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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Alexander Goehr (1932-present)

Composer of the Week: Alexander Goehr (1932-present): Episode 2: Goehr studies in Manchester and Paris

Alexander Goehr (1932-present)

Episode 2

Episode 2: Goehr studies in Manchester and Paris

Goehr studies in Manchester and Paris

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Alexander Goehr (1932-present), Goehr studies in Manchester and Paris

Donald Macleod talks to Goehr about his studies in Manchester and Paris.

Donald Macleod talks to Alexander Goehr about how he ended up studying in Manchester and then eventually Paris.

Donald Macleod discusses with Goehr his studies in Manchester and Paris.

All this week, Donald Macleod is in conversation with Alexander Goehr at the composer's cottage in a village outside Cambridge. Sandy (as he's universally known) was born in Berlin in 1932, the son of the conductor Walter Goehr and pianist and photographer Laelia Goehr. The family moved to England in 1933. In his early twenties, Sandy became a central figure in the Manchester School of post-war British composers. By the early sixties he was considered a leader of the avant-garde in the UK, but he never committed himself to any movement or school in particular and throughout his life, Sandy has continued to look over his shoulder at the past as much as he has sought new musical horizons of his own. In 1975 he was appointed Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge, where he remains Emeritus Professor. 

Today's programme is about Sandy's student days. He was originally offered a place at Oxford to study classics, but his activities as a conscientious objector and as a member of the Socialist Zionist Association took him to Manchester. There he met the composition teacher Richard Hall and the bond that grew between them resulted in Sandy studying composition at the Royal Manchester College of Music. It was in Manchester that he met fellow musicians who were to become his lifelong friends - Harrison Birtwistle, Peter Maxwell Davies and John Ogdon. Together they formed the New Music Manchester Group. 

Sandy has vivid memories of attending the first UK performance of Olivier Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony which was conducted by his father Walter Goehr. Sandy went on to study with Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod in Paris - an experience which challenged everything he thought he had previously known about composition. 

Three Pieces, Op 18
John Ogdon (piano)

Romanza for cello and orchestra - V. Andante
Jacqueline du Pre (cello), New Philharmonia Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim (conductor) 

Pastorals, Op 19 (1965)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Oliver Knussen (conductor)

Two Choruses, Op 14 (1962)
John Alldis Choir, Melos Ensemble.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Alexander Goehr

Donald Macleod in conversation with Alexander Goehr at the composer's cottage near Cambridge

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Alexander Goehr (1932-present)

Episode 2: Goehr studies in Manchester and Paris

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