Jacob, Gordon

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  • grewtw
    Full Member
    • Nov 2021
    • 29

    Jacob, Gordon

    Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob was born in Upper Norwood in 1895. He was educated at Dulwich College, and then at the outbreak of the First War he enlisted. He was taken prisoner in 1917, and in the prison camp he studied a harmony textbook in the library and began composing. He wrote for an orchestra of his fellow prisoners with assorted instruments.

    After the war he studied journalism before turning to music. He took a correspondence course, gained an ARCM diploma and was accepted as a full-time student at the Royal College of Music in 1920.

    At the end of his student course in 1924, Jacob became a teacher of music, briefly at Birkbeck and Morley Colleges, and then at the RCM, where he remained until his retirement in 1966. He was professor of music theory, composition and orchestration.

    He wrote textbooks that reveal the extent and nature of his craftmanship. Orchestral Technique (London, 1931) was followed by How to Read a Score (London, 1944), The Composer and his Art (London, 1955) and The Elements of Orchestration (London, 1962). He undertook the editorship of the Penguin scores in 1948, and contributed to a number of works of reference and textbooks.

    In the BBC TV documentary "Gordon Jacob" (directed by Kenneth Russell, 1959) the composer said: "I personally feel that the day that melody is discarded, you may as well pack up music altogether".

    Jacob's Second Symphony, premiered on 1 May 1946 at a BBC studio recoding, was considered by one reviewer to be "perhaps the most stimulating work that has yet come from this composer". The reviewer remarked on the work's intensity of feeling, ranging from excitement in the first movement, through poignancy and fury in the two middle movements to a mood of heroism in the final passacaglia.

    In 1968 Jacob was appointed CBE.

    His most important productions:

    Symphony no. 1, 1929


    Symphony no. 2, 1944



    Viola concerto no. 1, 1925


    Concerto for piano and strings, 1927


    Concerto for oboe and strings, 1933


    Concerto for bassoon, strings and percussion, 1947


    Concerto for horn and strings, 1951


    Flute concerto, 1951


    Concerto for violin and strings, 1954


    Concerto for cello and strings, 1955


    Trombone concerto, 1955


    Oboe concerto no. 2, 1956

    Piano concerto no. 2, 1957

    Concerto for 3 hands on one piano with orchestra, 1969


    Viola concerto no. 2, 1979


    "Mini concerto" for clarinet and string Orchestra, 1980


    Flute concerto no. 2, 1981


    String quartet no. 1, C major, 1928

    String quartet no. 2, 1931

    Clarinet quintet, 1940

    Piano quartet, 1969


    and a great deal more.
  • gradus
    Full Member
    • Nov 2010
    • 5622

    #2
    Thanks for the reminder about Gordon Jacob. I always thought of him as a composer of light music but it turns out that his range was huge and I'm looking forward to acquanting myself with pieces I didn't know existed until now.

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    • Serial_Apologist
      Full Member
      • Dec 2010
      • 37813

      #3
      I hadn't realised that he was born just up the road from here.

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      • Edgy 2
        Guest
        • Jan 2019
        • 2035

        #4
        Thanks for highlighting one of my favourite unsung composers, trawl through the neglected Brits thread and you'll find him mentioned.
        I'm familiar with those recordings and most of the links, love the comment on one of them "English composers are very good'
        The Symphonies are absolute gems, No 2 also recorded by the Munich SO/Bostock.
        His Piano Sonata is on a marvellous Lyrita disc c/w EJ Moeran

        “Music is the best means we have of digesting time." — Igor Stravinsky

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        • Lordgeous
          Full Member
          • Dec 2012
          • 831

          #5
          I was impressed with his Wind Sextet, written for the Denis Brain Ensemble. Excerpt here (with dextrous piano playing from George Malcolm):

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          • Serial_Apologist
            Full Member
            • Dec 2010
            • 37813

            #6
            Originally posted by Edgy 2 View Post
            Thanks for highlighting one of my favourite unsung composers, trawl through the neglected Brits thread and you'll find him mentioned.
            I'm familiar with those recordings and most of the links, love the comment on one of them "English composers are very good'
            The Symphonies are absolute gems, No 2 also recorded by the Munich SO/Bostock.
            His Piano Sonata is on a marvellous Lyrita disc c/w EJ Moeran

            Quite typical of a certain brand of modernish British music from the 1950s - a tidy and pleasant blend of Prokofiev and Rawsthorne but not characterful enough for me to have a go at or listen to again, to be honest; but thanks nevertheless for finding it for us, Edgy.

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