Alan Ridout - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Life

West Wickham

West Wickham is a place in the London Borough of Bromley, England. It is 10.3 miles south east of Charing Cross. West Wickham history dates back to early settlements existing since 1068, although the name `Wickham` is an indication of an earlier Anglo-Saxon settlement...

, Greater London, England, Alan Ridout studied briefly at the Guildhall School of Music before commencing four years of study at the Royal College of Music

Royal College of Music

The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...

, London with Herbert Howells

Herbert Howells

Herbert Norman Howells CH was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.-Life:...

and Gordon Jacob

Gordon Jacob

Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob was an English composer. He is known for his wind instrument composition and his instructional writings.-Life:...

. He was later taught by Michael Tippett

Michael Tippett

Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was an English composer.In his long career he produced a large body of work, including five operas, three large-scale choral works, four symphonies, five string quartets, four piano sonatas, concertos and concertante works, song cycles and incidental music...

, Peter Fricker and (under a Dutch government scholarship) Henk Badings

Henk Badings

Henk Badings was a Dutch composer.Born in Bandung, Java, Dutch East Indies, as the son of Herman Louis Johan Badings, an officer in the Dutch East Indies army, Badings became an orphan at an early age...

.

He went on to teach at the Royal College of Music, the University of Birmingham

University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...

, the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

, and at The King's School, Canterbury

The King's School, Canterbury

The King's School is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils in the historic English cathedral city of Canterbury in Kent. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group....

. He also broadcast musical talks on the radio.

His works include church, orchestral and chamber music, much of it for children. His style is mostly tonal

Tonality

Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...

, though in younger life he wrote some microtonal works.

Alan Ridout worked regularly with the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra

Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra

The Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra is a youth orchestra based in Leicester, England. The players, aged between 15 and 18, are all drawn from secondary schools in the county of Leicestershire and the City of Leicester.-History:...

. Ridout's Three Pictures of Picasso, originally written for the National Youth Orchestra, was performed by the LSSO at a De Montfort Hall concert conducted by Rudolf Schwarz in 1964 in the presence of the composer. Ridout then composed his second symphony for the LSSO and dedicated it to Sir Michael Tippett to mark his 60th birthday (though Ridout did not hold Tippett in high regard). The symphony was first performed in 1965 and also featured in the television programme Overture with Beginners (see video link below). The 1967 Leicestershire Schools Music Festival included a number of LSSO commissions and in May that year Ridout’s dance drama Funeral Games for a Greek Warrior made its debut at De Montfort Hall. In July 1967 the LSSO made its first commercial disc for the Pye Golden Guinea label and Ridout responded to a request for a short work for inclusion on the disc by composing a lively Concertante Music. The work’s debut took place on a record rather than at a public concert. Concertante Music was then taken on the LSSO tour of Denmark and Germany in September 1967 (see external video link below).

Alan Ridout lived for much of his life in Canterbury

Canterbury

Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....

. He died in Caen

Caen

Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....

, France.

Selected works

This is not a complete list of Ridout's works, as he was a prolific composer.

Choral

On Christ's Nativity for choir SATB (1954)
St. John Passion for tenor, bass, chorus and organ (1962)
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (St. John's service) for choir SATB and organ (1962)
O most merciful Redeemer for choir SATB (1965)
The Beatitudes for 4-part treble voices (1966)
Let us with a gladsome mind for mixed choir and organ (1967)
Communion Service for choir and congregation (1968)
Songs of Advent for unison voices and organ (1987)
Through the Day for 2-part treble voices and organ (1989)
Samuel! Cantata for treble, baritone and bass soli, mixed choir and organ (1993)
Canticle of Joy for countertenor and tenor solo, mixed choir and orchestra (1994)

Vocal

Whom time will not reprieve, four songs for countertenor and viola (1989)

Orchestral

Three Pictures of Picasso (1962)
Symphony No. 2 (1964)
Funeral Games for a Greek Warrior for orchestra and children's choir (1966)
Concertante Music (1967)
Five diversions on "Oh Susanna" for orchestra
Concerto for double bass and strings (1974)
Concertino for bassoon and strings (1975)
Concertino for trumpet and strings (1976)
Concertino for clarinet and strings (1976)
Concertino for tuba and strings (1979)
Concertino for Alto Saxophone and Strings (1979)
Concerto for treble recorder, strings and percussion (1979)
Aubade for violin and orchestra (1982)
Concerto No. 1 for cello, strings and percussion (1984)

Organ

The Seven Last Words (1965)
Two Pictures of Graham Sutherland (1967)
Resurrection Dances (1969)
Three Nativity Dances (1971)
Processions (1974)
Six Studies (1976)
The Fourteen Stations of the Cross (1978)
Canticle of the Rose (1989)
Toccata (1989)
Messe d'orgue (1995)

Brass

Sonata for solo trombone (1975)
Eclogue for trombone and piano (1975)
Autumn Story for tuba and piano (1978)
Six Diversions for horn and piano (1989)
Light and Shade: six easy pieces for horn and piano (1991)

Winds

Sonatina for clarinet and piano (1967)
Pigs for four bassoons (1972)
Sonata for bassoon and piano (1972)
Concertante for woodwind quartet (1972)
Three nocturnes for flute and piano (1972)
Caliban and Ariel for solo bassoon (1974)
Suite for oboe and piano (1974)
The Emperor and the Bird of Paradise for narrator and solo flute (1974)
6 Melodies for flute or oboe and piano (1976)
Epitaph for Michael for clarinet (1976)
Tarka, the water wanderer for three flutes (1987)
A Day in the Country: 12 easy pieces for recorder and piano (1990)
The Shippen for wind quintet (1990)
The Shepherd's Calendar for 4 bassoons (1991)
Farndale Dances for solo piccolo (1992)
Snow Scenes for saxophone in E and piano (1992)
To Autumn for flute and piano (1992)
Folies de Paris for contrabassoon and piano (1994)

Strings

Partita for cello solo (1959)
Bagatelles for cello and piano (1967)
Music for Three Violoncelli (1967)
Ferdinand for speaker and solo violin (1971)
Little Sad Sound, a melodrama for narrator and double bass (1974)
String Quartet No. 1 (1985)
String Quartet No. 2 (1987)
String Quartet No. 3 (1987)
Seascapes: six easy pieces for viola or cello and piano (1990)
Dance Preludes for double bass or cello and piano (1992)
String Quartet No. 4 "Malden" (1992)
String Quartet No. 5 "Stocklinch" (1993)
String Quartet No. 6 "The Vitréen" (1994)
Cello Concerto No. 2 (Concerto for cello and voices) (1994)
Cello Concerto No. 3 "The Prisoner" for solo cello and 8 cellos (1995)

Piano

Dance Bagatelles (1956)
Suite for clavichord or piano (1960)
Sonatina (1968)
Portraits: Eight pieces for piano (1973)
White Notes, Black Notes, Key Notes (1990)

Percussion

Sonatina for timpani (1967)

External links

Video

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