| Michael Brand | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1952 (age 68–69) |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Radio producer (1979–1982), conductor, music arranger, composer, councillor (1998–2001), councillor (2009–2013)  |
| Employer |
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Michael Brand (born 1952) is an English orchestral conductor and composer, also known for his work with members of Van der Graaf Generator. He previously worked as a radio producer for the BBC.
Brand was born in England in 1952, [1] the son of the composer Geoffrey Brand. [2] He was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School, and read music at University College, Oxford, graduating in 1974. [1] [3]
After a stint as a freelance conductor and arranger, Brand worked as a producer for BBC Radio from 1979. [1] During his BBC tenure, he produced BBC Radio 2 programmes, including those presented by David Hamilton, [4] Brian Matthew, [5] and Ray Moore. [6] He left the BBC in 1982 to devote himself fully to his music. [1]
Many of his compositions are published by the firm of G & M Brand Publications, [7] which he runs with his father, Geoffrey. [8]
His Chosen Gems for Winds featured on a Naxos CD of music primarily by Percy Grainger, conducted by Bjarte Engeset. [9]
Together with his wife [10] Jane Bramwell he is a founder and director of the non-profit Oxford Music Theatre. [11] He composed the musicals "King & Country" [1] (2014; based on Allan Moorhouse's 1923 play The Conquering Hero [12] ) and "CLD: The Real Lewis Carroll" (2016; in which Lewis Carroll meets his alter ego Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), and "Guilty of Love" (2017; about Alan Turing), [13] each with lyrics by Bramwell. [14] [15] The reviewer Tim Bano, writing in The Stage , said of "CLD": "Brand's music has a contemporary hymnal quality, the jaunty piano melodies of modern church music". [15]
Music written or arranged by Brand has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. [16] [17]
Peter Hammill of Van der Graaf Generator asked Brand to undertake the orchestral arrangement and conducting for his song "This Side of the Looking Glass", on his 1977 solo album Over . [18] The orchestral track was retained when Hammill reworked the song for his album The Love Songs of 1984.
Brand also worked with former Van der Graaf Generator member Judge Smith. Smith provided the libretto for Brand's 1992 cantata Pioneer 10. [19] [20] and Brand wrote choral arrangements for Smith's album The Climber , released in 2000. Brand also orchestrated Smith's 1975 Requiem Mass, which was released on CD in 2016. [21] Smith described Brand's role in creating the piece: [22]
it was not until meeting Michael Brand, then a young music publisher and Brass arranger, that the piece entered the physical universe. Michael’s family publishing company was going to publish my other music, and, rather than pay me an advance on royalties, Michael, a highly talented and sympathetic musician, would transcribe my Requiem. In a laborious process, I sung the music to him, note by note and bar by bar. Utterly ignorant of any form of musical language, as I was at the time, this was all I could do to help him. Nonetheless, amazingly, it worked. We somehow created the orchestrations, and by 1975, the result was a complete manuscript score in pencil and paper.
Brand has twice served as an elected member of Buckinghamshire County Council, for the Liberal Democrats, representing the Amersham East ward from June 1998 (at a by-election following the death of the incumbent [23] ) to June 2001, and representing the Chesham North West ward from June 2009 to May 2013. [24] [25] [26]
Brand's wife also served as a Liberal Democrat councillor. [10] As of 2014, they were residents of Rottingdean. [27]
Montague Rhodes James was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge (1913–15).
Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill is an English singer-songwriter. He is a founder member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Best known as a singer/songwriter, he also plays guitar and piano and acts as a record producer for his own recordings and occasionally for other artists. In 2012, he was recognised with the Visionary award at the first Progressive Music Awards.
Godbluff is the fifth album released by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was the first album after the band reformed in 1975 and was recorded after a European tour.
Pawn Hearts is the fourth album by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator, released in October 1971 on Charisma Records. The original album features just three tracks, including the side-long suite "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers". The album was not commercially successful in the UK, but reached number one in Italy. It has since seen retrospective critical praise and was reissued on CD in 2005 with extra material.
H to He, Who Am the Only One is the third album by the British progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was released in 1970 on Charisma Records.
The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other is the second album by the British progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator, released in February 1970 on Charisma Records. It was the group's first album to be released in the UK and the only one to chart in the top 50 in that country.
Christopher John Judge Smith, is an English songwriter, author, composer and performer, and a founder member of progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Initially working under the name Chris Judge Smith, he has been known simply as Judge Smith since 1994. After Van der Graaf Generator, he has written songs, stage musicals and operas, and from the early 1990s on he has released a number of solo CDs, including three "Songstories".
Tony Stratton-Smith was an English rock music manager, and entrepreneur. He founded the London-based record label Charisma Records in 1969 and managed rock groups such as the Nice, Van der Graaf Generator and Genesis.
Hugh Robert Banton is a British organist and electronic organ builder, most widely known for his work with the group Van der Graaf Generator.
Over is the sixth studio album by the English singer and songwriter Peter Hammill, released on Charisma Records in April 1977. It was issued for the first time on CD on Virgin Records in the early 1990s, and was reissued again in a remastered version in 2006 with bonus tracks.
The Aerosol Grey Machine is the debut studio album by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was first released in the United States in 1969 by Mercury Records.
World Record is the seventh studio album by Van der Graaf Generator, originally released in 1976 on Charisma Records. Bonus tracks were added for the 2005 rerelease.
Present is the ninth studio album by British progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator, released in 2005. It was the band's first studio album since The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome in 1977, and the first with the 'classic' line-up since World Record in 1976. The Charisma Records label was reactivated for its release, as well as a reissue series of Van der Graaf Generator's back catalog and Peter Hammill's solo releases from 1972-86.
Nadir's Big Chance is the fifth solo album by Peter Hammill, released on Charisma Records in the fall of 1975.
pH7 is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on Charisma Records in September 1979. It was Hammill's eighth solo album and his last release on the Charisma label.
Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith and the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much commercial success in the UK, but became popular in Italy during the 1970s. In 2005 the band reformed, and are still musically active with a line-up of Hammill, organist Hugh Banton and drummer Guy Evans.
Trisector is the tenth studio album by the British rock group Van der Graaf Generator. It was released on Virgin/EMI Records in March 2008. It is an important release for Van der Graaf Generator because it is the first album the band recorded as a trio. Saxophonist David Jackson departed the band following the 2005 tour.
Maida Vale: The BBC Radio One Sessions is a compilation album by Van der Graaf Generator, containing eight songs from four different recording sessions at Maida Vale Studios for BBC Radio 1 in 1971, 1975 and 1976, three of which were Peel Sessions. It was released in June 1994 on Band of Joy Records.
Theme One is a 1967 instrumental piece by George Martin used from 1967 to the mid 1970s as the opening and closing theme tune for BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2. Theme One was the first music heard on Radio 1 and Radio 2 on its launch day 30 September 1967.
Anna Markland is a British pianist who won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 1982, playing Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto and subsequently pursued a dual performing career as pianist and soprano.