Benjamin Frankel was born in London in 1906.
He spent six months in Germany during 1922 as a piano student, and then returned to London to play the violin in night clubs and to study piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music.
From 1931 he was much in demand as an orchestrator and conductor of West End musical comedies and revues. In 1934 he wrote his first film score; during his career as an outstanding composer of film music, he produced more than a hundred scores for the cinema.
Alongside his theatre and film work he continued composing concert music. The first four string quartets, the Piano Quartet, the Clarionet Quintet and the Violin Concerto are the principal works of this period.
It was gradually, during the 1950s, that his thought turned in the direction of 12-note serialism and to a burst of creativity which continued to the end of his life.
In this last period Frankel's major production was a remarkable series of symphonies. Eight appeared between 1958 and 1971, all concerned in a variety of ways with serial techniques. A single 12-note series is employed in all movements of both the Second and the Sixth; in the other symphonies individual movements tend to have their own series, to be freely diatonic or to apply serial techniques to other than 12-note material. The second movement of the Fifth uses two distinct series and, most originally, in the one-movement Third, diatonically presented material becomes gradually transformed into consistently 12-note serial music. Nor is it only in technique that the symphonies show variety, for each has its own atmosphere and design, varying from the broad, often ominous, canvas of the Second, through the relaxed geniality of the Fifth to the hard brilliance of much of the Seventh.
The special feature of Frankel's approach to serialism was his strong belief in tonality as a continuing vital principle in musical thought, and his striking demonstration that strictly serial deployment of the total chromatic is compatible with both expressive and structural uses of tonality. He viewed the series as a pervasively thematic melodic line of almost infinite versatility, out of which it was possible to derive harmonies often of a startlingly bold diatonicism.
The eight symphonies he gave us are:
no. 1, opus 33, 1958
no. 2, opus 38, 1962
no. 3, opus 40, 1964
no. 4, opus 44, 1966
no. 5, opus 46, 1967
no. 6, opus 49, 1969
no. 7, opus 50, 1970
no. 8, opus 53, 1971
His concertos:
Violin Concerto, opus 24, 1951
Serenata concertante, opus 37, for piano trio and orchestra, 1960
Viola Concerto, opus 45, 1967
Konzertstück, opus 47, 1968
His quartets:
String Quartet no. 1, opus 14, 1945
String Quartet no. 2, opus 15, 1944
String Quartet no. 3, opus 18, 1947
String Quartet no. 4, opus 21, 1949
String Quartet no. 5, opus 43, 1965
Piano Quartet, opus 26, 1953
Clarinet Quintet, opus 28, 1956
with much more.
He spent six months in Germany during 1922 as a piano student, and then returned to London to play the violin in night clubs and to study piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music.
From 1931 he was much in demand as an orchestrator and conductor of West End musical comedies and revues. In 1934 he wrote his first film score; during his career as an outstanding composer of film music, he produced more than a hundred scores for the cinema.
Alongside his theatre and film work he continued composing concert music. The first four string quartets, the Piano Quartet, the Clarionet Quintet and the Violin Concerto are the principal works of this period.
It was gradually, during the 1950s, that his thought turned in the direction of 12-note serialism and to a burst of creativity which continued to the end of his life.
In this last period Frankel's major production was a remarkable series of symphonies. Eight appeared between 1958 and 1971, all concerned in a variety of ways with serial techniques. A single 12-note series is employed in all movements of both the Second and the Sixth; in the other symphonies individual movements tend to have their own series, to be freely diatonic or to apply serial techniques to other than 12-note material. The second movement of the Fifth uses two distinct series and, most originally, in the one-movement Third, diatonically presented material becomes gradually transformed into consistently 12-note serial music. Nor is it only in technique that the symphonies show variety, for each has its own atmosphere and design, varying from the broad, often ominous, canvas of the Second, through the relaxed geniality of the Fifth to the hard brilliance of much of the Seventh.
The special feature of Frankel's approach to serialism was his strong belief in tonality as a continuing vital principle in musical thought, and his striking demonstration that strictly serial deployment of the total chromatic is compatible with both expressive and structural uses of tonality. He viewed the series as a pervasively thematic melodic line of almost infinite versatility, out of which it was possible to derive harmonies often of a startlingly bold diatonicism.
The eight symphonies he gave us are:
no. 1, opus 33, 1958
no. 2, opus 38, 1962
no. 3, opus 40, 1964
no. 4, opus 44, 1966
no. 5, opus 46, 1967
no. 6, opus 49, 1969
no. 7, opus 50, 1970
no. 8, opus 53, 1971
His concertos:
Violin Concerto, opus 24, 1951
Serenata concertante, opus 37, for piano trio and orchestra, 1960
Viola Concerto, opus 45, 1967
Konzertstück, opus 47, 1968
His quartets:
String Quartet no. 1, opus 14, 1945
String Quartet no. 2, opus 15, 1944
String Quartet no. 3, opus 18, 1947
String Quartet no. 4, opus 21, 1949
String Quartet no. 5, opus 43, 1965
Piano Quartet, opus 26, 1953
Clarinet Quintet, opus 28, 1956
with much more.
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