Prolific British composer to visit

Press, 24 February 1988, Page 20

Prolific British composer to visit

He was six years old before he composed his first song, but adds that he only became “musically literate” at the age of eight. Richard Rodney Bennett, composer, singer, jazz musician, pianist and one of the best known British composers of his generation, will visit Christchurch for three days next week. He will present a lunchhour concert in the Great Hall at the. Arts Centre at 1.10 p.m. on Friday, March 4. On Saturday, March 5 at 8 p.m. Bennett will perform at Sumner’s Hollywood Cinema. On Sunday, March 6, he will present a further selection of music in the Great Hall, Arts Centre at 8 p.m. The three performances will provide Canterbury audiences with an oppbr-

tunity to hear the Bennett i approach to music. His career has been eclectic, producing compositions which have included orchestral and chamber music, ballet and opera scores and jazz.

His music has become an integral part of films ranging from “Yanks” to “Murder on the Orient Express.” His music for the television adaptation of “Tender is the Night” set the mood for Scott Fitzgerald’s haunting story of obsession and love. His forays into the world of jazz have involved him in regular appearances at the legendary “Js,” a New York jazz club and restaurant which has become a mecca for American and international jazz musicians. From the moment that the young Richard Rodney Bennett touched a piano, his musical career has been prolific. At 22, he composed the score for the Bergman-Grant film, “Indiscreet.” His film music has been nominated three times for Acad-

emy Awards. Bennett’s classical compositions have been widely played. He wrote "Anniversaries” for the sixtieth anniversary of the British Broadcasting Company in 1982. His Third Symphony was written for the 8.8. C. Philharmonic and performed at the Three Choirs Festival at Worcester. His boyhood was spent in the English West Country against a musical family background. He later won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, followed four years later by another scholarship which provided two years study with the French composer, Pierre Boulez, in Paris. In spite of his classical training, Bennett earned a living as a jazz pianist during his student days.

Jazz and the classical compositions remain complementary themes in his professional life. When he plays classical music, the piano speaks for him. The singer reveals himself to the audience. It took courage to lift his eyes from the keyboard and look directly at his audience while delivering emotional lyrics. “Now I love it and I find that when I play classical music, I have this terrible yearning to look at the audience and smile at them — which, of course, is just not done,” he remarked in a recent interview. He has also admitted that if he could never appear on the classical stage again, he would not be concerned.