Lyell Richard Cresswell (13 October 1944 – 19 March 2022) was a New Zealand composer of

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...

. He was the younger brother of philosopher

Max Cresswell Maxwell John Cresswell (born 19 November 1939) is a New Zealand philosopher and logician, known for his work in modal logic.''Festschrift for Max Cresswell on the occasion of his 65th birthday.'' In: ''Logique et Analyse.'' Number 181, March 20 ...

. Cresswell studied in Wellington, Toronto, Aberdeen and Utrecht and lived and worked in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

from 1985 on. Although he lived more than half his life away from New Zealand, he regarded himself as a New Zealander. Cresswell died from liver cancer, complicated by

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Early life and education

Cresswell was born in Wellington in 1944, the younger brother of

; his family belonged to the

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

. He played the trumpet, euphonium and tuba. He studied at Victoria University under

David Farquhar David Andross Farquhar (5 April 1928 – 8 May 2007) was a New Zealand composer and professor of music at Victoria University of Wellington. Biography Farquhar was born in Cambridge, New Zealand, in 1928 but spent most of his early years in F ...

Douglas Lilburn Douglas Gordon Lilburn (2 November 19156 June 2001) was a New Zealand composer. Early life Lilburn was born in Whanganui and spent his early years on the family sheep farm in the upper Turakina River valley at Drysdale. He attended Waitaki Bo ...

and

Frederick Page Sir Frederick William Page (20 February 1917 – 29 May 2005) was an English aircraft designer and manager. He had large involvements with two British aircraft projects - the English Electric Lightning and the BAC TSR.2. Arguably, the sum to ...

, gaining a first-class honours degree in composition. In 1969 he went to Toronto to study for a masters degree and three years later in 1972 to Aberdeen to study for a PhD.

Work

Cresswell taught and composed at Glasgow University and worked in arts administration in Cardiff but from 1985 he lived and worked in Edinburgh as a freelance composer, taking commissions for works. Cresswell wrote music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, choir, voice and solo instruments. His works include several concertos. In 1983 he was commissioned to write a work for the 100th anniversary of the Salvation Army in New Zealand; ''O! for Orchestra'' was premiered by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. His concerto for accordion, ''Dragspil'' (Icelandic for "accordion"), was commissioned for the BBC Proms and premièred by

James Crabb James Crabb (born 1967) is a Scottish classical accordion player. Crabb was born in Dundee. He was given his first accordion at age 4 by his accordion-playing father. He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen with class ...

and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

as part of the 1995 season. In 2001, the

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the ...

granted him the Creative Scotland Award and commissioned a work, in collaboration with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, exploring the issues of exile and identity. His composition ''Shadows Without Sun'' combines elements of oratorio, opera, music theatre and cantata. It requires orchestra, singers, speaking voices and recorded voices. The work intertwines the story of exiles living in both Scotland and New Zealand with the story of Cassandra. ''The Money Man'', 2010, was written in collaboration with librettist

Ron Butlin Ron Butlin (born 1949 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish poet and novelist who was Edinburgh Makar (Poet Laureate) from 2008 to 2014. Education Butlin was educated at the University of Edinburgh. He later became writer in residence in 1982 and 1984 a ...

with whom Cresswell regularly worked. Cresswell found inspiration from visual arts and literature. Links between painting and music were explored in the piano work ''The Art of Black and White.'' In 2013 he collaborated with writer

Fiona Farrell Fiona Farrell (born 1947) is a New Zealand poet, fiction and non-fiction writer and playwright. Early years and education Fiona Farrell was born and raised in Oamaru, in the South Island of New Zealand. She attended Waitaki Girls' High Sc ...

to write the song cycle ''The Clock Stops''; performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra it was inspired by the

Christchurch earthquakes A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

in 2010 and 2011. Cresswell's music is recorded on the

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...

label. He died in Edinburgh on 19 March 2022, from liver cancer complicated by a

infection. He was 77.

Awards

* Ian Whyte Award (1978) – for the orchestral work ''Salm'' *

APRA Silver Scroll The APRA Music Awards are several annual and two-yearly award ceremonies run in New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members. APRA hold the annual Silver S ...

(1979) – for his contribution to New Zealand music * Recommendation by the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers (1979, 1981 and 1988) * Scottish Arts Council Creative Scotland Award (2001) * Honorary DMus degree from the

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

(2002) * The inaugural Royal Philharmonic Society Elgar Bursary (2002) * Creative New Zealand/School of Music Composer in Residence in Wellington (2006–2007) * SOUNZ Contemporary Award (2011) – for his first piano concerto dedicated to Edward Harper * Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award (2016)

List of compositions

Concertos

*Concerto for cello (commissioned for Musica Nova, Glasgow, 1984) *Concerto for accordion, ''Dragspil'' (BBC Proms, 1995) *Concerto for orchestra and string quartet (commissioned by the City of Aberdeen, 1996) *Concerto for trombone, ''Kaea'' (Scottish Chamber Orchestra, 1997) *Concerto for violin and soprano (commissioned by the BBC, 2001) *Concerto for chamber orchestra (SCO, 2002) *Concerto for piano (2009) (dedicated to Scottish composer Edward Harper and commissioned by pianist Steven de Pledge)

Other orchestral

*''Salm'' (1977) *''O! for Orchestra'' (1983) *''A Modern Ecstasy'' (1986) *''Voices of Ocean Winds'' (Radio New Zealand, 1989) *''Ylur'' (St Magnus Festival, 1991) *''Ara Kopikopiko'' (2005) – written with the Elgar Bursary *''I Paesaggi dell’anima'' (Landscapes of the soul), 2008

Chamber

*''Le Sucre du Printemps'', for clarinets

Vocal

*''The Voice Inside'', for soprano, violin and orchestra *''The Clock Stops'' (2013)

Stage

*''Shadows Without Sun'' (2003) *''The Money Man'' (2010)

References

External links

* *
Lyell Cresswell Papers
at the

Alexander Turnbull Library The National Library of New Zealand ( mi, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (''Nat ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cresswell, Lyell 1944 births 2022 deaths 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers New Zealand classical composers People from Wellington City 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 Deaths from cancer in Scotland