Trevor Pinnock

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Trevor Pinnock
Trevor Pinnock as seen in liner notes of Le Quattro Stagioni "The Four Seasons" recorded in 1982.
Born December 16, 1946
Flag of United Kingdom Canterbury, England, UK
Occupation Conductor, Harpsichordist, Musician

Trevor David Pinnock CBE (born December 16, 1946) is an English conductor and harpsichordist. He is best known for directing period-performance orchestra The English Concert from the harpsichord for over 30 years in baroque and early classical music.

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[edit] Biography and Career

Trevor Pinnock was born in Canterbury, where his grandfather had run a Salvation Army band. His father was a publisher, his mother an amateur singer. He became a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral when he was 7, attending the Cathedral Choir School and later Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys. After receiving instruction in piano and organ, he served as a church organist. By the time he was 15, he was taking up the harpsichord. At 19, he entered the Royal College of Music in London, where he held a Foundation Scholarship for organ[1] and later studied harpsichord, winning the major prizes for performance on both instruments. His teachers were Ralph Downes and Millicent Silver.

As a harpsichordist, he toured Europe with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. While a student at the RCM, he was told by the registrar, John Stainer, that it would be impossible to make a living as a harpsichordist. To maximise his possibilities for work early on in his career, he included in his repertoire not only the regular baroque repertoire, but also modern harpsichord concertos including Roberto Gerhard's concerto for harpsichord, percussion and strings, Manuel de Falla's concerto for harpsichord, Frank Martin's Petite symphonie concertante for harp, harpsichord, piano and double string orchestra and Francis Poulenc's Concert Champêtre.[2]

He made his London debut at the Royal Festival Hall with the Galliard Trio (Stephen Preston, flute; Anthony Pleeth, cello) in 1966, who were, at this stage, playing baroque music on modern instruments. His solo harpsichord debut was in 1968 at the Purcell Room in London. In November 1972 he was one of the founders of The English Concert, an orchestra specialising in performances of baroque and early classical music on period instruments. They initially started with seven people but soon grew in size. He directed The English Concert, usually from the harpsichord (or chamber organ when appropriate) also playing continuo, until 2003[3], being succeeded by violinist Andrew Manze. He toured North America with The English Concert for the first time in 1983; he had earlier spent two periods as Artist in Residence at Washington University. Through numerous worldwide tours and recordings, his ensemble acquired an international reputation and a huge international following for the exceptional quality and irresistible enthusiasm of their concert performances. The Choir of the English Concert was formed subsequently and enabled the ensemble to perform baroque operas, oratorios and other vocal works.

He made his New York debut in 1988 conducting Handel's opera Giulio Cesare. In 1989 he founded The Classical Band in New York, signing an 18-disc recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon before it had ever even rehearsed. He led the group in performances of the classical repertoire from Haydn to Mendelssohn on period instruments, including playing as fortepiano soloist. After a 'miserable debut' (according to the New York Times), he resigned in 1990. [4][5][6] From 1991-1996 he was artistic director and principal conductor of the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) in Ottawa, Canada, a group he first directed in 1985. He subsequently served as its artistic advisor during the 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 seasons, including a tour of the USA with the performance and supposed recording [7] of Beethoven's 1st and 5th piano concertos with Grigory Sokolov as soloist.

He has appeared frequently as a guest conductor with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Boston, Birmingham, San Francisco and Detroit symphony orchestras, the Saint Paul, Los Angeles and Mito[8] chamber orchestras, the Freiburger Barockorchester, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra[9], Mozarteum Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie[10], Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and at the Tanglewood and Mostly Mozart festivals.

Two pieces of modern harpsichord music have been written for him by English composer John Webb (b. 1969). The first of these, entitled Ebb (2000), comprises a spasmodic discourse against a manic background of descending scale patterns like a kind of out-of-kilter change-ringing. Its companion piece, Surge (2003), is built up over an implacable rhythmic repeat-figure. Though neither is explicitly tonal, each skilfully avoids the merely percussive effect that the harpsichord's complex overtones can all too easily impart to more densely dissonant music.

Trevor Pinnock and Maxim Vengerov toured together in 2000, with Vengerov taking up the baroque violin for the first time and Pinnock taking up the modern Steinway grand piano. These concerts consisted of a first half of harpsichord and baroque violin, followed by a 2nd half of piano and modern violin.[11][12] Today he divides his time between performing as a harpsichordist and conducting both modern- and period-instrument orchestras. In 2007 he is to tour Europe, Asia and America with Bach's Brandenburg Concertos with the European Brandenburg Ensemble. The recording will be released by Avie Records in April 2007.[13]

[edit] Degrees and Honours

From the Royal College of Music: ARCM (Hons) (organ) 1964, FRCM 1996. From the Royal Academy of Music: Hon. FRAM 1988. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Ottawa in 1993[14], The University of Kent in 1995 and the University of Sheffield in 2005. He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1992 and an Officier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998.

[edit] Recordings

  • Chamber Music
    • JS Bach's complete sonatas for flute and harpsichord with Stephen Preston (flauto traverso) and sonatas for flute and continuo with the addition of Jordi Savall (viola da gamba) on CRD
    • Antonio Soler's conciertos for two keyboard instruments (playing harpsichord and fortepiano) with Kenneth Gilbert
    • Handel Trio Sonatas with members of The English Concert on Archiv
    • Corelli Trio Sonatas with members of The English Concert on Archiv
    • JC Bach '3 Quintets, Sextet' (also playing fortepiano and square piano) with members of The English Concert on Archiv
    • JS Bach's complete sonatas for flute and harpsichord with Jean-Pierre Rampal (modern flute) and sonatas for flute and continuo with the addition of Roland Pidoux (cello) on CBS
    • JS Bach's complete sonatas for violin and harpsichord with Rachel Podger (violin) and sonatas for violin and continuo with the addition of Jonathan Manson (viola da gamba) on Channel Classics
    • Rameau's complete Pièces de Clavecin en Concert with Rachel Podger and Jonathan Manson on Channel Classics
    • JS Bach's complete sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord (plus BWV 1030b, an earlier version of the B minor flute sonata) with Jonathan Manson on Avie

[edit] Notes & References

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[edit] External links

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