Jeffrey Lewis (composer)

Jeffrey Lewis (born 28 November 1942) is a Welsh composer, who lives in Llanfairfechan.

Biography and work

Lewis was born in Neath, where he joined the church choir and began learning the organ. He studied at the University of Wales, Cardiff, under Alun Hoddinott; with György Ligeti and Karlheinz Stockhausen at Darmstadt; with Bogusław Schaeffer in Krakow and with Don Banks in London. He taught at Leeds College of Music (1969–72) and the University of Wales, Bangor (1973 - 1992), under William Mathias.

Early performances included ''Fanfares with Variations'' and the ''Chamber Concerto'' with the BBC Welsh Orchestra under John Carewe, and, at the 1967 Cheltenham Festival, his ''Two Cadenzas'' for piano and ''Epitaphium - Children of the Sun'' for narrator, chamber choir, piano, flute, clarinet and percussion. BBC commissions included the orchestral works ''Mutations I'' (1969), ''Aurora'' (1973), ''Scenario'' (1975), ''Praeludium'' (1975), ''Memoria'' (1978) and ''Limina Lucis'' (1982). Other works include a ''Piano Concerto'' (1989), ''Duologue'' for violin and piano (1971), ''Scena'' for violin and piano (1988), ''Teneritas'' for flute and piano (1997), ''Sonante'' for clarinet and piano (1986 - for Thea King), ''Cantus'' for clarinet and piano (1996), a ''Piano Trio'' (1983), a ''Wind Quintet'' (1986), several mixed ensemble pieces including ''Time-Passage'' (1977), ''Stratos'' (1979), ''Epitaph for Abelard and Heloise'' (1979) and ''Litania'' (1993), piano works including ''Tableau'' (1980), ''Fantasy'' (1983), ''Threnody'' (1990 - all for Jana Frenklova), ''Trilogy'' (1992), ''Musica Aeterna'' (1997) and ''Sereno'' (2004), organ works including ''Mutations II'' (1971), ''Momentum'' (1977) and ''Esultante'' (1977 - these last two for Gillian Weir), ''Dreams, Dances and Lullabies'' for harp (1990), ''Silentia Noctis'' for high voice and piano (1989), and many choral works, notably ''Carmen Paschale'' (1981), ''Hymnus Ante Somnum'' (1985), ''Sequentia ad Sancte Michaele'' (1985), ''Westminster Mass'' (1990 - for Martin Neary), ''Recordatio'' (1999) and a sequence of eleven ''Sacred Chants'' (2005).

Lewis's music is characterised by rhythmic energy and harmonic complexity alternating with extreme stillness; latterly his music has tended towards greater simplicity and tranquility and it often appears to inhabit a twilight world of dreams. However, he has achieved this simplicity through a process of constant refinement of his compositional technique, rather than any rejection of his earlier complexity.

In 2005 Ivan March in ''Gramophone'' magazine described the CD release of ''Epitaph for Abelard and Heloise'', ''Litania'' and ''Musica Aeterna'' as "...a disc not to be missed by anyone who cares about communicative 20th-century music."

References

Sources

*Henshall, Dalwyn: “Memento Mori - An appreciation of Jeffrey Lewis’s recent orchestral music.” (Welsh Music, Vol 6 No 6, 1980 & Vol 6 No 7, 1981)
*Jones, David: Notes for CD ASC CS CD43 – Jeffrey Lewis: Threnody, Cantus, Teneritas, Sonante, Trilogy
*Jones, David: Notes for CD CAMEO 2037 – Jeffrey Lewis: Epitaph for Abelard and Heloise, Litania, Musica Aeterna
*Jones, David: “A glimpse of infinity: time and stillness in the music of Jeffrey Lewis” (The Musical Times Vol.145 No.1889 (Winter 2004), pp. 65–74)
*Tommis, Colin: “Y Gitar Gymreig – Jeffrey Lewis” (Guitar International, July 1989, pp 22 –27)

External links

Article about Jeffrey Lewis, ''A Glimpse of Infinity'', in ''Musical Times'', Winter 2004

Welsh Music Information Centre

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Jeffrey
1942 births
Welsh composers
Welsh male composers
Alumni of Cardiff University
Academics of Bangor University
Living people
Academics of Leeds College of Music