Malcolm Clarke (17 January 1943 – 11 December 2003) was a British

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

electronic musician. He was a member of the

BBC Radiophonic Workshop The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce Incidental music, incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering ...

, which was based in Maida Vale, London, for 25 years from 1969 to 1994.

Biography

Clarke proved somewhat controversial when he joined the Workshop, due to his view that radiophonic music should be, in his words, "fine art," a philosophy that was not shared by other workshop members at the time. Clarke composed the incidental music for the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' serial '' The Sea Devils'' (1972); it was the second score that the Radiophonic Workshop provided for the series. Clarke produced the music for this serial on the Radiophonic Workshop's EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer. The score was experimental, unusual and controversial for ''Doctor Who'' at the time, with producer

Barry Letts Barry Leopold Letts (26 March 1925 – 9 October 2009) was an English actor, television director, writer and producer, best known for being the producer of ''Doctor Who'' from 1969 to 1974. Born in Leicester, he worked as an actor in theatre, ...

insisting that substantial edits be made for the finished programme. His score for the serial has been described as "startling in its range of obtrusive electronic timbres and relative melodic paucity", "mixed music and sound effects" and "presented uncomfortable sounds to a substantial early evening audience on Saturdays in a way not duplicated in Britain before or since". The Radiophonic Workshop was not commissioned to produce music again for ''Doctor Who'' until 1980, when new producer John Nathan-Turner decided to fire regular composer

Dudley Simpson Dudley George Simpson (4 October 1922 – 4 November 2017) was an Australian composer and conductor. He was the Principal Conductor of the Royal Opera House orchestra for three years and worked as a composer on British television. He worked on ...

and commission music from the Workshop instead. Clarke returned to the series to compose the music for the 1982 serial '' Earthshock.'' He continued to work on the series on a regular basis until 1986, composing the music for '' Enlightenment'', ''

Resurrection of the Daleks ''Resurrection of the Daleks'' is the fourth serial of the 21st season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in two weekly parts on BBC1 between 8 February and 15 February 1984. The serial w ...

'', ''

The Twin Dilemma ''The Twin Dilemma'' is the seventh and final serial of the Doctor Who season 21, 21st season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 22 to 30 March 1984. It was ...

'', '' Attack of the Cybermen'' and '' Terror of the Vervoids''. Clarke composed the 1976 radio piece '' August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains'', based on a short story by

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...

. Outside his music interests, Clarke was an automobile enthusiast. Over a period of years he built a

Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French automotive industry, manufacturer of high performance vehicle, high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German Empire, German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the ...

from a collection of spare and scavenged parts.

References

External links

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Malcolm Clarke at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (2003)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Malcolm 1943 births 2003 deaths BBC Radiophonic Workshop members British electronic musicians British experimental musicians British television composers