Peter Graeme
Encyclopedia
Peter Graeme is an English
oboist
and academic teacher. He is best known as the principal oboist of the Melos Ensemble.
. Graeme was the oboist of the Melos Ensemble, founded in 1950, and participated with the group in the premiere of the War Requiem
by Benjamin Britten
, conducted by the composer at the Coventry Cathedral
in 1962.
In 1954 he played English horn in a recording of Warlock's song cycle The Curlew
. In 1964 he performed in a recording of Benjamin Britten
's opera Albert Herring
, conducted by the composer. In 1965 he recorded Bach's cantata
s Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben, BWV 102
and Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt, BWV 151 with the English Chamber Orchestra
(ECO) conducted by Britten and soloists Janet Baker
, Peter Pears
and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
. In 1968 he took part in a recording of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos
with the ECO conducted by Britten. Also with the English Chamber Orchestra and flutist Richard Adeney
he recorded works of Gustav Holst
, such as A Fugal concerto for Flute, Oboe and Strings, op. 40/2, conducted by the composers daughter Imogen Holst
at the 1969 Aldeburgh Festival
. Both in 1971 and 1972, he played in a recording of Bach's St John Passion with Peter Pears
as the Evangelist
, Gwynne Howell
as the Vox Christi
, and the ECO conducted by Britten. In 1972 he also recorded Britten's opera The Turn of the Screw
. In 1982 he participated in a recording of the Octet op. 67 of Egon Wellesz
with the members of the Melos Ensemble Hugh McGuire and Nicholas Ward (violin), Patrick Ireland (viola), Terence Weil (cello), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Thea King
(clarinet), and Timothy Brown
(horn).
Graeme was a teacher at the Royal Northern College of Music
, among his students is Robin Williams.
and William Bennett
(flute), Gervase de Peyer
(clarinet), Sarah Barrington (oboe), Neill Sanders
(horn), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Emanuel Hurwitz
and Ivor McMahon
(violin), Cecil Aronowitz
(viola), Terence Weil
(cello), Osian Ellis
(harp) and Lamar Crowson
(piano).
This included works for a large ensemble of both woodwind
s and strings
, for which the Melos Ensemble was founded.
Graeme also recorded chamber music for smaller formations, such as the oboe quintet
of Arthur Bliss
, dedicated to Léon Goossens.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
oboist
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
and academic teacher. He is best known as the principal oboist of the Melos Ensemble.
Professional career
Peter Graeme studied the oboe with Léon GoossensLéon Goossens
Léon Jean Goossens CBE, FRCM was a British oboist.He was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal College of Music...
. Graeme was the oboist of the Melos Ensemble, founded in 1950, and participated with the group in the premiere of the War Requiem
War Requiem
The War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems...
by Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
, conducted by the composer at the Coventry Cathedral
Coventry Cathedral
Coventry Cathedral, also known as St Michael's Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry, in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The current bishop is the Right Revd Christopher Cocksworth....
in 1962.
In 1954 he played English horn in a recording of Warlock's song cycle The Curlew
The Curlew
The Curlew is a song cycle by Peter Warlock on poems by William Butler Yeats. It is generally considered one of the composer's finest works....
. In 1964 he performed in a recording of Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's opera Albert Herring
Albert Herring
Albert Herring, Op. 39, is a chamber opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten.Composed in the winter of 1946 and the spring of 1947, this comic opera was a successor to his serious opera The Rape of Lucretia...
, conducted by the composer. In 1965 he recorded Bach's cantata
Bach cantata
Bach cantata became a term for a cantata of the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach who was a prolific writer of the genre. Although many of his works are lost, around 200 cantatas survived....
s Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben, BWV 102
Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben, BWV 102
Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben , BWV 102, is a church cantata written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1726 in Leipzig for the tenth Sunday after Trinity, first performed on 25 August 1726.-History and text:...
and Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt, BWV 151 with the English Chamber Orchestra
English Chamber Orchestra
The English Chamber Orchestra is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and the ECO Ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall...
(ECO) conducted by Britten and soloists Janet Baker
Janet Baker
Dame Janet Abbott Baker, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.She was particularly closely associated with baroque and early Italian opera and the works of Benjamin Britten...
, Peter Pears
Peter Pears
Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten....
and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"...
. In 1968 he took part in a recording of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos
Brandenburg concertos
The Brandenburg concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721 . They are widely regarded as among the finest musical compositions of the Baroque era...
with the ECO conducted by Britten. Also with the English Chamber Orchestra and flutist Richard Adeney
Richard Adeney
Richard Gilford Adeney was a British flautist who played principal flute with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra, was a soloist and a founding member of the Melos Ensemble.-Biography:...
he recorded works of Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
, such as A Fugal concerto for Flute, Oboe and Strings, op. 40/2, conducted by the composers daughter Imogen Holst
Imogen Holst
Imogen Clare Holst, CBE was a British composer and conductor, and sole child of composer Gustav Holst.Imogen Holst was brought up in west London and educated at St Paul's Girls' School, where her father was director of music...
at the 1969 Aldeburgh Festival
Aldeburgh Festival
The Aldeburgh Festival is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on the main concert hall at Snape Maltings...
. Both in 1971 and 1972, he played in a recording of Bach's St John Passion with Peter Pears
Peter Pears
Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten....
as the Evangelist
Evangelist (Bach)
The Evangelist in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is the tenor part in his oratorios and Passions who narrates the exact words of the Bible, translated by Martin Luther, in recitative, namely in the works St John Passion, St Matthew Passion, and the Christmas Oratorio, also in the St Mark...
, Gwynne Howell
Gwynne Howell
Gwynne Howell is a Welsh bass, particularly associated with Verdi and Wagner roles.-Life and career:Born in Gorseinon, Wales, he studied at the RMCM, where he sang Leporello in concert, and Hunding, Fasolt, and Pogner in staged performances.He joined the Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1968, and the...
as the Vox Christi
Vox Christi
Vox Christi, Latin for Voice of Christ, is a term for the bass voice representing Jesus in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and others. This part appears prominently in Bach's Passions...
, and the ECO conducted by Britten. In 1972 he also recorded Britten's opera The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw (opera)
The Turn of the Screw is a 20th century English chamber opera composed by Benjamin Britten with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, "wife of the artist John Piper, who had been a friend of the composer since 1935 and had provided designs for several of the operas". The libretto is based on the novella...
. In 1982 he participated in a recording of the Octet op. 67 of Egon Wellesz
Egon Wellesz
Egon Joseph Wellesz was an Austrian-born British composer, teacher and musicologist, notable particularly in the field of Byzantine music.- Life :...
with the members of the Melos Ensemble Hugh McGuire and Nicholas Ward (violin), Patrick Ireland (viola), Terence Weil (cello), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Thea King
Thea King
Dame Thea King DBE FRCM FGSM was a British clarinettist.Thea King was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, the daughter of Henry Walter Mayer King, the manager of a family engineering business, George. W. King Ltd., based in Hitchin then Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and his wife, Dorothea...
(clarinet), and Timothy Brown
Timothy Brown (hornist)
Timothy Brown is a British horn player, a leading chamber musician and co-principal of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He was a member of the Melos Ensemble in its second phase...
(horn).
Graeme was a teacher at the Royal Northern College of Music
Royal Northern College of Music
The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...
, among his students is Robin Williams.
Recordings with the Melos Ensemble
Graeme recorded chamber music with the Melos Ensemble, its principal players Richard AdeneyRichard Adeney
Richard Gilford Adeney was a British flautist who played principal flute with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra, was a soloist and a founding member of the Melos Ensemble.-Biography:...
and William Bennett
William Bennett (flautist)
William Bennett, OBE is a British flute player, who has played with most of the major British orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and was a frequent guest artist in the Melos Ensemble. He also has a career as a soloist...
(flute), Gervase de Peyer
Gervase de Peyer
Gervase Alan de Peyer is an English clarinetist and conductor.-Professional career:Gervase de Peyer was born in London and attended Bedales School. He was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he studied clarinet with Frederick Thurston and piano with Arthur Alexander...
(clarinet), Sarah Barrington (oboe), Neill Sanders
Neill Sanders
Neill Sanders was a British horn player, principal hornist of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Melos Ensemble for 29 years. He was a professor in Kalamazoo, Michigan and founded a chamber ensemble and a festival there.-Biography:Neill Sanders...
(horn), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Emanuel Hurwitz
Emanuel Hurwitz
Emanuel Hurwitz CBE was a British violinist. He was born in London with parents of Russian-Jewish ancestry....
and Ivor McMahon
Ivor McMahon
Ivor McMahon was an English violinist. He played with notable orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra and is best known for playing second violin in the Melos Ensemble.-Professional career:...
(violin), Cecil Aronowitz
Cecil Aronowitz
Cecil Aronowitz was a British viola player, a founding member of the Melos Ensemble, a leading chamber musician and an influential teacher at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music.-Biography:...
(viola), Terence Weil
Terence Weil
Terence Weil was a British cellist, principal cellist of the English Chamber Orchestra, a founding member of the Melos Ensemble, a leading chamber musician and an influential teacher at the Royal Northern College of Music.-Biography:Terence Weil was trained as a cellist under Herbert Walenn at the...
(cello), Osian Ellis
Osian Ellis
Osian Gwynn Ellis CBE is a Welsh harpist and composer.-Career:Osian Ellis was born in Ffynnongroyw, Flintshire in 1928. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Gwendolen Mason, whom he later succeeded as Professor of Harp from 1959 to 1989. He joined the London Symphony Orchestra in 1961...
(harp) and Lamar Crowson
Lamar Crowson
John Lamar Crowson was an American concert pianist and a chamber musician....
(piano).
This included works for a large ensemble of both woodwind
Woodwind instrument
A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed, causing the air within its resonator to vibrate...
s and strings
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
, for which the Melos Ensemble was founded.
- Beethoven: Wind OctetWind Octet (Beethoven)The Octet in E-flat major by Ludwig van Beethoven, Op. 103, is a work for two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, and two horns. Despite its high opus number, it was written in 1792/1793, during Beethoven's early period. Beethoven reworked and expanded the Octet in 1795 as his first String Quintet,...
- Schubert: OctetOctet (Schubert)The Octet in F major, D. 803 was composed by Franz Schubert in March 1824. It was commissioned by the renowned clarinetist Ferdinand Troyer and came from the same period as two of Schubert's other major chamber works, the Rosamunde and the Death and the Maiden string quartets.-Structure:Consisting...
- Janáček: MládíYouth (wind sextet)The woodwind sextet Youth , is a chamber composition by Czech composer Leoš Janáček. It was composed for flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, bassoon and bass clarinet.- Background :...
- Nikolaos SkalkottasNikolaos SkalkottasNikos Skalkottas was one of the most important Greek composers of 20th-century music. A member of the Second Viennese School, he drew his influences from both the classical repertoire and the Greek tradition....
: Octet - Gordon CrosseGordon CrosseGordon Crosse is an English composer.-Biography:Crosse was born in Bury, Lancashire and in 1961 graduated from St Edmund Hall, Oxford with a first class honours degree in Music. He then undertook two years of postgraduate research on early fifteenth-century music before beginning an academic...
: Concerto Da Camera - Harrison BirtwistleHarrison BirtwistleSir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH is a British contemporary composer.-Life:Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a mill town in Lancashire some 20 miles north of Manchester. His interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who bought him a clarinet when he was seven, and arranged for him to have...
: Tragoedia - Peter Maxwell DaviesPeter Maxwell DaviesSir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
: Leopardi Fragments
Graeme also recorded chamber music for smaller formations, such as the oboe quintet
Oboe quintet
An oboe quintet is a chamber music group of five individuals led by an oboist, or music written for this ensemble.Usually an oboe quintet consists of an oboe and string quartet....
of Arthur Bliss
Arthur Bliss
Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO was an English composer and conductor.Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army...
, dedicated to Léon Goossens.
- Beethoven: Quintet for piano and windsQuintet for Piano and Winds (Beethoven)Quintet in E-flat for Piano and Winds, Op. 16, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1796.The quintet is scored for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon. It was inspired by Mozart's Quintet, K. 452 , which has the same scoring and is also in E-flat.It is in three movements:*I. Grave - Allegro...
, Rondino in E flat major, WoO 25 - Nielsen: Wind QuintetWind Quintet (Nielsen)Carl Nielsen's Wind Quintet or, more correctly, the Quintet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, French Horn and Bassoon, Opus 43, was composed early in 1922 in Gothenburg, Sweden, where it was first performed privately at the home of Herman and Lisa Mannheimer on 30 April 1922.-Background:According to his...
- Francis PoulencFrancis PoulencFrancis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
: Trio for Oboe, Bassoon & Piano - Jean FrançaixJean FrançaixJean René Désiré Françaix was a French neoclassical composer, pianist, and orchestrator, known for his prolific output and vibrant style.-Life:...
: Divertissement for Oboe, Clarinet & Bassoon - Arthur BlissArthur BlissSir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO was an English composer and conductor.Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army...
: Conversations for Flute, Oboe and String Trio, Quintet for Oboe and Strings