Research Catalog

Title

Richard Rodney Bennett : the complete musician / Anthony Meredith with Paul Harris.

Author

Meredith, Anthony.

Publication

London ; New York : Omnibus, 2010.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Harris, Paul, 1956-

Description

xii, 596 p. ; ill.; 24 cm.

Summary

Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, in the enormous diversity of his activities, is arguably the most complete musician of all time. Not only does he have a remarkable 300 commissioned concert works to his credit, which have established him among the leading British twentieth-century composers, yet at the same time, with supreme success, he has also contrived to lead several completely different musical lives. For some, he is the ultimate exponent of 'crossover', as epitomised in his remarkable Concerto for Stan Getz and concert works for Cleo Laine. Others remember him as a concert pianist with a special enthusiasm for pioneering contemporary music, his partnerships with Susan Bradshaw, Jane Manning and Barry Tuckwell being particularly notable. Meanwhile, he also has over 70 film and television scores to his credit, the many classic titles ranging from Murder on the Orient Express and Far From the Madding Crowd to Equus and Four Weddings and a Funeral. For cabaret and jazz club devotees, he is, again, something completely different: one of the finest and most knowledgeable of all exponents of the Great American Songbook, a much-in-demand singer and accompanist over the past thirty-five years, and, as such, the stage partner of some of the most glamorous performers in the business. This, then, is a book about a uniquely gifted musician. It is also a study of a most engaging personality and a fascinatingly complex human being.

Subject

• Bennett, Richard Rodney
• Composers > Great Britain > Biography
• Musicians > Great Britain > Biography

Genre/Form

Biographies

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references, list of works, discography and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

With Claire in London: Chelsea festival, June 2008 -- Rodney and Joan: family fortunes, 1890-1936 -- The boy composer: Budleigh Salterton childhood, 1936-48 -- A Quaker schooling: Leighton park, 1949-53 -- The college outsider: the royal academy & Soho, 1953-56 -- Boulez's pupil: Paris, 1957-58 -- Young man about town: the cinema and the avant-garde, 1958-61 -- Young man in a hurry: from Hollywood to Sadler's Wells, 1961-64 -- Dan: from Sadler's Wells to La Scala, 1965-66 -- The master craftsman: Islington's golden age, 1966-69 -- Victory and retreat: Covent Garden & Baltimore, 1969-71 -- A search for synthesis: from electronics to the Orient Express, 1971-74 -- The singer-pianist: achievements & conflicts, 1975-78 -- New York state of mind: taking leave with Orpheus, 1979 -- The new world: Mid-town Manhattan and Isadora, 1979-81 -- Jazz and Debussy: taking stock, Upper West Side, 1981-89 -- Fresh directions: From 3rd symphony to 4 seasons, 1986-91 -- Stan Getz & crossover: from Enchanted April to 4 Weddings, 1991-94 -- Rallentando: from Partita to Sweeny Todd, 1995-98 -- Probing the past: the Gormenghast years, 1999-2002 -- Royal commissions: and new partnerships, 2003-09 -- With Claire London: pizza on the park, December 2009.

ISBN

• 9781849385459 (hbk.)
• 1849385459 (hbk.)

OCLC

• 651076693
• SCSB-9904489

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library