Alexander Goehr, Composing a Life: Teachers, Mentors & Models

Alexander ('Sandy') Goehr is a leading British composer and teacher. Born into a Jewish musical family in Berlin in 1932, he arrived in England in 1933 with his father, Walter, a composer, conductor, and pupil of Arnold Schoenberg; and his mother Laelia, a trained pianist from Kyiv. Raised in Amersham, he attended Richard Hall's classes at the Royal Manchester College of Music. There he formed the 'Manchester School' a group of young composers and performers including Peter Maxwell Davies, Harrison Birtwistle, and John Ogdon. He was introduced to Olivier Messiaen when his father conducted the first British performance of Turangal la-Symphonie in 1953, and he later studied with Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod in Paris. In the late 1950s and early '60s Goehr became known as a radical exponent of serial music. Since then, he has composed more than one hundred major works, including operas, orchestral and chamber pieces, and music for film, television, dance and theatre. He is Emeritus Professor of Music at Cambridge University and one of Europe's most important music educators. He has written and lectured extensively and his music is performed all over the world.

About the Author :
Jack Van Zandt (b. 1954) is a Grammy-winning composer of music for concerts, film and TV, and a music educator, based in Los Angeles and Ireland. He is a former pupil, as well as musical and teaching assistant to Alexander Goehr, having studied and worked with him in Cambridge between 1976 and 1985. He was recently a music faculty member at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and California Institute for the Arts (CalArts). He is a new music concert producer in Los Angeles, and a founder and co-director of the Beyond Opera Collective. Sally Groves worked in music publishing from 1970 to 2014, mainly with Schott Music, where she was Creative Director in London for many years. She has always served on musical boards and trusts. She currently chairs Opera Ventures, the Vaughan Williams Foundation, and the Music Libraries Trust, is a governor of the Royal Society of Musicians, and a trustee of the Michael Tippett Musical Foundation and the Peter Maxwell Davies Trust, as well as of various ensembles. She was awarded an MBE for services in music in 2016. Alexander ('Sandy') Goehr is a British composer and Emeritus Professor of Music at Cambridge University. He was born into a Jewish musical family in Berlin in 1932. His father, Walter Goehr, was a composer and conductor, and a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg. His mother, Laelia, trained as a pianist at the Kyiv Conservatory. Goehr is one of Europe's most important music educators. He was a lecturer at Southampton University, Professor of Music at Leeds University and finally the Professor of Music at Cambridge University for more than twenty-five years.

Review :
'I'd happily recommend this book. For those unfamiliar with Goehr, you'll find a wonderful insight into what a composer's life can look like and see how they grow and develop as individuals. For those familiar with Goehr, it is a fascinating insight into his life which doesn't patronise but is ultimately honest and direct.' Ben Lunn, Morning Star 'Composing a Life - Goehr's collaboration with Jack van Zandt, the American composer-musicologist and his former pupil - is a fascinating study of musical transmission... The usual musician's reminiscences, little more than glorified name-dropping, are here replaced by a serious dialogue about musical influence, that mystery driving even a creative radical such as Goehr. Read this book if you care at all about how culture is transmitted and transformed.' Fiona Sampson, The Spectator