Laurence Crane (born 1961 in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

) is a composer of contemporary classical music.

Career

Laurence Crane is closely associated with the ensemble

Apartment House An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ...

, who have given over 40 performances of his works. Some performances they have given include ''Riis'' (1996) and ''John White in Berlin'' (2003). He has written a considerable amount of

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

music. Pianists who have performed his work include Michael Finnissy, Thalia Myers and

John Tilbury John Tilbury (born 1 February 1936) is a British pianist. He is considered one of the foremost interpreters of Morton Feldman's music, and since 1980 has been a member of the free improvisation group AMM. Early life and education Tilbury s ...

. His piece ''Octet'' was shortlisted for the 2009 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards in the Chamber-Scale Composition category, along with works by

Harrison Birtwistle Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include '' T ...

and

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th and early 21st-century ...

. In 2017, he won the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists 2017. In the same year, his piece ''Omloop Het Ives'' for bass flute and string quartet was nominated for the British Composer Awards. In 2021, Juliet Fraser, in association with

Oxford Lieder Festival The Oxford Lieder Festival is a UK-based classical music festival, specialising in the art-song repertoire. History The Festival was founded in 2002 by the pianist Sholto Kynoch, and in a short space of time grew to be the United Kingdom's lar ...

and Musica Sacra Maastricht, commissioned Crane to write a new piece that responds to the work of marine biologist

Rachel Carson Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist whose influential book '' Silent Spring'' (1962) and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental ...

. The commission, ''Natural World'' for soprano and piano/sampler keyboard, won the Small Chamber Ivor Novello Award in 2022. Commenting on the piece, the jury added that "the composer has carefully chosen every note resulting in a beautifully placed and slowly evolving piece that is contemplative without losing momentum". He is currently Professor of Composition at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

Compositional style

A 1995 ''Gramophone'' review described Crane's music as "as minimal as you can get, and irresistibly droll". In the program for a concert in Oslo, Norway in April 2013, Crane writes that "I use simple and basic musical objects; common chords and intervals, arpeggios, drones, cadences, fragments of scales and melodies. The materials may seem familiar - perhaps even rather ordinary - but my aim is to find a fresh beauty in these objects by placing them in new structural and formal contexts..."

Personal life

Laurence Crane was born in 1961 in Oxford. He read music at the

University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...

with Peter Nelson and

Nigel Osborne Nigel Osborne (born 23 June 1948) is a British composer, teacher and aid worker. He served as Reid Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh and has also taught at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. He is known f ...

. His brother is the philosopher Tim Crane.

Notable works

* John White in Berlin * 20th Century Music * Raimondas Rumsas * Pieces About Art * Sparling * Holt Quartet * Old Life was Rubbish * Sound of Horse * Slow Folk Tune: Sheringham * Cobbled Section After Cobbled Section * See Our Lake * Birthday piece for Michael Finnissy

References

External links

BBC 3 programme featuring the composer, accessed 6 February 2010
1961 births Living people 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers English classical composers English male classical composers 20th-century English composers 21st-century English composers 20th-century British male musicians 21st-century British male musicians {{UK-composer-stub