Raymond Eugene Premru (June 6, 1934 – May 8, 1998) was an American trombonist, composer, and teacher who spent most of his career in London, England.
Life and career
The son of a Methodist minister, Premru was born in
Elmira, New York
Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 cens ...
and grew up in the Finger Lakes region south of
Rochester. As a teenager he started playing the trombone and studied with Dale Clark at the Eastman School of Music's preparatory department. After high school he enrolled at Eastman to study trombone with Emory Remington and composition with Louis Mennini and Bernard Rogers.
Soon after graduating in 1956, he travelled to England for composition study with Peter Racine Fricker, intending to stay a few months. He began freelancing on trombone and bass trumpet, becoming a regular in the London jazz scene with groups like the
Kenny Baker Dozen. In 1958, he won the bass trombone position in the
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...
, where he performed for the next 30 years. In 1958 he married Susan Talbot, with whom he had two daughters.
As a session musician, he worked with
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
,
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...
,
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...
,
the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
, and
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
(on ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''). In 1964 he joined the
Philip Jones Brass Ensemble
The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, founded in 1951 by trumpeter Philip Jones, was one of the first modern classical brass ensembles to be formed. The group played either as a quintet or as a ten-piece, for larger halls. It toured and recorded exte ...
, for which he wrote several pieces; he remained a member until Jones's retirement in 1987. He co-directed and composed for the Bobby Lamb/Ray Premru Big Band.
After a term as a sabbatical replacement at Eastman, he decided in 1988 to retire from the Philharmonia and return to the U.S. to accept a professorship at
Oberlin Conservatory
The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory in Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of t ...
in Ohio. He continued to perform occasionally and to compose.
In 1990 he married Janet Jacobs. In 1997 he was awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize for music. During the same year he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, and he died at the Cleveland Clinic the following May at the age of 63.
Music
Premru’s compositional output runs from jazz arrangements to choral works, and includes pieces commissioned by numerous leading orchestras, festivals and organizations.
In 1962, he did work on the feature film ''
Reach for Glory'' in the capacity as music conductor.
[''The'' LIBRARY ''of'' CONGRES]
Jazz on the Screen, A jazz and blues filmography by David Meeker REACH FOR GLORY / Philip Leacock [motion picture]
/ref>
In a 1981 interview with Capital Radio, he cited as influences the music of Berg, Prokofiev, Bartók and Ives
Ives is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include:
Surname:
* Alice Emma Ives (1876–1930), American dramatist, journalist
* Burl Ives (1909–1995), American singer, author and actor
* Charles Ives (1874–1954), Ame ...
, in addition to jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and early Bach studies. Throughout his career his language remained one of relatively conservative mid-century modernism
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
, with a bent toward gentle lyricism; though he wrote some works in a lighter vein, and jazz idioms and techniques pop up in even his most “serious” score
His large-scale works include concerto
A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...
s for Trombone (1956), Trumpet (1983), and Tuba (1992); ''Music for Three Trombones, Tuba and Orchestra'' (1985); a ''Concerto for Orchestra'' (1976); and two symphonies
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
(1981 and 1988). Most were commissioned and premiered by major ensembles (the symphonies by the Philharmonia and Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
orchestras, with conductors Lorin Maazel
Lorin Varencove Maazel (, March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in th ...
and Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He ...
, respectively); however none have been commercially recorded as of 2007 and only the Trumpet and Tuba concertos remain in print (also as of 2007).
Perhaps his most lasting legacy is in his chamber
Chamber or the chamber may refer to:
In government and organizations
*Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests
*Legislative chamber, in politics
*Debate chamber, the space or room that houses deliber ...
works for brass, several of which remain available in print and on recordings, including: the ''Concertino'' for trombone and woodwind quartet (1954); ''Music from Harter Fell
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect o ...
'' (1973) and the nine-movement ''Divertimento'' (1976), both for the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble; the ''Brass Quartet'' of 1960; ''Two Pieces'' for three trombones (1951); and ''In Memoriam'' (1956) and the '' Tissington Variations'' (1970), both for trombone quartet.
Discography
* Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composi ...
(Parlophone, 1967)
* Respighi: Church Windows; Brazilian Impressions ( Geoffrey Simon), Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...
(Chandos 1984)
* ... too scared to play, High Anxiety Bones (Albany 1997)
References
Online sources
*Anderson, Martin.
Obituary: Raymond Premru
''The Independent'' (London), 1998-06-17. Retrieved on 2007-03-16
*Bassano, Peter (Autumn 1988).
British Trombone Society. Retrieved on 2007-03-16
''Conservatory News'' (Fall 1998). Oberlin Conservatory. Retrieved on 2007-03-16
*Tomkins, Les (1971).
JazzProfessional.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-16
*Roy, Klaus G. (1997).
ClevelandArtsPrize.org. Retrieved on 2007-03-16
*Paine, Anne C.
''Around the Square'' (September 1997). Oberlin College. Retrieved on 2007-03-16
Printed sources
* Slonimsky, Nicolas, rev. Laura Kuhn. (2001): ''Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians—Centennial Edition'', Vol. 5, p. 2858. New York: G. Schirmer.
*Anderson, Ruth, ed. (1982): ''Contemporary American Composers: a Biographical Dictionary'', p. 414. Boston: GK Hall.
*Press, ed. (1985): ''Who’s Who in American Music: Classical 2nd Edition'', p. 470. New York: RR Bowker
*Driscoll, Anne: “The Art of Trombone Playing: A Conversation with Raymond Premru and Ralph Sauer” ''The Instrumentalist'' vol 40 no. 10 (May 1986), pp. 18–24.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Premru, Raymond
20th-century classical composers
American male classical composers
American classical composers
American jazz trombonists
Male trombonists
American classical trombonists
1934 births
1998 deaths
Pupils of Bernard Rogers
20th-century classical trombonists
Deaths from esophageal cancer
Oberlin Conservatory of Music faculty
20th-century American composers
20th-century American male musicians
American male jazz musicians