Alistair Richard Hinton[1] (born 6 October 1950) is a Scottish composer and musicologist with a focus on the works of his friend Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji. He is the curator of the Sorabji Archive.
Career and works
editHinton, a native of Dunfermline, Fife, began studying music at the age of eleven; and following the advice of Benjamin Britten, he studied at the Royal College of Music, where Humphrey Searle and Stephen Savage were among his teachers. Although he began composing at an early age, he later destroyed most of his pre-1985 output.[2]
His Op. 1 was a piano sonata (1962); although part of it was lost soon after it was written, the composer responded to a private request in 2020 to reconstruct it. His other compositions include sonatas, variations and other works for piano, a violin concerto (dedicated to Jane Manning), songs (amongst them settings of Rabindranath Tagore, Hinton's Opp. 7 and 9), works for the organ, a string quintet (for two violins, viola, cello, double-bass and soprano, and lasting for 2 hours and 45 minutes in performance), and a Sinfonietta. They include homages to Karol Szymanowski (Szymanowski-Etiud, Op. 32, for 18 wind instruments), Richard Strauss (Passeggiata Straussiana, for euphonium and piano, Op. 39), and Charles-Valentin Alkan in the Piano Sonata no. 5, which has a substantial passage marked "Alkanique".[3] The latter influenced Marc-André Hamelin in composing his own Étude no. 4.[4]
Among those who have performed and recorded Hinton's works are Donna Amato, Jonathan Powell, Yonty Solomon and Kevin Bowyer.[2]
Personal life
editIn 2014, Hinton and his wife Terry were responsible for a petition to the British government to remove the statutory immunity it gives to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) so it is not liable for damages.
Sorabji
editIn 1969, Hinton came across a copy of the four-hour Opus clavicembalisticum[6] of the reclusive composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892–1988), which greatly impressed him. In 1976, he persuaded the composer to relax the ban he had placed on unauthorised performance of his music in the 1930s.[7] Hinton subsequently founded the Sorabji Archive, which publishes Sorabji's writings and compositions and maintains a collection of his manuscripts and archival materials; he remains its curator.[7] Hinton contributed two chapters to the 1992 book, Sorabji: A Critical Celebration.[8] He was the dedicatee of eight works by Sorabji, and was the sole heir of his oeuvre.[9]
References
edit- ^ "Information on Alistair Richard Hinton". Archived from the original on 9 December 2021.
- ^ a b "Alistair Hinton" Archived 25 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine, McGill University Schulich School of Music, accessed 9 July 2013
- ^ "Alistair Hinton: Compositions" Archived 20 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine, The Sorabji Archive, accessed 9 July 2013; Rob Barnett, "Alistair Hinton String Quintet" Archived 23 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine, MusicWeb, accessed 10 July 2013.
- ^ Hamelin (2005), iii.
- ^ Cain, Rebecca (12 December 2014). "Couple fight David and Goliath battle against financial regulator". Hereford Times. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019.
- ^ "Performed Works and Timings" Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, Sorabji Resource Site, accessed 16 July 2013.
- ^ a b "About the Sorabji Archive" Archived 23 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The Sorabji Archive, accessed 9 July 2013.
- ^ Rapoport (1992).
- ^ "Biographical Notes" Archived 15 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Sorabji Resource Site, accessed 10 July 2013.
Sources
edit- Hamelin, Marc-André (2005). Étude No. IV: Étude à mouvement perpétuellement semblable (d'après Alkan). Portland, Oregon: Pelisorius Editions.
- Rapoport, Paul (ed.) (1992). Sorabji: A Critical Celebration, Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-85967-923-7.