Composer: John Gardner
Performer: Stephen King, Paul Archibald, Cosmopolitan Brass
Conductor: Chris Gardner
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC0048
Release: 2011
Size: 257 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Flourish for a Wedding, Op. 162
02. Easter Fantasy, Op. 232
Theme and Variations, Op. 7
03. Theme: Andante flessible
04. Variation 1: Un poco meno mosso
05. Variation 2: Allegretto
06. Variation 3: Allegro giocoso
07. Variation 4: Marcia lenta
08. Variation 5: Marcia rapida
09. Variation 6: Habanera
10. Variation 7: Misterioso
11. Variation 8: Finale – Allegro vivace
5 Dances, Op. 179
12. No. 1. Lavolta
13. No. 2. Pavin
14. No. 3. Jig
15. No. 4. Lament
16. No. 5. Fling
Sonata da Chiesa sopra un tema di Claudio Monteverdi, Op. 136
17. I. Maestoso
18. II. Allegro
19. III. Lento e piano
20. IV. Allegro ma non troppo
Sonata Secolare, Op. 117
21. I. Allegro con brio
22. II. Ciacona
23. III. Finale
The British composer John Gardner (b. 1917) has been astonishingly prolific, writing 249 opus numbers in his sixty-year career as composer, conductor and teacher.
He was born in Manchester and grew up on the North Devon coast. He began to make a name for himself as a composer as a student at Oxford, but WWII put a stop to his compositional activity until he composed his first symphony while working for the Royal Opera House in 1946–47.
A 30-year teaching post followed at the Royal Academy of Music, followed by positions as Director of Music at Morley College and St Paul’s Girls’ School, for whom he wrote one of his bestknown carols “Tomorrow shall be my dancing day”.
Notoriously modest and self-deprecating, Gardner is, his son Chris says, “a man who does not take himself too seriously, and is not above making an awkward cuss of himself from time to time. But above it all there is a profound musical talent and skills, a consummate professionalism and a musical output of enormous range and distinction”.
Gardner celebrated his 93rd birthday shortly before the release of this CD. This CD concentrates on the music he has written for brass ensemble and organ, a favoured instrument since his days as an organ scholar at Oxford.