Reginald Redman (17 September 1892 – 9 March 1972) was an English

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

and composer noted in particular for his contribution to the musical life of the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouce ...

.Some British Conductor-Composers, by Philip L. Scowcroft
Music Web International. Accessed January 2014.

Career

Redman was born in London,

Percy A. Scholes Percy Alfred Scholes PhD OBE (24 July 1877 – 31 July 1958) (pronounced ''skolz'') was an English musician, journalist and prolific writer, whose best-known achievement was his compilation of the first edition of ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' ...

. "Redman, Reginald". ''Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music''. Oxford University Press, 1964, p. 475 and became a church organist at the age of 16 while working as a bank clerk, before going on to study at the

Guildhall School of Music 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 j ...

. He joined the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

in 1926 as assistant conductor of the National Orchestra of Wales and from 1936 until 1952 he was the BBC Director of Music, Western Region. While at the BBC in Bristol Redman formed and conducted the West Country Studio Orchestra, a small orchestra which played light music, and the West Country Singers. (He also occasionally conducted the Clifton Light Orchestra and City of Bristol Orchestra). The Studio Orchestra was disbanded in 1950 when the BBC West of England Light Orchestra was formed.Obituary, ''The Times'', 10 March 1972, p 16 Later in his career Redman became the music critic for the

Bristol Evening Post The ''Bristol Post'' is a city/regional five-day-a-week (formerly appearing six days per week) newspaper covering news in the city of Bristol, including stories from the whole of Greater Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. It wa ...

, but also continued to compose music for radio and television, including ''The Emperor's Nightingale'' (for marionettes, from a story by

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consist ...

) in 1957, and a TV play ''The True Mystery of the Passion'' in 1961.Reginald Redman
Internet Movie Database. Accessed January 2014 After his death in Bristol, the BBC broadcast a tribute concert, on 27 June 1973, including his Chinese settings, part songs and the violin sonata.

Compositions

Many of his compositions have titles related to the West Country, such as the three movement ''West Country Suite'', first performed at the Torquay Music Festival on 9 October 1935, based on folk tunes from Somerset. But Redman also composed a piano concerto (dedicated to his wife), the first concert performance of which was given in Bournemouth on 15 June 1942, with soloist

Moura Lympany Dame Moura Lympany DBE (18 August 191628 March 2005) was an English concert pianist. Biography She was born as Mary Gertrude Johnstone at Saltash, Cornwall. Her father was an army officer who had served in World War I and her mother origin ...

, the composer conducting. There was also a cello concerto, a concerto grosso for piano and strings (first performance by the Bristol Sinfonia, January 1972), three operas, two ballets, sacred choral music and chamber music, including a violin sonata. A review of the first performance of his male voice part song ''On Newlyn Hill'' (1937) appeared in

The Cornishman ''The Cornishman'' is a weekly newspaper based in Penzance, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom which was first published on 18 July 1878. Circulation for the first two editions was 4,000. An edition is currently printed every Thursday. In early Fe ...

on 23 December 1937 and is quoted by

Stephen Banfield Stephen David Banfield (born 1951) is a musicologist, music historian and retired academic. He was Elgar Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham from 1992 to 2003, and then Stanley Hugh Badock Professor of Music at the University of Br ...

. Redman was also an expert on Chinese music, and his settings to translations of nearly 50 Chinese poems are particularly noteworthy. Archive material, including musical scores, is held at the University of Bristol. Light orchestral music, including ''Away on the Hills'', a pastoral piece for string orchestra; ''Marston Court''; ''From a Moorish village''; ''Pan's Garden''; ''West Country Suite''; ''Rhapsody on Somerset Folk Songs'' and ''An Irish Souvenir''. Songs and choral music, including for baritone and orchestra ''The Forest of Dean'' and ''Three Kings of Somerset''; many compositions for choir including ''From the West Countrie'', ''From the Hills of Dream'' and ''Songs of the West Country''; also sets of Chinese songs ''Five Chinese Miniatures'' and ''Five Settings of Poems from the Chinese''.Scores by Reginald Redman
British Music Collection Piano pieces, including ''A Cornish Legend''; ''Mist on the Moors''; ''On the Cornish Coast''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Redman, Reginald 1892 births 1972 deaths Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama English classical composers 20th-century classical composers Light music composers English male classical composers 20th-century English composers 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century British musicians