Howard Skempton

Biography

Howard While Skempton (born 31 October 1947) is an English composer, pianist, and accordionist.
Since the late 1960s, when he helped to organise the Scratch Orchestra, he has been associated with the English school of experimental music. Skempton's work is characterised by stripped-down, essentials-only choice of materials, absence of formal development and a strong emphasis on melody. The musicologist Hermann-Christoph Müller has described Skempton's music as "the emancipation of the consonance".

Life

Skempton was born in Chester and studied at Birkenhead School and Ealing Technical College. He started composing before 1967, but that year he moved to London and began taking private lessons in composition from Cornelius Cardew. In 1968 Skempton joined Cardew's experimental music class at Morley College, where in spring 1969 Cardew, Skempton and Michael Parsons organised the Scratch Orchestra. This ensemble, which had open membership, was dedicated to performing experimental contemporary music by composers such as La Monte Young, John Cage and Terry Riley, as well as by members of the orchestra itself. One of Skempton's early works, Drum No. 1 (1969), became one of the "most useful and satisfying" pieces in the repertory of the Scratch Orchestra.
Through the Scratch Orchestra Skempton met numerous composers and performers, including Christopher Hobbs, John White and various Systems artists, and the pianist John Tilbury. However, tensions arose during the politicising of the Scratch Orchestra in the early 1970s, when Cardew and a number of other important members pushed the ensemble in a Maoist direction. Skempton, Hobbs, Parsons, White and many others refused to be associated with this political line, and the break-up of the Orchestra was accompanied by (in Parsons's words) "a split between its 'political' and 'experimental' factions".
Since 1971 Skempton has been working as a music editor, performer (of his own compositions, on piano and accordion), and teacher. He now teaches composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire.
In 1974 Skempton and Michael Parsons formed a duo to perform their own works. The 1980s saw an increase of interest in Skempton's music, which led to more commissions and permitted him to compose more for larger forces. Lento, an orchestral work composed in late 1991, became one of Skempton's most widely recognised pieces. In the 1990s important recordings of his works started appearing, such as a disc of piano music recorded by his old friend and former Scratch Orchestra colleague John Tilbury, released on Sony Classical in 1996, and Surface Tension, a recording of miscellaneous works released on Mode Records.
Skempton was the winner in the Chamber Scale Composition category at the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards in 2005 for his string quartet Tendrils (2004).

References and further reading

Cavett, Esther and Matthew Head. 2019. Howard Skempton: Conversations and Reflections on Music. Boydell and Brewer.
Hill, Peter. 1984. "Riding the Thermals: Howard Skempton's Piano Music". Tempo, new series, no. 148:8–11.
MacDonald, Calum. 1996. "Skempton: Well, Well, Cornelius (and 43 other Piano Pieces). John Tilbury (pno). Sony SK 66482 / Sorabji: Gulistan. Charles Hopkins (pno). Altarus AIR-CD-9036 / Simpson: Piano Sonata; Variations and Finale on a Theme of Haydn; Michael Tippett, His Mystery; Variations and Finale on a Theme of Beethoven. Raymond Clarke (pno). Hyperion CDA66827 / Schnabel: Piano Piece in 7 Movements; Piano Sonata. Benedikt Kohlen (pno). Auvidis Montaigne M0782053". Tempo, new series, no. 197 (July): 47–49.
March, Anton. 2026. "Familiarity and Interconnectivity: Formal Prototypes in the Larger-Scale Works of Howard Skempton". Tempo, no. 316 (April): 66–81.
Müller, Hermann-Christoph. 1998. "Emanzipation der Konsonanz: Howard Skemptons Orchesterstück Lento". MusikTexte, no. 75 (August): 77–81.
Pace, Ian. 1997. "Archetypal Experiments". The Musical Times 138, no. 1856 (October): 9–14.
Parsons, Michael. 1980. "The Music of Howard Skempton". Contact, issue 21:12–16.
Parsons, Michael. 1987. "Howard Skempton: Chorales, Landscapes and Melodies". Contact, issue 30:16–29.
Potter, Keith. 1991. "Howard Skempton: Some Clues for a Post-Experimental 'Movement'". The Musical Times 132, no 1777 (March): 126–30.
Potter, Keith (2001). "Skempton, Howard". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5. ‎