Concertino for Flugelhorn

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Concertino for Flugelhorn

Alan Ridout was born in Kent in 1934. At a young age, he had written over a hundred works: dramatic music, orchestral works (there was a symphony) and numerous concertante pieces, chamber music, piano music, songs and choral settings. Two years were spent at the Guildhall School of Music where, apart from composition, he continued his piano studies and also studied conducting.

His primary interest in composition then took him to the Royal College of Music where he worked for two years with Gordon Jacob and a further two with Herbert Howells. By the time he left the R.C.M. at the age of 20 a good number of his works had been performed, mainly at concerts of the Society for the Promotion of New Music. His first instrumental work to be professionally performed was a Concerto for String Orchestra, written when he was 14. He was then awarded a Netherlands Government Scholarship in 1958, and explored both electronic and microtonal techniques.

When Alan Ridout returned to England he decided to undergo a comprehensive study of early music. This was carried out with Thurston Dart, Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge. At about this time Alan Ridout started teaching at the University of Birmingham, and at the Royal College of Music. By 1964 he was teaching at both the University of Cambridge and the University of London, whilst being professor of theory and composition at the Royal College of Music. In 1964 he was made a Fellow of the Worshipful Company of Musicians. In 1990, following a heart attack, he stopped teaching entirely and gave all his time to composing and editing. He fulfilled a long-standing desire to live in France, and died in Caen in March 1996.