Peter Hill (pianist)

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Peter P Hill (born 14 June 1948) is a British pianist and musicologist.

Contents

Biography

Hill, a native of Sheffield, was awoken to 20th century music when he bought some Schoenberg in a Winchester music shop and "played those Op.19 pieces with a kind of missionary zeal... this taught me about the only real reason for playing music – that you feel passionately about it and want to communicate something"; he later recorded all Schoenberg's piano music for the BBC. [1] He had been a chorister as a child, read music at Oxford then continued his studies at the Royal College of Music, both with Cyril Smith with whom he studied from age of 19, and pursued a research fellowship on Xenakis at Royal Holloway College. [1] Later he studied with Nadia Boulanger. [2] He was a founder member of the contemporary music group Dreamtiger. [1] He was awarded first prize at Darmstadt in 1974 for performances of music by Cage and Stockhausen. [3] He became a lecturer in the Department of music at Sheffield University in 1976 and was co-director with violinist Peter Cropper of an MA in Music Performance course, alongside undergraduate teaching. [3]

He was acquainted with the French composer Olivier Messiaen, visting him several times in Paris [1] and has edited a volume of essays on Messaien's music (The Messaien Companion) and co-written a book about him. [4] [5] As well as playing the complete works of Messiaen, he is also known for his performances of other 20th-century piano repertoire. [1] Among other recordings are Beethoven's Diabelli Variations (for which he also wrote the booklet essay), [2] a Schubert lieder recital with soprano Lynda Russell on Naxos, Stravinsky, and music of the Second Viennese School (Schoenberg, Berg and Webern). [3] Of his first recording, the complete piano music of Brian issued in 1982, John Ogdon in Tempo commented that the "playing is remarkable for its even tone control: alternately lyrical and dynamic, it suggests at times the influence of Busoni and Petri." [2]

Hill's career has taken him to Europe and the United States. [2] He is now an Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Sheffield [6] and a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music. [7]

In November 2013, he gave the world premiere of Messiaen's piano piece La Fauvette passerinette (1961), which he discovered and edited for performance. [8]

Publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Fanning, David. Universal Truths (interview with Peter Hill). Gramophone , September 1989, p.414-415.
  2. 1 2 3 4 In booklet accompanying Unicorn-Kanchana CD DKP 9084 - Beethoven, Thirty-three variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, op.120, 1991.
  3. 1 2 3 Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music, biographical note on Peter Hill, accessed 5 March 2009.
  4. 1 2 Hill, Peter (4 November 2005). "Pianist Peter Hill looks at composer Olivier Messiaen". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  5. ↑ "Pianist Peter Hill on Messiaen's Birds". The Boston Musical Intelligencer. 13 October 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 "Peter Hill". Naxos Records . Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  7. ↑ "Fellows and Honorary Members". Royal Northern College of Music.
  8. ↑ Hill, Peter (2019). "Peter Hill writes about the discovery of Messiaen's La Fauvette passerinette" . Retrieved 9 April 2019.


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