Kenneth V. Jones
Quinquifid (1980) for two trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba
Kenneth Victor Jones (1924-2020)Kenneth
SRCD434
Having served with the R.A.F during World War II Kenneth Victor Jones enrolled at the Royal College of Music, where he studied composition, theory, piano, organ and conducting under R. O. Morris, Bernard Stevens and Gordon Jacob and he studied conducting with Richard Austin, organ with Harold Darke and piano with Thornton Lofthouse. In his final year he won the Royal Philharmonic Prize for composition with his Concert Overture and was awarded the Octavia Travelling Scholarship for composition which he used for study in Italy. There he met Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Jacques Ibert and managed to secure several performances of his own compositions including a song cycle, a piano sonata, Wind Quintet No.1 and the Concert Overture, played by the Florence Festival Orchestra, conducted by the composer. Returning to Britain, Jones began teaching at the Royal College of Music, where he became a Professor of music in 1958 and was appointed an examiner to the Associated Board. In 1981 he was made a Fellow of the RCO.
His association with the cinema began in 1950 when he acted as music assistant on The Tales of Hoffman, directed by Michael Powell and spent the early years of that decade composing, conducting, arranging, and coaching actors. In the last capacity, he helped Ava Gardner to look convincing as a pianist in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951). He became a prolific film composer, working mostly at Shepperton Studios, and his often sumptuously orchestrated scores enhanced numerous movies, such as How to Murder a Rich Uncle (1957), The Siege of Pinchgut (1959), Ferry to Hong Kong (1959) and Oscar Wilde (1960). He wrote the scores for several science fiction and horror films, providing the music for such now-cult titles as The Brain (1962), The Tomb of Ligeia (1965), an Edgar Allan Poe adaptation directed by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Price, The Projected Man (1966), Whoever Slew Auntie Roo (1972) and Tower of Evil (1972). He also wrote for the theatre, including incidental music for a 1966 Oxford University Dramatic Society production of Marlowe’s Dr Faustus at Oxford Playhouse, starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor alongside the students.
Among his many compositions, Jones wrote a concerto for string orchestra (1956), a concerto for oboe and strings (1963), The Pollock, an orchestral prelude (1963), O Light Invisible, a cantata for soprano, mixed chorus and orchestra (1963), a sonata for solo violin (1967), Dialysis, for violin and harpsichord (1973), Quaquaverse, for saxophone quartet (1979), Paean for organ (1983), three Sinfonias for orchestra, as well as piano works, song cycles, film, play and television scores and church music, including hymns and anthems.
It was at Jones’s suggestion that the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music made the decision to include contemporary compositions in their graded examination syllabuses. Several of the short character pieces that he wrote for the ABRSM remain in the syllabus to this day. Kenneth V. Jones died on 2 December 2020 at the age of 96. Paul Conway
After working together to create a release of Kenneth V. Jones chamber music, the family, have granted a sole licence to Lyrita Nimbus Arts (LNA) in respect of the composer’s music scores. This agreement will see LNA catalogue, preserve and exploit the material over several years, before passing it on to a national library. Some works will be recorded, released and published by Lyrita while at the same time preparing hire scores and sheet music, enabling others to gain access to the music.
For more information visit www.wyastone.co.uk/nimbus-artists/kenneth-v-jones www.lnarts.org
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My first encounter with Kenneth V. Jones was in 2016 when our family moved to the village of Bishopstone in the Sussex Downs. Over the course of several months I was able to learn more of Kenneth’s musical life. As soon as he mentioned having once written a string quartet, it was decided to programme the work during the following Season of Seaford Music Society, of which Kenneth was a long-standing member and whose programming I had recently taken on. Such was the warmth of the reception upon hearing the work that it was decided to explore more of Kenneth’s chamber music output, and thus the idea for this CD was born. We have Kenneth to thank for the fact that the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music made the decision, at his suggestion, to include contemporary compositions in their graded examination syllabuses. Several of the short character pieces that Kenneth wrote for the ABRSM remain in the syllabus to this day, and a selection of these is included on this recording. It gave me huge pleasure to be able to present to Kenneth the first edit of the current CD, just a few days before his death in December 2020. He was absolutely thrilled. Sebastian Comberti,
SRCD434 Chamber Music of Kenneth V. Jones
On CD, Download and Streaming
*Quintet for Piano & String Quartet Op. 26
*Wind Quintet No. 2 Op. 2
From Easy Pieces for violin and cello
Written for the ABRSM Grade Pieces
The Day Dawns on the Breakwater (cello)
Valley Song (violin)
The Moorhen’s Tap Dance (cello) Semi-Siesta (violin)
Dancing Puppet (violin)
Morning Song (cello)
*Quinquifid for Brass Quintet
*Piano Sonata Op. 4
Two Contrasts for solo cello
*String Quartet No. 1 Op. 6
*Works published by Lyrita
