Gilbert, Anthony (John)

Gilbert, Anthony (John), English composer and teacher; b. London, July 26, 1934. He studied composition with Milner, Goehr, and Seiber in London both privately and at Morley Coll. (1958-63). He studied conducting at Morley with Del Mar (1967-69) and received training in composition from Nono and Berio at the Dartington Summer School (1961,1962) and from Schuller, Shifrin, Carter, and Sessions at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood (summer, 1967). Gilbert studied piano with Denis Holloway at London’s Trinity Coll. of Music before completing his training at the Univ. of Leeds (M.A., 1984; Mus.D., 1990). He taught at Goldsmiths’ Coll., Univ. of London (1968-73). He served as composer-in-residence (1970-71) and visiting lecturer (1971-72) at the Univ. of Lancaster, and also taught at Morley Coll. (1971-74). In 1973 he joined the faculty of the Royal Northern Coll. of Music in Manchester. In 1978-79 he also was senior lecturer in composition at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music in Sydney, and in 1981 was composer-in-the-community of Bendigo, Australia. A modernist by nature, Gilbert nevertheless writes music in Classical forms and is not averse to representational music; on the purely structural side, he adopts various attenuated forms of serial music, and in thematic development uses disparate agglutinative blocks.

Works

DRAMATIC Opera : The Scene Machine (1970; Kassel, April 1, 1971); The Chakravaka-bird, radio opera (1977; BBC, Jan. 1982). ORCH.: Sinfonia for Chamber Orch. (London, March 30, 1965); Regions for 2 Orchs. (1966); Peal II for Big Band (1968); Sym. (Cheltenham, July 12, 1973); Ghost and Dream Dancing (Birmingham, Sept. 19, 1974); Crow-cry for Chamber Orch. (1976; London, March 16, 1977); Welkin for Student Orch. (1976); Towards Asavari for Piano and Chamber Orch. (1978; Manchester, Jan. 26, 1979); Koonapippi for Youth Orch. (1981); Little Fantasia on Gold- Digger Tunes for Chamber Orch. (1981); Dream Carousels for Wind Band (1988; London, Feb. 26, 1989); Tree of Singing Names for Chamber Orch. (1989; rev. 1993); Mozart Sampler with Ground (1991); Igorochki for Concertini Recorders and Chamber Orch. (1992); On Beholding a Rainbow, violin concerto (1997). CHAMBER: Brighton Piece for Clarinet, Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Cello, and 3 Percussion (1967); 9 or 10 Osannas for Clarinet, Horn, Violin, Cello, and Piano (1967); The Incredible Flute Music for Flute and Piano (1968); O’Grady Music for Clarinet, Cello, and Toy Instruments (1971); String Quartet with Piano Pieces (1972); Canticle I: Rock-song for 2 Clarinets, Bass Clarinet, 2 Horns, 2 Trumpets, and Trombone (1973); Vasanta with Dancing for Flute Doubling Alto Flute, Oboe Doubling English Horn, Violin, Viola, Harp, Percussion, and Optional Dancer (1981); Fanfarings 1 and 2 (1983), 3 and 4 (1986-87), 5 (1988), and 6 (1992) for Brass; Quartet of Beasts for Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano (1984); 6 of the Bestiary for Saxophone Quartet (1985); String Quartet II (1987) and III (1987); Ziggurat for Bass Clarinet and Marimba (1994); Farings for Sopranino Recorder and Piano (1996); Reflexions, Rose Nord for Bass Clarinet and Vibraphone (1996); Os for Oboe and Vibraphone (1999). Piano : 2 sonatas (1962,1966). VOCAL: Love Poems for Soprano, Clarinet, Cello, Accordion or Soprano, Bass Clarinet, and Chamber Organ (1970); Inscapes for Soprano, Speaker, and Small Ensemble (1975); Chant of Cockeye Bob for Children’s Voices and Instruments (1981); Beastly Jingles for Soprano and Instrumental Ensemble (1984); Certain Lights Reflecting for Soprano and Orch. (Cheltenham, July 14, 1989); Upstream River Rewa for Narrator and IndoEuropean Ensemble (1991); Vers de Lune for Soprano and Small Ensemble (1999); also choruses, including Handles to the Invisible (1995).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire