Neville Bower

Neville Courtenay Bower was an Anglo-Indian British composer, concert pianist, and educator. He is best known for his solo piano repertoire, chamber music and his contribution to modern song cycle repertory - particularly for the countertenor.

Early life and education

Bower was born in Allahabad, India. He was first educated at schools in Allahabad, then Sherwood College, Nainital. Bower had shown great promise playing piano from a young age. In 1947 he achieved the highest examination mark in India from Trinity College London winning a special scholarship for the second year in succession; later attaining ATCL in 1948 and LTCL in 1949.
When his family emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1950, they settle in London; there, Bower attended Battersea Polytechnic where he matriculated in 1951. He enrolled at the Royal College of Music in 1951, where he studied piano with Kendall Taylor, composition with Patrick Hadley, organ with Osborne Peasgood, clarinet with Ralph Clarke and, accompaniment with Hilda Klien, and theory studies with Harry Stubbs. Bower graduated ARCM in 1954, then LRAM for teaching in 1956. Later in life he achieved a BA from the Open University in 1985, and FTCL for composition from Trinity College London in 1987, the later being examined by Geoffrey Bush.

Concert pianist

After graduating from the RCM in 1956 Bower spent two years teaching at a comprehensive - Manor Secondary Modern School, Ruislip - before returning to attempt a performance career. He worked as a ballet pianist at Ballet Rambert school, and performed recitals in London and Oxford. When the Holywell Music Room was refurbished in 1959, Bower performed a programme of piano-duos with Jessie Munro upon its reopening.
In 1962 Bower performed Liszt's first piano concerto with the Modern Symphony Orchestra under Arthur Dennington, in which he "captured much of the glitter and excitement in a performance which was essentially masculine and suited the work very well." The critic noting his, "Octave runs and scale passages were commendably clean and accurate."
Bower's masculine performance style was not to everyone's taste, another critic wrote, "Although he had quite a good command of the keyboard, he performed Beethoven's reflective E Flat Sonata, Op. 27 in the manner of a Czerny study, and left Debussy's mysterious L'Isle Joyesue in the state of a battlefield."
One of Bowers last outings as a concert pianist was the first Leeds International Piano Competition. Not long after, the injuries from a car accident ended the prospect of a performance career.

Teaching

Following the end of his concert pianist career Bower taught at Henry Compton School, Fulham, then music master at Ealing Grammar School.
During Bower's tenure at Ealing Grammar the school ensembles performed regularly. The school choir sang annual festival nine lessons and carols at St Mary's Church, South Ealing; an outing organised by Bower himself; which was always popular well attended.
Under Bower's direction the school choir performed music outside the typical range of secondary students; performing in concerts under conductors such as Norman Del Mar, Henryk Czyż, and Antal Doráti. He prepared the school choir for a performance of the St Matthew Passion with Roger Norrington as the Evangelist. Later, in the same year, Bower conducted a performance of the Messiah with soloists including Kenneth Woollam.
The school choir won awards, recorded an album of Christmas music, and performed on radio and television. Bower and a number of his students appeared in the film Goodbye, Mr. Chips as conductor and school orchestra respectively.
The last secondary teaching position Bower held was at Slough Grammar School ; after retiring from secondary teaching, he worked as a music examiner at London University.

Composition

Bower wrote his first composition at the age of ten. His early music written in India was lost to harsh conditions and his family's moving around. Bower wrote for the people around him; students, friends and colleagues. His first compositions published between 1962 and 1965) by Boosey & Hawkes were for school choirs.
In 1966 Bower's Sonata for oboe and piano won the Waltham Forest Contemporary Music Competition; a sonata Leon Goossens is reported to have described as 'splendid'. In 1971, Bower wrote Concertante ''for oboe and orchestra for oboist Janice Knight; premiered the following year with West London Symphony Orchestra.
Bower's works for organ are considered a significant contribution to the repertory of modern organ music. Eternal for organ was premiered a Lichfield Cathedral in 1988 by Jonathan Rees-Williams. The organist Kevin Bowyer described Eternal as an "unjustly neglected piece of British organ music." Detailed descriptions of Bower's organ works are included in a notable reference book for modern and contemporary organ music.
His sacred music has been performed at many cathedrals and notable venues, including St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. An entry containing Bower's biography and a list of his sacred compositions appears in the Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland.
In the early 1990s Bower self-published two pieces from Five-Finger Colours for Young Pianists. These pieces were compared to World Renowned Easy Piano Pieces compiled by David Wilson, the review stating

Equally interesting and valuable are two self publications by Neville Bower from a series called five-finger colours – well named because of the composer's clear fascination with sonority and harmony while keeping well within Grade V standard. A pretty Bells of Rouen and an icy Snowscape would introduce young pupils to a sound world not easily accessible or available at this level. Each piece costs about £2. Available from the composer... Compare these modestly presented pieces with the smart, expensive Schott/Kunzelmann publication of Six Amusing Exercises by and you see how ‘real publishing’ and a colourful, shiny cover from a big house can mislead you.

When published Music for a While : A Collection of Piano Pieces in 2003 it was warmly received. The review in Piano Journal'' said,

At last, a suite of pieces – each effective enough on its own but even better presented as a whole – which incorporates all the chromatic/ harmonic advances of the century immediately past in pursuit of a genuinely musical objective and with the help of an unerring sense of neo classical form. Having said this, we would still fall short of justice if we didn’t single out for celebration, too, the exquisitely pianistic nature of each of these finely-crafted pieces. They offer an ideal way to teachers and pianists in general for tuning the ear to the harmonic language of our time and for making the transition to the more uncompromising contemporary repertoire.... For such an accomplished composer, it comes as a surprise to me at not having encountered his name before.

Bower made a notable contribution to modern vocal repertoire including four song-cycles and two song-sets. When countertenor Andrew Watts was asked about the artist who had influenced him the most, his answer included Bower.

"Another person would be Neville Bower, who was a concert pianist. He was head of music at my grammar school. He was very “old school” in his approach. We played piano duets together, he arranged pieces for me; in fact, when he retired and started composing, he wrote several song cycles which were dedicated to me and which I have performed."

Recordings and Broadcast

Following Bower's retirement from secondary teaching and turn to full-time composition in the 1980s, three of Bowers works were accepted, recorded and broadcast by BBC Radio 3; making his radio debut in his fifties. Evocation for clarinet and piano was recorded by Jack Brymer and Ian Lake in a programme between Grand duo concertant by Weber and Sonatina by Joseph Horovitz - first broadcast in 1986, and rebroadcast in 1987. Paul Silverthorne and recorded Dance of Life for viola and piano, for a 1990 broadcast alongside a Brahms sonata. Andrew Ball recorded Prism in a programme of modern piano music; alongside works by Gerald Barry, Anthony Payne, and Simon Rowland-Jones - broadcast in 1992.
In 2004 Andrew Watts and Iain Burnside gave a live performance broadcast of The Lamb on BBC Radio 3. Songs of Innocence features on the album by Andrew Watts and Iain Burnside, which peaked at No. 8. in the U.K. Classical Music Chart. subsequently Bower's Piping Down the Valley Wild has been broadcast on radio a number of times; including during the programme Essential Classics on BBC Radio 3, and on ABC Classic.

List of Compositions by Genre

Choir

Our Lord And Our Lady, Op. 1, No. 1, for choir and piano The Coming Of Spring, Op. 1, No. 2, for choir and piano Carillion, Carilla, Op. 1, No. 3, For SSSA choir and piano Three Songs for Choir, Op. 2

# Snowflakes
# The Poet
# SongEsmeralda, Op. 5, for choir and percussion Tu Creasti Domine, Op. 5a, for SSAA Choir Wisdom Of Job, Op. 16, for SATB choir Dance A Cachucha, Op. 27, arranged for choir and two pianos The Music Makers, Op. 36, for mixed ensemble and choir or mixed voices Psalm 121 : ‘I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes Unto The Hills’, Op. 45, for SSAA boy’s choir Chorale ‘The Call’, Op. 52a, for SATB choir Beyond Words, Op. 55, cantata for SATB chorus and orchestra

Voice

Meditation , Op. 3, for bass and piano The Golden Sunset, Op. 4, for voice and piano The Dream Follower, Op. 30, song-cycle for countertenor and piano

# The Dream Follower
# In ''the Mind’s Eye
# Read by Moonlight
# The Sun on the Letter
# Two Lips
# In Her Precincts
# Song of Hope
# To Life
# I Look Into My Glass.Three Songs for a Future Time, Op. 34, song-set for solo voice and piano
# Daydream
# The Desert
# Virtue The Path of Dreams, Op. 38, song-set for solo voice and piano
# The Path of Dreams
# Acknowledgement
# Requiscat Songs of Innocence, Op. 46, song-cycle for solo voice and piano
# Introduction
# The Lamb
# Nurse’s Song
# Infant Joy
# A Cradle Song
# Spring
# The Divine ImageSongs of Experience, Op. 47, song-cycle for solo voice and piano
# Introduction: Hear the Voice of the Bard!
# Earth’s Answer
# The Clod And The Pebble
# A Poison Tree
# The Angel
# The Garden Of Love
# My Pretty Rose Tree
# The Sick Rose
# The Lily
# Ah! SunflowerNightscape : ‘Nightfall in the City of Hyderabad’, Op. 49, for soprano, baritone, B♭ clarinet and piano Ghosts And Dreams, Op. 53, song-cycle for solo voice and piano
# A Night in November
# Something Tapped
# The Head Above the Fog
# An Upbraiding
# A Thought in Two Minds
# The Last Performance
# The Garden Seat''

Piano

Three Childrens Pieces, Op. 6, for piano

# Summer Day
# Sad Jumbo
# Dancing SnowflakesFestive Dance, Op. 7, for two pianos Piano Sonata, Op. 8 Holiday Pieces, Op. 10, for young pianists Intrada, Op. 11, for solo piano Fantasie-Preludes, Op. 12, for solo piano Escapements, Op. 13, for solo piano Two-Part Inventions, Op. 19 for young pianists Notturno, Op. 20, for piano Events : Music For Classroom Use, Op. 24, for six players on prepared piano
# Market Day
# The Meet
# Insects
# Night Music
# The Football MatchSpring Dance, Op. 25a, arranged for two pianos Prism, Op.33, No. 1, soundscape for solo piano Greenscape, Op.33, No. 2, soundscape for solo piano Llyn Cau, Op.33, No. 3, soundscape for solo piano Five-Finger Colours, Op. 2a, for young pianist
# Purple Piece
# Sunlight Piece
# Moonlight Piece
# The Bells Of Rouen
# Snowscape
# Sarongen GamelanThe Gardens Of Villandry, Op. 40b, arranged for piano Music ''for a While : A collection of piano pieces, Op. 39
# Musing
# Parade
# Chorale I
# Daydream
# Spree
# Lament
# Chorale IIColour Studies, Op. 41, for solo piano
# Study In Violet
# Study In Peacock Blue
# Study In Celestial Blue
# Study In IndigoColour Studies, Op. 42, for solo piano
# Study In Green
# Study In Yellow
# Study In Orange
# Study In ScarletColour Studies, Op. 43, for solo piano
# Study In Black
# Study In Grey : Fugue In 3 Voices
# Study In Brown
# Study In White Meditations, Op. 44, for solo piano
# Moderato Tranquillo
# Andante Sostenuto
# Sostenuto Moderato
# Pastorale Patetico
# Evocation
# Moderato AssaiLament For Bosnia, Op. 44a, for solo piano Why?, Op. 44b, for solo piano Music for a While : A collection of piano pieces, Opus 48
# Fairly Fast And Light
# ‘Hymnus’
# Andante con moto
# “Nathan’s Blues” Fairly slowly
# ‘Chorale’ Moderato
# ‘Tôdi’ Andante ritmico
# “Ay Allah” Vivo, ma non troppo
# ‘Epilogue’ Lento, tranquilloMusic for a While : A collection of piano pieces, Op. 54
# Prelude
# Ballad
# Song And DanceScènes De La Ballerine : Music For Three Contrasting Dances, Op. 56, for piano
# Tempo alla marcia, con brio
# “Adage” Adagietto sostenuto
# ‘Valse’ Brisk, but not too fast''

Chamber & Small Ensemble

Sonata for oboe and piano, Op. 9 Evocation, Op. 14, sound-piece for clarinet and piano Nta Villie Valli, Op. 17, for oboe and piano String Quartet “Dance Quartet”, Op. 22 Popular Song from Walton’s “Facade”, Op. 26, arrange for oboe, clarinet and piano Dance Of Life, Op. 28, sound-piece for viola and piano Ecstasy, Op. 29, sound-piece for cello and piano Glory, Op. 31, Sound-Piece For Trumpet and piano Eternal, Op. 32, chorale and fugue for organ The Music Makers, Op. 36, for mixed ensemble and choir or mixed voices Sections, Op. 37, for solo flute Nightscape : ‘Nightfall in the City of Hyderabad’, Op. 49, for soprano, baritone, B♭ clarinet and piano Sonata : Soundscape For Vincent, Op. 51, for violin and piano Beatitude and Chorale, Op. 52, for organ

Orchestra & Large Ensemble

Concertante, Op. 15, for oboe and orchestra Concerto, Op. 18, for trumpet and orchestra Processional March, Op. 21, for school orchestra Two Pieces, Op. 23, for school orchestra

# Gymnopedie
# “Valse”Spring Dance, Op. 25, for orchestra Prelude And Threnody, Op. 35, for double string orchestra The Gardens Of Villandry, Op. 40, soundscape for orchestra Naini, Op. 50, for large orchestra Beyond Words, Op. 55, cantata for SATB chorus and orchestra Tal, Op. 57, for large orchestra

Nathan Bowness’ Nom De Plume

Brazilian Street Song : “Choros” for 2-part descant recorder band or 2 solo descant recorders & piano