Gordon Langford

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Gordon Langford
Background information
Born(1930-05-11)11 May 1930
Edgware, Middlesex
Died18 April 2017(2017-04-18) (aged 86)
Occupation(s)Composer

Gordon Langford (11 May 1930 – 18 April 2017) was an English composer, arranger and performer.[1][2][3] He is well known for his brass band compositions and arrangements. He was also a composer of choral and orchestral music, winning an Ivor Novello award for best light music composition for his March from the Colour Suite in 1971.[4][5]

Biography

Langford was born in Edgware, Middlesex in May 1930 as Gordon Maris Colman. His father was a precision toolmaker. He was a prodigious child, beginning piano lessons aged five. At nine, one of his compositions received a public performance. He attended Bedford Modern School,[1][6] and he went on to win a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music where he studied piano and composition with Norman Demuth. It was Demuth who suggested that he should change his surname or use a pseudonym. Hence, he changed his name to become Gordon Colman Langford.[4][7]

In 1951, during his army service with the

Lines From My Grandfather's Forehead. In later life he lived in East Devon, mainly composing but occasionally appearing in recordings, concerts and broadcasts.[4]

In 2011 he was nominated for a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music (FRAM) by the Governing Body of the Academy. He died in April 2017.[3]

Works

Langford won an

Ivor Novello Award for best light music composition for his March from the Colour Suite in 1971.[5] He is perhaps best known as a brass band composer and arranger, with a string of CDs to his name.[8] In particular, the test pieces Facets of Glass and Rhapsody for trombone are well known. He also arranged the works of other composers, such as Henry Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams.[4]

Langford's career had a notable relationship with the

Friday Night is Music Night, as well as numerous other BBC programmes. A CD of his original compositions for orchestra performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Rumon Gamba was released in 2003.[9]

Langford produced many choral arrangements for the

King's Singers in the 1970s.[10] He was also known for his theatre compositions, such as The Crooked Mile and The House of Cards. Langford was often used by Hollywood as a score orchestrator, with Return of the Jedi, Superman II, The First Great Train Robbery, Clash of the Titans and Return to Oz
to his name.

In 1974 he released a demo album entitled The Amazing Music of the Electronic ARP Synthesizer. This contained several compositions of his own, plus cover versions, played entirely on the then new innovation, the ARP synth, of pieces as diverse as "Yellow Submarine", "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", "Cocktails for Two", "Light Cavalry Overture" and Mozart's Symphony No. 40.

Later compositions include his Berceuse and Burlesque for bassoon and orchestra, performed on 1 February 2008 at Axminster.

References

  1. ^ a b Obituary in The Times, May 01, 2017
  2. ^ "Gordon Langford (11 May 1930 – 18 April 2017) – Rhinegold". Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  3. ^ a b Passing of Gordon Langford, British Bandsman, 19 April 2017
  4. ^ a b c d David Ades, Biography at the Robert Farnon Society. Retrieved 22 April 2017
  5. ^ a b The Ivors 1971 Archived 7 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 22 April 2017
  6. ^ Who's Who on Radio edited by Sheila Tracy. World's Work 1983
  7. ^ British Music Theatre Archived 20 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2006
  8. ^ Philip Scowcroft, Garland 30, Light Music Garlands. Retrieved 22 April 2017
  9. ^ Ivan March, Review: Gordon Langford's Orchestral Classics (Chandos 10115, Gramophone, 2003
  10. ^ The King's Singers blog. Retrieved 22 April 2017

External links

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