Adelaide Critics

Web links

• Tristram Cary in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Official homepage of Tristram Cary ( Memento from February 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
• Obituary ( memento of April 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) on BBC (English)