John Palmer (composer) - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from John Palmer (20th-century composer)) British composer, pianist and musicologist For the composer of "The Band Played On", see John F. Palmer.

John Palmer (1959) is a British composer, pianist, and musicologist, also known as a university professor. He has held teaching positions in England, Switzerland and Germany and has delivered masterclasses across universities and music conservatories throughout Europe. His music is published by Composers Edition.

Life

John Palmer began his music career as a pianist in the mid-seventies. In the 1980s he continued his piano studies with Grazia Wendling and Eva Serman at the Lucerne School of Music (Musikhochschule Luzern), where he also studied composition with Edison Denisov and Vinko Globokar. He continued his composition studies in London at Trinity College of Music, Royal Holloway, University of London and at City University London where he obtained a PhD titled "Formal Strategies in Composition" in 1994. Further studies include composition with Vinko Globokar at the Dartington Summer School and privately with Jonathan Harvey, analysis with Jonathan Cross at the University of Bristol, and conducting with Alan Hazeldine at the Guildhall School of Music And Drama in London. Since 1987 Palmer has written more than 130 compositions for opera, music theatre, orchestral, instrumental, vocal, chamber music, and electroacoustic music. Palmer has taught at the University of Oxford, Department of External Studies (1990-1995, The University of Hertfordshire (1995-2000) and is Professor of Listening Education at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart.

Music

In the 1980s, the music of John Cage and free-jazz influenced the aleatoric aesthetic of Palmer’s early chamber works, an approach which he later rejected. In the early 1990s, Palmer delved into the European avant-garde and electroacoustic music, two directions that will have a profound impact on his future musical output. By the end of the 1980s Palmer developed a distinctive musical language including techniques of spectral music and a sensitivity for sonic spaces often articulated on the threshold of silence. Many of his works from this period bear references to Eastern cultures, such as Zen, (Koan (1999), Satori (1999), Still (2001), and Waka (2003)) and Tibetan Buddhism (Hinayana (1999), Shambhala (1993)). However, the meditative nature of this influences often intertwines with the virtuosity of 20th-century European modernism, characterising a kind of lyricism that reflects a strong search for communication. This feature is apparent in many instrumental and chamber music works, such as the Second String Quartet (1997), Transitions (2000), Over (2006), Transparence (2015), and the opera Re di Donne (2019) where instrumental virtuosity is reinforced by electronics. The fusion of acousmatic music and instrumental virtuosity can be heard in works like Epitaph (1997), Encounter (1998), Transfiguration (2006), Transient (2008), Thereafter (2013), Transparence (2015).

Selected works

Opera

Re di Donne (2019) Chamber Opera in One Act, for 4 singers and ensemble with electronics

Orchestra

Omen (1991) for orchestra and choir
There (1992, rev. 2019) for string orchestra with string quartet
Concertino (1994)
Hypothetical Questions (1992 rev. 2011)
Piano Concerto (2005) for piano (tuned microtonally), orchestra and choir
Double Concerto for Violin and Cello (2016)
Not Two (2017) for orchestra

Ensemble

Asgard (1987- rev. 2001) for 2 speakers and ensemble (fl, cl, vl, vla, vc, pno, electronics)
Koan (1999) for shakuhachi and ensemble (fl, ob, clar, perc, pno, vl, vla, vc)
Waka (2003) for percussion and ensemble (fl, ob, cl, pno, vl, vla, vc)
Legend (2008) for harp and ensemble
You (2008) for trombone and ensemble
Transparence (2015) for viola and ensemble with electronics
Blurring definitions (2016) fl, cl, bs, perc, 2 vl, vla, vc, db

Music Theatre

Utopia (1989-rev. 2019) for mezzosoprano, wind quartet and electronics

Chamber music

First String Quartet (1986)
Hellawes (1991) flute trio
Theorem (1995) violin, cello, piano
Second String Quartet (1996)
Encounter (1998) harpsichord, world percussion, electronics
Between (2000) violin and harpsichord
Transitions (2000) violin, clarinet, cello, piano
Still (2001) bass flute, 6 & 12-string guitar, viola
Nowhere (2003) clarinet, piano, electronics
Afterglow (2006) alto flute, piano, electronics
Transference (2010) flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano
Crossing dialogues (2013) violin, cello, vibraphone and piano
Of Shadows Unveiled (2013) flute, bass clarinet and piano
Towards the soul (2015) trombone quartet
Conditional action (2016) two flutes
Alba (2016) violin, viola, cello, piano

Instrumental

Hieroglyphs (1985–86) piano
Three Preludes (1987) piano
Poem for the Absurd (1987) piano
Musica Reservata (1989) piano
Shambhala (1990) piano
Satori (1999) harpsichord
Hinayana (1999) oboe
Mosaic (1998) harpsichord
Drang (1999) accordion
Without (2004) violin
Almost (2006) cello
Over (2006) violin
En avant (2006) piano
Se potessi (2011) piano
Eulogy (2013) piano
Verso l’alto (2014) viola
Three Haikus (2014) shakuhachi
Hypothesis (2017) percussion
Yahari (2017) guitar
Lux Vivens (2022) cello
Lux Ardens (2023) cello
Lux Serena (2024) cello

Electroacoustic (including acousmatic)

Beyond the bridge (1993) cello and electronics
Renge-kyo (1993) piano and electronics
Encounter (1998) harpsichord, world percussions, electronics
...as it flies... (2001) tape
Transfiguration (1999–2006) trombone and electronics
I am (2002) tape
After silence 1 (2005) piano and electronics
Inwards (2005–06) bass flute and electronics
In the Temple (2006–07) tape
Present Otherness (2008) tape
Mémoires (2011) tape
Woanders (2016) piano and electronics

Awards

1990 - Cornelius Cardew Competition, England: special mention for In memory of a friend, for soprano and piano.
1992 - City of Lucerne Cultural Prize, Switzerland: first prize winner with Omen, for orchestra and choir.
1994 - Bourges International Competition for Electroacoustic Music, France: second prize winner with Beyond the Bridge, for cello & electronics.
1995 - Surrey Sinfonietta Orchestral Competition Contest, England: first prize winner with Concertino, for orchestra.
1995 - 1st Tokyo International Competition for Chamber Music Composition: second prize winner with Theorem (piano trio).
1996 - City of Klagenfurt International Composition Prize, Austria: second prize winner with Second String Quartet.
2009 - Bourges International Competition for Electroacoustic Music, France: selection of Transient for soprano, prepared piano & electronics.
2010 - Città di Udine International Competition for Composers, Italy: Special Mention and Medal of the President of the Italian Republic for Transference, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano.
2011 - Presque Rien International Competition Prize, Paris: prize winner with Mémoires, for electroacoustic sounds.

Recordings

...as it flies..., Sargasso SCD 28053
Between, Sargasso SCD 28038
Beyond The Bridge, Sargasso SCD 28023
Beyond The Bridge, mnemosyne label, Synthese 8, LD278058/59
Drang. Sargasso SCD 28059
Encounter, Sargasso SCD 28038
Epitaph, Sargasso SCD 28038
Epitaph, Electroshock label, 007
Fado, Sargasso SCD 28059
Koan, Sargasso SCD 28049
Hinayana, Sargasso SCD 28038
I Am - Animato Records ACD6143.
In the Temple - Animato Records ACD6144.
Inwards, Sargasso SCD 28059
Mémoires in Presque Rien Competition Prize CD Label, Vol. I, Paris 2017. (Limited Edition)
Musica Reservata Animato Records, ACD6136
Nowhere, Sargasso SCD 28053
Nowhere to hide in Other Places, NEOS 12423 (2024).
Phonai. Sargasso SCD 28023
Phonai, Electroshock, 2 ELCD 006 electroshock label
Present Otherness in Other Presences Sargasso SCD 28057
Renge-Kyo, Sargasso SCD 28023
Satori, Sargasso SCD 28049
Shambhala in Other Places, NEOS 12423 (2024).
Somewhere in Other Places, NEOS 12423 (2024).
Spirits, Sargasso SCD 28023
Still, Sargasso SCD 28049
Theorem, Living Artists Recordings, Vol.3. living artists label
There in Other Places, NEOS 12423 (2024).
Thereafter in Other Places, NEOS 12423 (2024).
Transfiguration. Sargasso SCD 28059
Transient. Sargasso SCD 28059
Verso L’Alto in 20 Jahre Ensemble Plus, ORF Voralberg ORF, 2016 (Limited Edition).
Verso L’Alto in Other Places, (2024).
Vision, Sargasso SCD 28023
Waka, Sargasso SCD 28053
Without, in Dots/Lines, Takao Hyakutome (2015)
Woanders in Other Places, NEOS 12423 (2024).

Bibliography

Books:

Looking Within: The Music of John Palmer - Dialogues and Essays, edited by Sunny Knable (2021). Vision Edition, ISBN 978-0-9931761-7-3.

Conversations (2015, 2024 second edition), Vision Edition 023-MC. ISBN 978-1-7397815-6-9.

Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco by Jonathan Harvey. An aural score, analysis and discussion (2018), 008-MA, 009-MP, 0010-MP Vision Edition. ISBN 978-0-9931761-3-5. ISMN: 979-0-9002315-4-3, 979-0-9002315-5-0.

Rhythm to go (2013), Vision Edition 002-MP. 2013. Fourth edition 2016. ISMN 979-0-9002315-1-2.

Jonathan Harvey's Bhakti for chamber ensemble and electronics (2001), Edwin Mellen Press, Studies in History and Interpretation of Music. ISBN 0-7734-7436-6; ISBN 978-0-7734-7436-9 * mellenpress

Formal Strategies in Composition. PhD Thesis, City University, London, 1994.

Articles and Papers:

Introduction to ‘Images of the mind' (1997). Paper given at the 1997 KlangArt International Congress ‘New Music & Technology’ in Osnabrück, Germany. Published in ‘Musik und Neue Technologie 3, Musik im virtuellen Raum’ (edited by Bernd Enders), Universitätsverlag Rasch, Osnabrück (2000). ISBN 3-934005-64-0.

Conceptual models of interaction: towards a perceptual analysis of interactive composition (1997-8) Paper given at the 1997 Sonic Arts Network Conference, University of Birmingham, UK, 10–12 January 1998. Published in the Seamus Journal, USA, Vol. XIV no. 1, Summer 1999. SEAMUS, Sonic Arts Network

Perceptual Abstraction and Electroacoustic Composition (1998) Paper given at the 1998 Seamus Conference, Dartmouth College, NH, USA, 16–18 April 1998 (1997–98). Published in the Seamus Journal, USA, Vol. XIII, No. 2, Fall 1998. SEAMUS

Listening: towards a new awareness of a neglected skill (1997) Paper for the Stockholm Hey Listen! International Conference on Acoustic Ecology, 9–13 June 1998 Published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, June 1998.

Which Global Music? (1999) Paper given at the 1999 Klangart Congress, Osnabrueck, Germany, June 1999. Published in ‘Musik und Neue Technologie 4’ (edited by Bernd Enders), Epos music Universitätsverlag Osnabrück (2003). ISBN 978-3-923486-01-4, ISBN 978-3-923486-02-1 epos music publisher read article

The lesson of freedom: Remembering Luc Ferrari (2005) Published in 'Soundscape - The Journal of Acoustic Ecology', Vol. 6, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2005. ISSN 1607-3304 Soundscape

References

https://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/composer/john-palmer
https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/29991/1/Palmer%20thesis%201994%20PDF-A.pdf
See Palmer's personal page on the homepage of the music academy in Stuttgart.

External links

Categories: