JOHN WHITE
Composer
John White's symphonies 3,4,5 & 6--performed by the George W. Welch ensemble at the BBC in 1995 are now available for download, on CD and vinyl.
These are wonderful pieces, excellently interpreted by Ian Gardiner & George W. Welch and are now available as a download, a CD or on vinyl at his website:
About John
John White was born in Berlin in 1936 to an English father and German mother; he arrived in London in 1939. He took piano and theory lessons from
the age of 4 with Hélène Gipps, a second-generation pupil of Brahms. He took a lively interest from early teenage in the musical exception rather than the rule and his interests at that time included Satie, Milhaud and Hindemith, later, early Schönberg, Berg, Webern, Skalkottas and Stockhausen.
Then, at age 19, a step backwards to the enlightened tonality of Messiaen. He began composing at this time, while still a student at the Royal College of Music, under composition professor Bernard Stevens, and he discovered yet more traditionally tonal music with a difference: Medtner and Szymanowski. He was the first student at the Royal College of Music to play Satie, Schöenberg and Messiaen at a chamber concert. He encountered John Tilbury and Cornelius Cardew and spent the 60s deeply involved in “performance art” of the time, but broke away from Cardew and the Scratch Orchestra because of political differences. He has written many single movement piano sonatas (180) under the tonal influences of Satie, Medtner and Szymanowski. John White died on 4 January 2024, but recordings of some of his acoustic symphonies and more electronic music are set to be released in late 2026 and early 2027.
A conversation about Cornelius Cardew and The Scratch Orchestra 16/06/2019
With Michael Parsons, Chris Hobbs, Hugh Shrapnel, John White, Dave Smith, John Tilbury, and Richard Ascough.John White 04.05.10
Photo from John’s 70th birthday celebration at Wilton’s Music Hall: “Still Experimenting at 70"
Pictured from left: John Tilbury, Colin Kingsley, Chris Hobbs, Sarah Walker, John White, Kathryn Sturrock, Jonathan Powell, Neil Immelman, Mary Dullea, Dave Smith
From John’s 90th birthday concert at St.-Mary-at- Hill, London: “The Many Hands of John White"
Pictured from left: Ian Gardiner, Rob Grassie, Dave Smith, Tim Parkinson, Chris Hobbs, Tammas Slater, Mary Dullea (missing, Mark Viner)
