- John McLeod, one of Scotland's most prolific composers, studied
composition at the Royal Academy of Music with Sir Lennox Berkeley.
His brilliantly coloured orchestral and vocal music has been performed and
recorded in many countries by leading orchestras and soloists and his
commissions have included works for the Philharmonia Orchestra, the RSNO the
BBCSSO, the SCO (who made McLeod their associate composer from 1980-1982), the
National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, and for artists such as Evelyn Glennie,
Benjamin Luxon, Peter Donohoe, Jane Manning, Murray McLachlan and Colin Currie. His music has also
been heard regularly at many UK Festivals including the
London Proms, Edinburgh, Bath, Cambridge and St Magnus (Orkney
Islands), as well as being featured in several European Festivals. Most of
his works have also been heard on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, BBC TV
and Channel 4. Since 1983 he has also composed a whole series of film and TV
scores and from 1991-1997 he was Head of Composing for Film and
Television at the London College of Music, Thames Valley University and
a Visiting Lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music.
- Many leading conductors have featured McLeod's music in their
programmes and these have included Sir Charles Groves, Sir Alexander Gibson,
Neeme Jarvi, Norman del Mar, George Hurst, Janos Furst, Kenneth Schermerhorn,
Matthias Kuntsch, Takuo Yuasa, Rumon Gamba and a host of younger conductors.
- In 1994 McLeod travelled to Poland where he conducted the
Polish Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra of Cracow in a new CD of his
orchestral music, adding to the ever growing number of McLeod compositions
now appearing on disc - thirteen works on seven CDs.
- Recently described by The Scotsman as 'a major
force in contemporary Scottish music,' McLeod has won many prizes for his compositions including the
prestigious Guinness Prize for British composers in 1979 which resulted in
a major commission from the Philharmonia Orchestra. He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 1989.
From 2000 to 2004 McLeod was also a Director of the Performing Right
Society and
the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters.
Francis Morris, writing on McLeod in the new Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians, points out that the early works were
strongly influenced by the aleatory techniques of Lutoslawski (whom McLeod
knew and admired). However, in 1989 (after a year spent as the Ida
Carroll Research Fellow at the RNCM, where McLeod made a special study of
Messiaen, Boulez and Birtwistle) a marked and profound change in his musical
thinking, with respect to rhythm, tonality and energy took place.
This is particularly evident in the 1989 Proms piece The Song of
Dionysius which he wrote for Evelyn Glennie, with its exploitation
of fluctuating metres and the drama of instrumental role-play now present in
much of his recent work.
Since the start of the millennium, there has been a
resurgence of interest in McLeod's music. In February 2000 Colin
Currie gave the premiere of Thrashing the Sea God - a little
Chinese opera for solo percussionist. Also in February, Murray
McLachlan gave performances of McLeod's massive Piano Sonata No.3
and September saw the world premiere of Machar - Portrait of a Saint
commissioned and performed by Aberdeen Sinfonietta.
In October 2000 Aberdeen Bach Choir gave the Edinburgh
premiere of his large-scale choral work The Chronicle of Saint Machar and
in January 2001 the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland premiered The
Sun Dances to wide critical acclaim. Following on closely from
these works is Symphonies of Stone and Water for solo piano,
nine wind instruments and percussion - commissioned and premiered by ECAT
for the ECAT Ensemble debut concert at the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh on 12
February 2001. November saw two important performances - the premiere
of Song of the Concubine by The Composers Ensemble of
London and a BBC Radio 3 performance of The Sun Dances by the
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Rumon Gamba. A new
chamber work A Moment in Time for violin, clarinet, cello and
piano was
commissioned and premiered by the Hebrides Ensemble in May
2002.
More recent works have included Chinese
Whispers (commissioned and performed throughout the UK by Fine Arts
Brass) which was nominated for a British Composer Award in 2005,
and the new Clarinet Concerto commissioned
and performed by Linda Merrick
who has also recorded it on CD with the Royal Northern
College of Music Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer. Percussionist
Colin Currie has also recorded the Percussion Concerto with
the BBC SSO under Yasuo Shinozaki and this was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in
March 2006.
In 2006 McLeod's Piano Sonata No.4 was
premiered at the new Sound Festival in Aberdeen by Sam Haywood who
commissioned it and in 2007 Fling for 2
orchestras (commissioned by BBC Radio 3) was given its first
performance by 180 musicians at the opening concert of the Highland
Year of Culture.
In 2008 a major new work Haflidi's Pictures - 12 aphorisms for
piano, based on drawings by the composer Haflidi Hallgrimsson,
will be heard at the Wigmore Hall on 24 July as part of a piano recital
by Mark Tanner who commissioned it.
Recent Press Comments:
McLeod must be counted a major force in contemporary
Scottish music - The Scotsman
The Piano Sonata No.3 is a massive structure with hugely
dramatic momentum and a simmering intensity that bubbles, boils and erupts
with volcanic force - The Herald
The Song of Dionysius is forcefully energetic music, both
imaginative and idiomatic - The Times
The Gokstad Ship - music with inspiration and power that
overwhelmed the audience - Goteborg Post (Sweden)
In his Percussion Concerto, McLeod has created music of
real diversity and breathtaking virtuosity - Nashville Banner (USA)
Symphonies of Stone and Water demonstrates the voice of a
composer at the height of his craft speaking lucidly - The Scotsman
The Sun Dances uses a palette of textures that cover lush,
Ravel-like sonorities and the spiky rhythms of a propulsive dance. A
beautiful and exciting piece - The Herald
A Moment in Time - a passionate and effective work. The
Times
McLeod’s Chinese Whispers is a clever, resourceful work
inspired by a recent visit to China. It found a musical format which
brilliantly exploited the voices of the instruments and the personality of
the players. Witty and imaginative music - The Herald
- For further information please refer to entries on John McLeod in the
following publications:
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians -
Stanley Sadie (Macmillan 2001)
(main entry under John McLeod other entries under Scotland,
Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Evelyn Glennie)
Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music - Michael Kennedy (OUP 1996)
The Penguin Dictionary of Music - Arthur Jacobs (Penguin Books 1997)
New Vocal Repertory Volume 2 - Jane Manning (Clarendon Press - OUP 1998)
The Complete Shostakovich Catalogue - Derek C Hulme (Clarendon Press - OUP 1991)
Good Vibrations - An Autobiography - Evelyn Glennie (Hutchinson1990)
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