Michael Stimpson

Michael John Stimpson (born 1948) is a British composer.

Early life and education

Stimpson was brought up in Hammersmith and Wimbledon. His first degree was in Botany and Zoology, but immediately on completion he turned to music, and more specifically, the classical guitar.[1] His twenties were taken up with study, examinations, concerts, and teaching, and his first contribution to a book was for Cambridge University Press (Ed. Michael Burnett).[1]

In 1980 he studied on the Advanced Course at the Royal Academy of Music and later obtained his Associate of the Institute of Education, and his doctorate in composition at the University of Southampton.[1] During this time he published Café Music for solo guitar (Ricordi) and edited a book and six-part music series with Oxford University Press which included collaborations with Queen guitarist Brian May and flamenco guitarist Paco Peña.[2]

Career

Stimpson's first major chamber work, Sonata for Piano Trio, was premiered at the Purcell Room by the Dussek Piano Trio in 1997, and was described by The Strad as '...a finely poised, lyrical work...a joy to hear'.[3] In 1999 Concerto for Oboe was premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, performed by John Anderson and the London Festival Orchestra, conductor Ross Pople.[4]

String Quartet No. 1 (Robben Island), composed after the breakdown of apartheid, was premiered in October 2000 by the Allegri Quartet at St. John's Smith Square, London.[5] Also present was Professor Denis Goldberg, who had been on trial with Nelson Mandela, and Cheryl Carolus.[5] The concert benefited the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund.[6] The Allegri String Quartet subsequently toured and recorded the work, preceded by a discussion of the work on BBC Radio 3.[7] The recording also contained their commission of Stimpson for a work for tenor and piano quintet, A Walk Into War. Based on the writing of Laurie Lee, and premiered at the Salisbury International Arts Festival.[7]

Reflecting his concerns over global climate change, Stimpson wrote The Angry Garden for choir, soli and orchestra, with a libretto by Simon Rae.[4] It was premiered at St. Johns Smith Square in aid of the World Wildlife Fund by the English Concert Singers and English Concert Orchestra, conductor Roy Wales.[8]

The beginning of a long-term collaboration with Sioned Williams, principal harp with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, resulted in his first work for harp, The Stars Have Withdrawn Their Shining, premiered at the Purcell Room in 2002.[4] This was followed by Dylan, written to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Dylan Thomas, premiered at the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea and latterly on CD with Roderick Williams.[9] His final work for Sioned Williams, The Drowning of Capel Celyn, was for her 60th birthday concert at the Purcell Room. Dylan and Drowning are published by Creighton's Collection.

Stimpson's major work to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, Clouds of War for soli, choir and orchestra, was performed by the English Chamber Orchestra at Cadogan Hall,[4] in the presence of HRH Prince Michael of Kent.[10] This was followed by a four-stage work, Age of Wonders, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin.[11] Beginning as a piece for violin and piano (Wigmore Hall), it evolved through string quartet (Peninsular Arts Festival) and string orchestra (Wigmore Hall) to a work for full orchestra, commissioned by the Darwin Symphony Orchestra in Australia.[12]

Stimpson went on to write the opera, Jesse Owens, a work in four Acts for soli, chorus and full orchestra based on the life of the iconic US athlete.[12] Specifically designed so that every lead role was for BME singers, Stimpson collaborated on the libretto with poets Grace Nichols and John Agard.[12]

There are four CDs of Stimpson's works to date: Journeymen (Allegri Quartet, Paul Agnew and Daniel Tong, Riverrun Records); Dylan and The Drowning of Capel Celyn (Roderick Williams and Sioned Williams, Stone Records); Incidental Music and Songs from the opera Jesse Owens and Preludes In Our Time (Philharmonia Orchestra, conductor Stuart Stratford, Abigail Kelly, Jonny Herford, Megumi Fujita, Stone Records); and Age of Wonders (Philharmonia Orchestra, conductor Stuart Stratford, Stone Records).[4]

Personal life

Stimpson has been registered blind since 1977 as a result of the virus Guillain-Barré Syndrome.[11] He and his wife and son left London in 1990 to live in the Chalke Valley, near Salisbury.[13]

Selected compositions

Orchestral and choral

Age of Wonders - An Entangled Bank (for string orchestra)

Age of Wonders - Transmutations (orchestra)

Clouds of War (choir, soli and orchestra)

In Memoriam (a cappella choir)

Jesse Owens - opera

Songs of Innocence and Experience (a cappella choir, soli and spoken word)

The Angry Garden (choir, soli and orchestra)

The Ninth Hour: Four Latin Motets (a cappella choir)  

Chamber

A Walk Into War (tenor and piano quintet)

String Quartet No.1 (Robben Island)

Age of Wonders - String Quartet No.2 (The Beagle)

Sonata for Piano Trio

Suite Gromignana (brass quintet)

Songs from the opera Jesse Owens (soprano, baritone, piano)

The Sun and the Moon (clarinet quintet)  

Solo and duo

Cafe Music (guitar solo)

Dall'Alba al Tramonto (tenor and piano)

Drawings from the Shell (piano solo)

Dylan (baritone, harp, and spoken word)

Fanfara per la Vista (trumpet solo)

Faulstone Hollow (violin and piano)

Five Miniatures (guitar solo)

L'Ora di Barga (soprano and piano)

Preludes In Our Time (piano solo)

Sonatina Pour le Vent (guitar solo)

Tales from the 15th Floor (cello and piano)

The Balancing of Opposites (flute and piano)

The Drowning of Capel Celyn (harp solo)

The Haze of Time (bassoon and cello)

Age of Wonders - The Man Who Walked With Henslow (violin and piano)

The Stars Have Withdrawn Their Shining (harp solo)

Three Variants on a Blue (violin and piano)

Two Folk Pieces (harp solo)

Variations on Papaver Rhoeas (piano solo)

References
  1. Michael Stimpson (ed.), The Guitar: A Guide for Students and Teachers, (Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press: 1988), xvi. ISBN 0-19-317419-7
  2. Brian May, Guitar Styles! Rock, for All Guitarists (ed. Michael Stimpson, Oxford: Oxford University Press: 1994).
  3. The Strad, July 1997, London Reviews, 873
  4. Simon Ible, 'Preview: Michael Stimpson/ The Beagle', in Notations: Music and Evolution, Volume 1: February 2009, 40.
  5. Andrew Green, 'Out of Africa', in Classical Music: 23 September 2000, 15.
  6. Geoff Brown, 'Parallel Lives Meet at Affinity', The Times, October 10, 2000, 21.
  7. Michael Stimpson, Journeymen (Audio CD, Riverrun Records: Allegri Quartet, RVRCD76), Sleeve note.
  8. programme Note: 'World Premiere: Michael Stimpson The Angry Garden' (English Concert Management, Crown Litho Publishing: 2002), 3.
  9. Michael Stimpson, The Drowning of Capel Celyn (Sheet Music Score: Publisher Creighton's Collection: 2016, ISMN 979-0-57046-180-6), 1.
  10. "Michael Stimpson :: Stone Records, Independent Classical Music". Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  11. Keith Clarke (ed.), 'Q and A: Composer Michael Stimpson' in Classical Music (Rhinegold publishing, 17 January 2009, Issue 882), 12.
  12. Michael Stimpson, Jesse Owens: Incidental Music and Songs from the Opera (Audio CD: Stone Records, Abigail Kelly, Johnny Hereford, Megumi Fujita, Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Stuart Stratford, 2016), Sleeve note, 1.
  13. The Salisbury Journal August 25, 2016, page 69.
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