Alistair Richard Hinton (born 6 October 1950) is a Scottish composer and

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

with a focus on the works of his friend

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (born Leon Dudley Sorabji; 14 August 1892 – 15 October 1988) was an English composer, music critic, pianist and writer whose music, written over a period of seventy years, ranges from sets of miniatures to wor ...

. He is the curator of the Sorabji Archive.

Career and works

Hinton, a native of

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, began studying music at the age of eleven; and following the advice of

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

, he studied at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

, where

Humphrey Searle Humphrey Searle (26 August 1915 – 12 May 1982) was an English composer and writer on music. His music combines aspects of late Romanticism and modernist serialism, particularly reminiscent of his primary influences, Franz Liszt, Arnold Schoen ...

and Stephen Savage were among his teachers. Although he began composing at an early age, he later destroyed most of his pre-1985 output."Alistair Hinton"
, McGill University Schulich School of Music, accessed 9 July 2013 His Op. 1 was a

piano sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement ( Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with t ...

(1962); although part of it was lost soon after it was written, the composer responded to a private request in 2020 to reconstruct it. His other compositions include sonatas, variations and other works for piano, a

violin concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

(dedicated to

Jane Manning Jane Marian Manning OBE (20 September 193831 March 2021) was an English concert and opera soprano, writer on music, and visiting professor at the Royal College of Music. A specialist in contemporary classical music, she was described by one c ...

), songs (amongst them settings of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

, Hinton's Opp. 9 and 12), works for the

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, a string quintet (for two violins, viola, cello, double-bass and

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

, and lasting for 2 hours and 45 minutes in performance), and a '' Sinfonietta''. They include homages to

Karol Szymanowski Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 6 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. Szymanowski's early works show the inf ...

(''Szymanowski-Etiud'', Op. 32, for 18 wind instruments),

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

(''Passeggiata Straussiana'', for

euphonium The euphonium is a medium-sized, 3 or 4-valve, often compensating, conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument that derives its name from the Ancient Greek word ''euphōnos'', meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced" ( ''eu'' means "well" ...

and piano, Op. 39), and

Charles-Valentin Alkan Charles-Valentin Alkan (; 30 November 1813 – 29 March 1888) was a French Jewish composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Lisz ...

in the Piano Sonata no. 5, which has a substantial passage marked "Alkanique". The latter influenced

Marc-André Hamelin Marc-André Hamelin, OC, CQ (born September 5, 1961), is a Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer. Hamelin is recognized worldwide for the originality and technical proficiency of his performances of the classic repertoire. He has received 11 Gr ...

in composing his own ''Étude no. 4''. Among those who have performed and recorded Hinton's works are

Donna Amato Donna Marie Amato (born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American pianist. She teaches at University of Pittsburgh. Life Amato studied under the renowned teacher and virtuoso, Ozan Marsh throughout her early musical training. After receiving ...

, Jonathan Powell,

Yonty Solomon Jonathan "Yonty" Solomon (6 May 193726 September 2008) was a South African pianist. He played with many of the world's best-known orchestras. Biography Solomon was born in Cape Town, the youngest of seven children of a family from Lithuania. At ...

and

Kevin Bowyer Kevin John Bowyer (; born 9 January 1961) is an English organist, known for his prolific recording and recital career and his performances of modern and extremely difficult compositions. Biography Bowyer was born on 9 January 1961 in Southend-o ...

Personal life

In 2014, Hinton and his wife Terry were responsible for a petition to the British government to remove the statutory immunity it gives to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) so it is not liable for damages. He currently lives with his wife in

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

Sorabji

In 1969, Hinton came across a copy of the four-hour ''

Opus clavicembalisticum ''Opus clavicembalisticum'' is a work for solo piano composed by Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, completed on 25 June 1930. It is notable for its length and difficulty: at the time of its completion it was the longest piano piece in existence. It ...

'' of the reclusive composer

(1892–1988), which greatly impressed him. In 1976, he persuaded the composer to relax the ban he had placed on unauthorised performance of his music in the 1930s."About the Sorabji Archive"
, The Sorabji Archive, accessed 9 July 2013. Hinton subsequently founded the Sorabji Archive, which publishes Sorabji's writings and compositions and maintains a collection of his manuscripts and archival materials; he remains its curator. Hinton contributed two chapters to the 1992 book, ''Sorabji: A Critical Celebration''. He was the dedicatee of eight works by Sorabji, and was the sole heir of his oeuvre.
, Sorabji Resource Site, accessed 10 July 2013.

References

Sources

* Hamelin, Marc-André (2005). ''Étude No. IV: Étude à mouvement perpétuellement semblable (d'après Alkan)''. Portland, Oregon: Pelisorius Editions. * Rapoport, Paul (ed.) (1992). ''Sorabji: A Critical Celebration'', Farnham: Ashgate. .

External links

Official biography

List of works by Alistair Hinton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinton, Alistair 1950 births 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers Living people Scottish classical composers British male classical composers 20th-century Scottish musicians 20th-century British composers 20th-century British male musicians 21st-century British male musicians