Profile of Benjamin Frankel on Famous Like Me

Benjamin Frankel (January 31, 1906 – February 12, 1973) was a British composer.

Biography

Frankel was born in London on January 31, 1906, the son of Polish-Jewish parents. He started learning the violin at an early age, showing remarkable talent; at age 14, his piano-playing talents attracted the attention of Victor Benham, who persuaded his parents to let him study music full-time. He spent a few weeks in Germany in 1922, but quickly returned to London, where he won a scholarship from the Worshipful Company of Musicians and attempted his first serious compositions while earning his income as a jazz violinist, pianist and arranger.

By the early 1930s, Frankel was in high demand as an arranger and musical director in London; he gave up theatre work in 1944, though, even though he retained an interest in movie composing until his death, writing over 100 scores. Frankel also became widely-known as a serious composer after World War II; his first work to gain fame was the violin concerto dedicated "in the memory of 'the six million'", a reference to the Jews murdered during the Holocaust, commmissioned for the 1951 Festival of Britain and first performed by Max Rostal.

Frankel's most famous pieces include a cycle of five string quartets and eight symphonies as well as a number of concertos for violin and viola; his single best-known piece is probably the First Sonata for Solo Violin, which, like his concerti, resulted from a long association with Max Rostal. During the last 15 years of his life, Frankel also developed his own style of 12-note composition that retained contact with tonality.

Frankel died in London on February 12, 1973 while working on the three-act opera "Marching Song" and a ninth symphony which had been commissioned by the BBC; his works were almost completely neglected for the next 20 years, until German record company cpo (Classic Produktion Osnabrück, since bought by jpc) decided to record his entire output with the help of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Frankel was named Composer of the Week by the BBC in late 1996.

A selection of works

Symphonies

• Symphony no. 1 — op. 33, three movements, 1958 (first twelve-tone work?)
• Symphony no. 2 — op. 38, three movements, 1962
• Symphony no. 3 — op. 40, one movement, 1964
• Symphony no. 4 — op. 44, three movements, 1966
• Symphony no. 5 — op. 46, three movements, 1967
• Symphony no. 6 — op. 49, five movements, 1969
• Symphony no. 7 — op. 50, four movements, 1970
• Symphony no. 8 — op. 53, four movements, 1971

Concertos

• Violin concerto To the memory of the six million op. 24, four movements, 1951
• Serenata Concertante for piano trio and orchestra, one movement (in parts,) op. 37, 1960
• Viola concerto op. 45, three movements, 1967

Other orchestral and small-orchestra works (selected)

• Three sketches for strings (originally for quartet,) op. 2, 1920s?
• Solemn Speech and Discussion, op. 11
• Youth Music, four pieces for small orchestra, op. 12
• May Day (overture), op. 22, 1948
• Mephistopheles Serenade and Dance, op. 25, 1952
• Shakespeare Overture, op. 29
• Overture to a Ceremony, op. 51

Selected chamber works

• Three piano studies, op. 1, 1926
• String trio no. 1, op. 3
• Trio for clarinet, cello and piano, op. 10, three movements, 1940
• Violin solo sonata no. 1, op. 13 (before 1943)
• String quartet no. 1, op. 14, four movements, around 1944–5
• String quartet no. 2, op. 15, five movements, 1944
• String quartet no. 3, op. 18, five movements, around 1947
• Early Morning Music, trio for oboe, clarinet and bassoon, three movements, 1948
• String quartet no. 4, op. 21, four movements, around 1949?
• Quartet for piano and strings, op. 26, three movements ((c) 1962 but written sometime in the 1950s?)
• Quintet for clarinet and strings, op. 28, three movements, 1956
• Inventions in Major/Minor modes, cello and piano, op. 31
• String trio no. 2, op. 34, three movements, (c) 1960 (?)
• Cinque Pezzi Notturni for eleven instruments, op. 35, five pieces, 1959
• Violin solo sonata no. 2, op. 39, three movements, 1962
• Pezzi pianissimi for clarinet cello and piano, op. 41, four pieces, 1964
• String quartet no. 5, op. 43, five movements, 1965

Vocal works

• The Aftermath, op. 17
• Eight songs, op. 32, 1959

Film scores

• So Long at the Fair, 1950
• Night and the City, 1950 U.K. release
• The Man in the White Suit, 1951
• The Curse of the Werewolf, 1960
• Battle of the Bulge, 1965
• Trottie True
• Appointment with Venus, 1951

The symphonies, concerti, quartets, and a few other works have been among the works recorded so far by cpo, as well as some film scores (a few works were available on LP, and the clarinet quintet has a CD alternative.)

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