John McLeod (8 March 1934 – 24 March 2022) was a Scottish composer who wrote music in many media.

Biography

He was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, but later settled in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. He initially studied clarinet at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

with

Jack Brymer John Alexander Brymer OBE (27 January 191516 September 2003) was an English clarinettist and saxophonist. ''The Times'' called him "the leading clarinettist of his generation, perhaps of the century". Goodwin, Noël"Jack B nimble, Jack B quic ...

Reginald Kell Reginald Clifford Kell (8 June 19065 August 1981) was an English clarinettist. He was noted especially for his career as a soloist and chamber music player. He was the principal clarinettist in leading British orchestras, including the London ...

, and

Gervase de Peyer Gervase Alan de Peyer (11 April 1926 – 4 February 2017) was an English clarinettist and conductor. Professional career Gervase Alan de Peyer was born in London, the eldest of three children of Everard Esmé Vivian de Peyer, and his wife, Edith ...

, but then switched to composition with Sir

Lennox Berkeley Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley CBE (12 May 190326 December 1989) was an English composer. Biography Berkeley was born on 12 May 1903 in Oxford, England, the younger child and only son of Aline Carla (1863–1935), daughter of Sir James ...

. McLeod was Associate Composer of the

Scottish Chamber Orchestra The Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) is an Edinburgh-based UK chamber orchestra. One of Scotland's five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and So ...

from 1980 to 1982 and the orchestra commissioned ''Out of the Silence'', premiered in 2015. His works have also been performed by the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

, the

Halle Orchestra Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), or Halle an der Saale, Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (electoral district) ** Halle (region), a governmental district 1952–2004 ** Bezirk Halle, a district 1952–1990 ** Halle-Neustadt, a former ci ...

and the

Royal Scottish National Orchestra The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) () is a Scottish orchestra, based in Glasgow. It is one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has played an important part in Scotland’s ...

. The

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) is a Scottish broadcasting symphony orchestra based in Glasgow. One of five full-time orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), it is the oldest full-time professional rad ...

has broadcast 12 of his major orchestral works, including the London premiere of ''The Sun Dances'' (2000) at the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

in 2014. The National Youth Orchestra of Scotland has regularly featured his work in over 20 concerts, including the Piano Concerto (1988) in 2015, when it was conducted by the composer with James Willshire as soloist in Glasgow and Dundee. His Clarinet Concerto (2005) was premiered at the

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...

in Edinburgh on 13 May 2007 by the Meadows Chamber Orchestra with soloist Jean Johnson. Other notable orchestral works include the Percussion Concerto (1987) (written for, performed and recorded by

Evelyn Glennie Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, (born 19 July 1965) is a Scottish percussionist. She was selected as one of the two laureates for the Polar Music Prize of 2015. Early life Glennie was born in Methlick, Aberdeenshire, in Scotland. The i ...

), ''Symphonies of Stone and Water'' (2000, for piano and small orchestra, written for and premiered by the Indonesian pianist & composer

Ananda Sukarlan Ananda Sukarlan (born in Jakarta, 10 June 1968) is an Indonesian-Spanish classical composer and pianist. Early life and career Ananda is the son of Sukarlan and Poppy Kumudastuti. He started his music lessons at the age of 5 from his older sist ...

), the Guitar Concerto (2009) and the Viola Concerto (2018, written for Scottish Chamber Orchestra principal viola Jane Atkins). McLeod also composed choral music (including a ''Stabat Mater'', 1985 and the cantata ''Chronicle of Saint Machar'', 1998), chamber music (including ''A Moment in Time'' for violin, clarinet, cello and piano in 2002), and numerous songs and song cycles. A double CD of his complete piano music was recorded live from four concerts at Stoller Hall in Manchester, August 2017. It includes the five piano sonatas (1978–2013), the ''Four Impromptus'' (1960), ''Five Hebridean Dances'' (1981), ''Two Balinese Rituals'' (written for

) and the ''12 Preludes'' (1984). In 2014, McLeod was rewarded with a

BASCA The Ivors Academy (formerly known as British Academy of Songwriters Composers and Authors – BASCA) is one of the largest professional associations for music writers in Europe. The academy works to protect and support and also campaigns the int ...

Gold Badge Award. This was in recognition of his unique contribution to music. He was appointed Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to music. John McLeod died in Edinburgh on 24 March 2022 aged 88, six months after the death of his wife Margaret (1936–2021), who was a respected piano adjudicator and examiner.'Sadness: A fine Scots composer has died', Slipped Disc classical news site, retrieved 25 March 2022
/ref>Margaret Murray McLeod: An Appreciation
/ref>

References

* Kennedy, Michael (2006), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'', 985 pages, * Stawiarski, Marcin (2020), "Transtextual and Intermedial References in John McLeod’s Music". ''The Past and Present in a Musical Work'', p.193-211. * Stawiarski, Marcin (2020),
Intertextualité, intermédialité et interculturalité dans l’œuvre de John McLeod: l’exemple de ''Lieder der Jugend''
. Textes et Contextes, vol.15, n°1, 2020. * Stawiarski, Marcin (2023),
Musique pour une poésie de derrière les barreaux : John McLeod et la mise en musique du poème concentrationnaire
. Revue ''Captures'', vol.8, n°1, "Imaginaires musico-littéraires. Métamorphoses et dérèglements".

External links

John McLeod's Homepage

''The Sun Dances'', BBC Proms
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McLeod, John 1934 births 2022 deaths Musicians from Aberdeen Scottish composers Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music People educated at Aberdeen Grammar School Commanders of the Order of the British Empire