Howard Skempton: Conversations And Reflections On Music – Esther Cavett

Hardback

296 pages

The Boydell Press

ISBN: 9781783273218

Howard Skempton has contributed to British musical life for more than half a century as composer performer and commentator. His music is characterised by simplicity yet sophistication and is appreciated by lay and specialist listeners in equal measure. Skempton studied in London with Cornelius Cardew in the late 1960s co-founding the Scratch Orchestra and has written over 600 pieces since then informed by and informing compositional trends. His outputincludes pieces for solo piano accordion cello and guitar chamber ensemble orchestra and voice. This book offers an intimate view of a composer s creative world and how others may interpret it. It is not a conventional life and works though it contains a timeline authorised work list and discography for orientation. It is written for anyone interested in contemporary music and (auto)biography whether performer listener specialist or student.