b. 1952 Irish composer After graduating from University College, Dublin, he studied with Stockhausen and Kagel in Cologne. His music, while dabbling in the systematic processes of the former, also embodies the often grotesque humour of the latter. While he has composed for chamber and orchestral forces, he is best known for his operas The Intelligence ...
(Vocals, 1917–96) Sixteen-year-old Ella Fitzgerald joined Chick Webb’s band in 1934 and became its biggest attraction. After Webb’s death in 1939 she became titular leader of the orchestra, which continued until 1942; she then worked as a solo artist. After the war Fitzgerald revealed an uncanny talent for bebop scat singing; it drew the attention of Norman Granz, ...
1882–1967, American Farrar made her debut in Faust at the Berlin Königliches Opernhaus. She rapidly acquired a strongly devoted audience who were as enamoured with her looks and stage presence as with her voice. She remained in Berlin until 1906, when she made a successful debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Farrar retired from the operatic stage ...
(Vocals, 1944–2003) Nicknamed the ‘Walrus of Love’, Barry White’s image as a Lothario sometimes obscured his talents as a songwriter, producer and arranger. Working with girl group Love Unlimited, his first hit was ‘Walking In The Rain With The One I Love’ in 1972. White’s distinctive growl was heard on ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love Babe’, a ...
(Zhan Bar-ra’-ke) 1928–73 French composer A pupil of Olivier Messiaen (1908–92), Barraqué was profoundly affected by his relationship with Michel Foucault. He also shared many of Boulez’s concerns and believed in the necessity of serial technique, but did not follow the general trend of the 1950s into total serialism. Barraqué’s vision of music was far grander and he shared Ludwig ...
Contemporary music whose ancestry lies in the Western classical tradition finds itself in a curious position. Nothing illustrates this better than the fact that we are not entirely sure what to call it. The label ‘classical’ seems anachronistic, especially when applied to composers who have challenged some of the fundamental assumptions of the classical tradition. ‘Concert music’ is similarly problematic ...
The almost uncategorizable Irish composer Gerald Barry, whose untrammelled imagination and irreverent wit is displayed in operas such as his 1990 ‘opera within an opera’, The Intelligence Park, returned to the stage more recently with his take on Oscar Wilde’s comedy of manners, The Importance of Being Earnest. The Los Angeles concert premiere (conducted by Thomas Adès, ...
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) is said to have written the first film score with L’assassinat du duc de Guise (‘The Assassination of the Duke of Guise’, c. 1908). Many composers in the US and Europe followed suit, although few wished to make a career in films. A famous exception was Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957), whose scores include the Academy Award-winning The ...
The most influential country act of 2001 was a band that didn’t even exist. The Soggy Bottom Boys were the prime attraction on O Brother, Where Art Thou ? the soundtrack album that topped the country and pop charts and sold more than four million copies. The group revived the late 1930s and early 1940s sound when old-time string-band music ...
From the 1980s, the new sound-worlds discovered by Stockhausen and others, using tape recorders and recording studio equipment, began to be further extended by the use of computers. The computer enables composers to examine and modify their work in unprecedented detail. Whereas the synthesizer can control pitch and timbre with ease, the computer can go a stage ...
A small number of Handel’s dramatic works are known as the ‘magic operas’, including Rinaldo, Teseo (1712), Amadigi (1715), Orlando (1733) and Alcina. These operas feature protagonists who use sorcery to manipulate love, usually for evil ends. Most common among these operas is the prima-donna sorceress figure, who attempts to compel a castrato hero away from his true ...
(Vocals, 1940–2003) London-born Terence Nelhams sang in skiffle group The Worried Men, before changing his name at UK TV guru Jack Good’s suggestion. After early flops, arranger John Barry provided string backing for 1959’s UK No. 1 ‘What Do You Want’, while 1960’s follow-up ‘Poor Me’ also topped the chart, and Faith accumulated 22 more hits by ...
In 1995, Alison Krauss (vocals, fiddle, b. 1971) achieved a level of success no other bluegrass act had ever matched. Her 1995 retrospective album, Now That I’ve Found You: A Collection, went double platinum, and she won the CMA Awards for Single, Female Vocalist, Vocal Event and Emerging Artist as well as the ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1976–present) A mainstream American rock band whose meticulously layered music was largely the brainchild of songwriter, guitarist and producer Tom Scholz, Boston’s line-up was completed by Brad Delp (vocals), Barry Goudreau (guitar), Sib Hashian (drums) and Fran Sheehan (bass). The all-conquering first album Boston released in 1976 became the biggest-selling debut of all time and yielded ...
(Various saxophones, b. 1938) Charles Lloyd was an inspirational figure in 1960s jazz and was also enthusiastically embraced by the hippy culture. He moved from playing blues in Memphis to West Coast jazz with Gerald Wilson and Chico Hamilton. His quartet with pianist Keith Jarrett, bassist Ron McClure and drummer Jack DeJohnette was the first American jazz group to ...
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