Patric Standford

Patric Standford (born 5 February 1939) is an English composer, pedagogue and writer.^[1]

Early life and education

Patric John Standford was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and had a Quaker education at Ackworth School in West Yorkshire. He began his working life as a legal accountant and served in the RAF at 617 Squadron in Lincolnshire before arranging his own admission to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London in 1961, where he studied composition with Edmund Rubbra and Raymond Jones. While a student, he was awarded both the Carl Meyer Prize and the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize for composition.^[2]

Career

In 1964, he was awarded the Mendelssohn Scholarship^[3] enabling him to travel to Venice and study with Gianfrancesco Malipiero, and later to Warsaw where he studied with Witold Lutosławski. In 1967 he joined the professorial staff of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and from then divided his working life between composing, conducting, teaching and musical journalism. When Edmund Rubbra retired, Standford was appointed the School’s principal composition professor and was awarded a Fellowship of the Guildhall School of Music (FGSM) in 1972. In 1978, he gained a Masters degree in composition at Goldsmith’s College, London University.

Standford became Chairman (1977-1980) of the Composers’ Guild of Great Britain (since amalgamated into the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA)) and Chairman (1980-1992) of the British Music Information Centre (since amalgamated into Sound and Music). In those capacities, he organized British music representation at various international events, including the Nordic Music Committee (NOMUS) in Helsinki and the Latin-American Festival in Venezuela in collaboration with the BBC.

Standford held the post of Head of Music at the Leeds University College Bretton Hall from 1980-1993, while continuing to compose, write and appear as a regular jury member for competitive choral festivals in Hungary, France and Estonia.

Composer

Standford’s music covers most genres, predominantly the orchestra.

He wrote his Easter oratorio Christus Requiem for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s principal Allen Percival and the City of London in 1973. Christus Requiem brought together the full orchestral, choral and dramatic forces of the Guildhall School for its first performance in St. Paul’s Cathedral, in the Spring of that year. This oratorio received the Yugoslavian Government award in 1974.

His orchestral works have received the following international awards. His first symphony The Seasons, written in 1972 gained the Premio Città di Trieste award. His Symphony No. 2 was awarded the Óscar Esplá prize for composition in Spain. In 1983, Standford was awarded the Ernst Anserment Prize of the City of Geneva for his choral symphony Toward Paradise. The 5th Symphony was commissioned by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in 1984.

Orchestral works also include Prelude to a Fantasy: The Naiades, recorded in 2012 along with his Cello Concerto performed by Raphael Wallfisch and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by David Lloyd-Jones. Other works include music for chamber groups, Five French Folksongs written for and performed by the Nash Ensemble of London, Taikayoku: Symphony No. 4 a work for two pianos and percussion and music designed for elementary players like Holiday Memories. Standford was commissioned to write a number of pieces for the Guildhall graded examinations (now Trinity College London). Choral works range from larger-scale choral works like Christus Requiem and The Prayer of Saint Francis, to unaccompanied pieces including the Mass for Hildegard of Bingen,^[4] recorded by the BBC Singers in 2013, more intimate works including the carol This Day and Stabat mater ^[5] recently performed and broadcast by the BBC Singers on BBC Radio 3.

Among Standford’s pupils are Barry Guy, Jerry Lanning, Lionel Sainsbury, Malcolm Dedman and Gary Higginson.

Writer

Standford continues to contribute articles and reviews to Choir and Organ (published by Rhinegold Publishing)^[6]. From 1980-2008, he was music critic for the Yorkshire Post (daily broadsheet newspaper published in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England) writing features and revues^[7][8]. He also writes for Music & Vision Magazine^{[9] [10] [11] [12] [13]} and a monthly blog for the Open College of the Arts.^[14] In 1992, Standford published Projects: A Course in Musical Composition],^[15] and in 2008 he devised and wrote the composition study course for the Open College of the Arts.^[16]

Awards

1972 Premio Cittá di Trieste for Symphony No 1

1974 Oscar Espla Prize for Symphony No 2 

1976 Yugoslavian Solidarity Award, Skopje for Christus Requiem

1982 Evelyn Glennie Percussion Award for Taikyoku: Symphony No. 4

1985 City of Geneva ‘Ernest Ansermet’ Prize for Toward Paradise

1997 Budapest International Composers’ Award for The Prayer of St Francis

1999 International ClarinetFest Prize for Fantasy Quintet

Key Works

String Quartet No 1 (1965) 

Gitanjali: four Tagore Songs (1966)

Ballet: Celestial Fire (1971, orchestra)

Symphony No 1: The seasons (1972, orchestra)

Christus Requiem (1973), soli, chorus, orchestra) 

Symphony No 2 (1974, orchestra)

String Quartet No 2 (1973)

Symphony No 3: Toward Paradise (1975-82, chorus, orchestra)

Taikyoku: Symphony No 4 (1976, 2 pianos and percussion)

A Christmas Carol Symphony] (1978, orchestra)^[17]

Ancient Verses (1978, chorus and percussion)

Symphony No 5 (1984, BBC commission, orchestra, solo soprano)

Divertimento for violin and piano (1986)

Mass for Hildegard of Bingen (1988, SATB)

Six Piano Pieces: Faeries (1992)

The Prayer of Saint Francis: A Masque for chorus and orchestra (1996)

Concertino for harpsichord and small orchestra ( 1999)

The Emperor’s Orchestra: a story for children (2001, narrator, orchestra)

Five French Folksongs for wind quintet (2004)

Serenata for two guitars and ensemble (2006)

Six Preludes for guitar (2008)

Responses for Tenebrae: 18 motets for a cappella choir (2010)

Recordings

Symphony No 1; Cello Concerto; Prelude to a Fantasy - BMS 441 CD

A Christmas Carol Symphony – Naxos 8.557099

Ballet Suite: Celestial Fire ASV CD WHL 2128

References

Further Reading

• Kennedy, Michael (2006). The Oxford Dictionary of Music, second edition, revised, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-861459-4
• Larner, Gerald. (2001). “Standford, Patric” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, ed. by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Jacobs, Arthur (1990). The New Penguin Dictionary of Music. Penguin
• East, Leslie. (1986). "Standford and his Fifth Symphony". The Musical Times 127 (No.1715)
• Foreman, Lewis (1975). British Music Now: A Guide to the Work of Younger Composers. London: Elek
• Larner, Gerald. (1973). "Patric Standford" The Musical Times 114 (No.1561)
• Routh, Francis. (1972). "Contemporary British Music". London: Macdonald

External Links

• impulse-music.co.uk
• Edition Peters