Kenneth Leighton

Kenneth Leighton (Wakefield, October 2, 1929 – Edinburgh, August 24, 1988) was an English composer. Leighton was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire and was a chorister at Wakefield Cathedral from 1937 to 1942. He earned the LRAM Piano Performer's Diploma in 1946. In 1947 he went to The Queen's College, Oxford on a Hastings Scholarship in Classics. In 1950, he graduated with both BA in Classics and in 1951 with a BMus (having studied with Bernard Rose). In the same year he won the Mendelssohn Scholarship and went to Rome to study with the Italian "avant garde" composer Goffredo Petrassi.

Kenneth Leighton was Professor of Theory at the Royal Marine School of Music in Deal, Kent (1952-53) and Gregory Fellow in Music at the University of Leeds (1953-56). In 1956 he was appointed Lecturer in Music at the University of Edinburgh, where he was made Senior Lecturer and then Reader; in 1968, he returned to Oxford as University Lecturer in Music and Fellow of Worcester College. In October 1970, he was appointed Reid Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh, a post which he held until his death in 1988. He was succeeded in this post by his student Nigel Osborne.

Kenneth Leighton was one of the most distinguished of the British post-war composers; over 100 compositions are published (mostly by Novello & Co), many of which were written to commission, and his work is frequently performed and broadcast both in Britain and in other countries. Among the many prizes for composition awarded to him after 1950 were the Busoni Prize (1956), The National Federation of Music Societies Prize for the best choral work of the year (1960), the City of Trieste First Prize for a new symphonic work (1965), The Bernard Sprengel Prize for chamber music (1966) and the Cobbett Medal for distinguished services to chamber music (1967). In 1960 he was awarded the Doctorate in Music by the University of Oxford, and in 1977 was made an Honorary Doctor of the University of St Andrews for his work as a composer. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 1982.

The works of his early maturity show a continuing desire to explore new forms, and to increase and crystallise his contrapuntal mastery with ever greater expressive force. The tremendous emotional tension he produced was always organically generated and devoid of empty gesture. Later scores displayed a greater concern with vertical methods, but with no diminution of his command of counterpoint. With the pieces of his last years, it became increasingly noticeable that a more relaxed and positive element had entered into his compositions, a new lyrical vein: not a reduction of strength or purpose, more a shedding of some of the intense retrospection which was such a feature of some of his scores from the late 1960s onwards. This broadening of emotional range can only make us regret that he did not complete the Fourth Symphony which he was contemplating at the time of his death. His contribution to the Anglican church music repertoire is frequently performed. As a composer who is clearly impressed with spiritual values, works such as "Paean" (for organ solo) express a cosmopolitan spirituality that transcends pure Christianity, much as Holst's "Planets" orchestral suite hints at the Kabbalah and approaches the realms of mystical esotericism.

As a pianist Kenneth Leighton was a frequent recitalist and broadcaster, both as a soloist and in chamber music. He recorded his piano music for the British Music Society and conducted many performances and broadcast of his own music.

elected Works

* Sonatina No. 1 for Piano, Opus 1a
* Sonatina No. 2 for Piano, Opus 1b
* Sonata No. 1 for Piano, Opus 2
* "Symphony for Strings", Opus 3
* Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano, Opus 4
* "Elegy" for Violoncello and Piano, Opus 5
* "Veris Gratia" Cantata, Opus 6
* "Scherzo" for Two Pianos, Opus 7
* "Hippolytus", Opus 8
* "Veris Gratia" Suite, Opus 9
* "Just now the lilac is in bloom", Opus 10
* Concerto No. 1 in D minor for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 11
* Concerto for Violin and Small Orchestra, Opus 12
* "Primavera Romana", Opus 14
* Concerto for Viola, Harp, String Orchestra, and Timpani Opus 15
* "The Light Invisible: Sinfonia Sacra", Opus 16
* Sonata No. 2 for Piano, Opus 17
* "Passacaglia, Chorale, and Fugue" for Orchestra, Opus 18
* "Burlesque" for Orchestra, Opus 19
* Serenade in C for Flute and Piano, Opus 19a
* Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano, Opus 20
* "A Christmas Caroll", Opus 21
* Five Studies for Piano, Opus 22
* Concerto for Oboe and String Orchestra, Opus 23
* "Fantasia Contrappuntistica (Homage to Bach), Opus 24
* "The Star Song", Opus 25a
* "Lully, lulla thou little tiny child", Opus 25b
* "An ode to the birth of our saviour", Opus 25c
* "Fantasia on the Name BACH" for Viola and Piano, Opus 29 (1955)
* String Quartet No. 1, Opus 32
* String Quartet No. 2, Opus 33
* "Mass", Opus 44
* Organ Concerto, Opus 58
* "Columba" (Opera), Opus 77

elected Recordings

* [http://www.delphianrecords.co.uk Complete Solo Piano Works] - Delphian DCD34301-3
* [http://www.delphianrecords.co.uk Preces and Responses] - Delphian DCD34017
* Complete Organ Works - Priory Records
* Complete Works for string quartet - Meridian
* "Veris Gratia" Suite Opus 9 - Chandos
* Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra Opus 31 - Chandos
* Symphony No. 3: Laudes Musicae - Chandos

External links

* [http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/Resources/KennethLeightonTrust.html Kenneth Leighton Trust]
* [http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Leighton-Kenneth.htm Kenneth Leighton] on the Bach Cantatas Website