Alexander Goehr (1932–2024)
27th August 2024
Articles NMC RecordingsWe are extremely sad to learn of the death of the composer Alexander Goehr. Colin Matthews, NMC Executive Director, says:
‘The last of the extraordinary generation of British composers of the 1930s, Alexander Goehr, has died at the age of 92. He was such an important figure both as composer and teacher - many of the leading composers of today were his pupils - and we are proud to have such a significant range of his music represented on NMC.’ Colin Matthews, NMC Executive Director
Biography
Alexander Goehr, composer and teacher, was born in Berlin in 1932, son of the conductor Walter Goehr, and was brought to England in 1933. He studied in Manchester at the Royal Manchester College of Music with Richard Hall – where together with Harrison Birtwistle, Peter Maxwell Davies and John Ogdon he formed the New Music Manchester Group – and in Paris with Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod.
Goehr worked for the BBC in the early ’60s during which time he formed the Music Theatre Ensemble, the first devoted to what has become an established musical form. He has taught at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Yale University and the University of Leeds, and in 1975 was appointed to the chair of music of the University of Cambridge where he became an Emeritus Professor.
Goehr wrote a substantial body of works including five operas. His orchestral works include concerti for piano, violin, viola and cello for soloists including Peter Serkin, Jacqueline du Pré and Daniel Barenboim. Through chamber music, Goehr gained an unprecedented rhythmic and harmonic immediacy, while his music remains ever permeable by the music and imagery of other times and places.
