John Gardner died yesterday afternoon at a nursing home in Hampshire :( He was 94 years old.
There is an excellent website devoted to this fine but relatively under-appreciated composer and the site gives a full work list.
http://www.johnlintongardner.co.uk/index.htm (http://www.johnlintongardner.co.uk/index.htm)
There are, sadly as yet, no works by Gardner in the British Music Collection on this website but I certainly cherish the 2 cds of his orchestral music in my own collection: the Naxos coupling of his big, very fine, Baxian Symphony No.1 with the Piano Concerto No.1 and Overture "Midsummer Ale" and the ASV cd which couples his short Symphony No.3, the Sinfonia Piccola for strings, the Flute Concerto, the Irish Suite, the Prelude for Strings and the Overture "Half-Holiday".
Gardner wrote a considerable amount of fine choral music with which I am, sadly, not familiar and a lot of music for school and amateur orchestras and choirs.
His Symphony No.2 has been crying out for a recording for many a long year.
His is a sad passing, albeit at a fine old age and British music has lost yet another of that generation which grew up in the decade or so prior to the Second World War. Only Arthur Butterworth(now aged 88) and the slightly younger Sir Peter Maxwell Davies(77), Sir Richard Rodney Bennett(75) and John McCabe(age 72) remain of the British symphonists of that generation.
Rest In Peace.
Thanks for mentioning this. I like the symphony very much and have ordered the Naxos disc. I'm glad Gardner lived long enough to see something more substantial than his carols in the catalogue.
David
Sad news indeed. At least we have the very fine Naxos disc and the excellent dedicated website (to which Colin provided the link).
Quote from: Dundonnell on Tuesday 13 December 2011, 23:42There are, sadly as yet, no works by Gardner in the British Music Collection on this website
I hope (at some future point) to include at least a couple of substantial choral works in the archive.
It would be wonderful to have Gardner's three-act opera
The Visitors, Op.111 (1972): it was premiered at Aldeburgh under Steuart Bedford and broadcast on 1st June 1972 - is this in anybody's collection?
???
Full page Obituary in today's (London) Times.
I was pleased to be able to get out a Toccata Classics CD of John's music for brass and organ last year, in time for him to take some pleasure from it. You can sample it at http://www.toccataclassics.com/cddetail.php?CN=TOCC0048 (http://www.toccataclassics.com/cddetail.php?CN=TOCC0048). My obituary is in the queue at The Independent. Naturally, I hope to record more of his music.