John Purser (born 1942) is a Scottish composer, musicologist, and music historian. He is also a playwright.
[cover notes from ''Scotland's Music'' CD]
Purser was born in
Glasgow. He initiated the reconstruction that commenced in 1991 of the
Iron Age Deskford Carnyx, producing a replica that was first played in 1993 by trombonist
John Kenny.
Purser's book ''Scotland's Music'', published in March 1992 (new edition October 2007), was a major reference work on musical history from the
Bronze Age to the present. It was followed by a thirty-programme radio series of the same title, written and presented by him, which was broadcast on
BBC Radio Scotland and totalled 45 hours, with recordings commissioned for the series including reconstructions of early music and works by many little-known composers. A double CD was subsequently produced with a small selection of the music.
[ Purser's work has contributed to a revival of interest in such composers as John Clerk of Penicuik and John Thomson.
'Consider the Story', a privately released disc of Purser's music, was released in 2021. It includes the song cycle ''Six Sea Songs'' (1966, setting words by the composer's father J W R Purser), the ''Kalavrita'' string quartet (1981), and the Sonata for Trombone and Piano (2001).'Consider the Story', reviewed at ''MusicWeb International'']
/ref>
Purser's plays include the radio play '' Carver'' about Robert Carver, the 16th-century Scottish composer of church music, which won a Giles Cooper Award.[ He also wrote ''Parrots and Owls'' about John Ruskin and the ]O'Shea brothers O'Shea and Whelan was an Irish family practice of stonemasons and sculptors from Ballyhooly in County Cork. They were notable for their involvement in Ruskinian gothic architecture in the mid-19th century.
Practice
The practice comprised the broth ...
.
Selected works
Stage
* ''The Undertaker'', Opera (1969)
* ''The Bell'', Opera
Radio
* '' Carver'', BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
(31 March 1991)
* ''The Secret Commonwealth'', BBC Radio 4 (14 December 1997)
Orchestral
* ''Intrada for Strings'' for string orchestra, Op. 17 (1966)
* ''Clydefair Overture'' (1972)
* ''Ane Gentill Chantecleir'' (1990)
* ''Bannockburn''
* ''Epitaph''
* ''Variations on an Irish Folk-Tune'' for string orchestra
Concertante
* Concertino for piano and orchestra (1986)
* Concerto for viola and string orchestra
Chamber music
* Sonata for flute and piano, Op. 11 (1964–1965)
* ''Dances of Ilion'' for clarinet and piano, Op. 24
* ''Suite for Unaccompanied Violin'', Op. 29
* ''Three Studies'' for horn and piano (1976)
* ''Carrier Strike'' for piccolo, trumpet and harpsichord (1977)
* String Quartet ''Kalavrita'' (1981)
* ''Prelude and Toccata'' for guitar (1985)
* Sonata for cello and piano (1988)
* Sonata for violin and piano (1989)
* ''Skyelines I / II'' for tenor trombone and organ (1994)
* ''Skyeline III'' for string quartet (1995)
* ''Ave atque vale'' for trombone (1996)
* ''Lament for a Chickadee'' for carillon
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...
(1998)
* Sonata for Trombone and Piano (2002)
* ''In Memory of Michael Miles'' for flute solo (2005)
* ''Piobaireachd "Wai Taheke"'' for flute solo (2005)
* ''Puna'' for Taonga pūoro and bassoon (2005)
* ''Silver Reflections'' for cello and piano (2013)
* ''The Butterfly'' for flute, harp and organ
Keyboard
* ''Toccata'' for organ (1968, revised 2003)
* ''Clavier Sonata'' for chamber organ (or piano) (1974)
* ''Circus Suite for Nick'' for piano (1975)
Vocal
* ''Johnnie Faa'', Variation 6 for soprano, flute, cello and harp (1988)
* ''The Seal of the City'' for soprano, tenor, bass, clarinet, trumpet, horn, percussion and organ (1996)
* ''Ave Atque Vale'' for alto and baritone
* ''Five Landscapes'' for voice and piano
* ''Love My Lewd Pilot'' for soprano, baritone, flute and piano; words by Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...
(2002)
* ''Lovely Molly'' for voice and piano
* ''Six Sea Songs'' for tenor and piano (1966)
* ''Throat'' for soprano, carnyx and percussion
Choral
* ''Magnificat'' for mixed chorus a cappella (1964)
* ''The Wren Boys'' for mixed chorus, 2 piccolos, string orchestra and organ (1983)
* ''Epithalamion'' for mixed chorus a cappella (1984)
* ''If All You Gave'' for mixed chorus a cappella
* ''Nunc Dimittis'' for mixed chorus a cappella
* ''Love in Season'' for mixed chorus a cappella
* ''Simplon Pass'' for mixed chorus a cappella
References
External links
Scottish Music Center biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Purser, John
1942 births
Living people
Scottish classical composers
Scottish dramatists and playwrights
Musicians from Glasgow
People educated at Fettes College
Opera in Scotland
Scottish poets
Scottish opera composers
British male opera composers
Scottish music historians