John Turner (born 1943) is an English
recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to:
Newspapers
* ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper
* ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US
* ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a newsp ...
player and a former lawyer. He has done much to encourage the development of contemporary music for the recorder, particularly from British composers.
Turner was born in Stockport and attended
Stockport Grammar School
Stockport Grammar School is a co-educational private day school in Stockport, England. Founded in 1487 by Sir Edmund Shaa, a former Lord Mayor of London, it is the second oldest in the North of England, after Lancaster Royal Grammar School, ...
, where the music master was Geoffrey Verney (previously a colleague of
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
) and the assistant music master Douglas Steele (1910-1999, a composer and previously an assistant to
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philh ...
at Covent Garden). Here Turner began to play recorder and was first introduced to a wide range of repertoire.
He went on to study law at
Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college has origins from 1869, with the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all ...
, where he also continued to pursue his musical interests with contemporaries such as
Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood (10 September 194124 September 2014) was an English Conducting, conductor, harpsichordist, and Musicology, musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on h ...
and
David Munrow. He then took up a legal career, often acting for musicians and musical institutions. In later life he retired from legal work and became a full time musician.
Many composers have written recorder music especially for Turner, including
Arthur Butterworth
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Biography Early life and education
Butterworth was born in New Moston, near Manchester. His father ran the church ...
,
John Casken
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Casken was born in Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. While at Barnsley Grammar School in the 1960s his music teacher played a recording of Berg's Violin Concerto, which h ...
,
Arnold Cooke,
Gordon Crosse
Gordon Crosse (1 December 1937 – 21 November 2021) was an English composer.
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Crosse was born in Bury, Lancashire on 1 December 1937, and in 1961 graduated from St Edmund Hall, Oxford with a first class honours degree in music, where h ...
,
Peter Dickinson
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Dickinson won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association ...
,
Howard Ferguson
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,
John Gardner,
Anthony Gilbert,
Peter Hope,
John Joubert,
Kenneth Leighton,
Norman Kay,
Robin Orr
Robert Kemsley (Robin) Orr (2 June 1909 – 9 April 2006) was a Scottish organist and composer.
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Born in Brechin, and educated at Loretto School, he studied the organ at the Royal College of Music in London under Walter Galpin Alcock, and pi ...
,
Ian Parrott
Ian Parrott (5 March 1916 – 4 September 2012) was a prolific Anglo-Welsh composer and writer on music. His distinctions included the first prize of the Royal Philharmonic Society for his symphonic poem ''Luxor'', and commissions by the BBC an ...
,
Ronald Stevenson
Ronald James Stevenson (6 March 1928 – 28 March 2015) was a Scottish composer, pianist, and music scholar.
Biography
The son of a Scottish father and Welsh mother, Stevenson was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, in 1928. He studied at the Roya ...
and
Christopher Wright. He claims to have given over 600 first performances of works for the recorder, including pieces by non-British composers such as
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...
,
Ned Rorem
Ned Miller Rorem (October 23, 1923 – November 18, 2022) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and a writer. Best known for his art songs, which number over 500, Rorem was considered the leading American of his time writing i ...
and
Peter Sculthorpe
Peter Joshua Sculthorpe (29 April 1929 – 8 August 2014) was an Australian composer. Much of his music resulted from an interest in the music of countries neighbouring Australia as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of Aborigi ...
. Turner is also a composer of works such as the ''Four Diversions'' for descant recorder and piano, which were first performed by David Munrow and Christopher Hogwood at Adlington Hall, Macclesfield in 1969.
Turner has issued many recordings, including (with pianist Peter Lawson) ''John and Peter's Whistling Book'', ''English Recorder Concertos'', ''Jigs, Airs and Reels'', and titles issued by Divine Art Recordings and Prima Facie.
'A profile of John Turner', Prima Facia (2018)
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References
External links
John Turner official website
A Profile of John Turner
''Prima Facie'', March 2018
'John Turner at 70: an Interview'
''American Recorder'', Winter 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, John
1943 births
English classical composers
Living people
British recorder players
People educated at Stockport Grammar School
Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge