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Susan Bradshaw

Susan Bradshaw
Background information
Born(1931-09-08)8 September 1931
Monmouth
Died30 January 2005(2005-01-30) (aged 73)
GenresContemporary classical
InstrumentPiano

Susan Bradshaw (Monmouth, 8 September 1931 – London, 30 January 2005) was a British pianist, teacher, writer, and composer.[1] She was mainly associated with contemporary music, and especially with the work of Pierre Boulez, several of whose writings she translated. As a critic and musicologist she contributed to a number of magazines and journals over several decades; the titles included Contact, Music and Musicians, Tempo and The Musical Times.

Early life

Bradshaw attended the Royal Academy of Music from 1949, studying piano with Harold Craxton and composition with Howard Ferguson and Mátyás Seiber. There she met Cornelius Cardew, a fellow student, with whom she performed in Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion.[2]

Career

Bradshaw attended Darmstadt three times, 1956-1958 and in the last year performed there Richard Rodney Bennett's Music for Two Pianos with the composer. A recording survives of the performance.[3] Around the same period she studied with Pierre Boulez in Paris.

Bradshaw was one of the two musicians (the other being Hans Keller) involved in the famous 'Piotr Zak' hoax in 1961.

Legacy

After her death, The Susan Bradshaw Composers' Fund was established by the Royal Philharmonic Society with donations from friends and family, led by composer Brian Elias. The purpose of the fund is to support composers (of any age) and young musicians wishing to perform works by living composers. At present the fund is used to support a commission for one of the winners of the RPS Composition Prize.

Bradshaw's papers are housed at the British Library.[4]

Discography

  • Mabillon Trio Avant-Garde. Music by Boulez and others. Delta, 1962
  • "Dorothy Dorow - A Short Recital of English Songs", Dorothy Dorow, Soprano, Susan Bradshaw, piano. Featuring songs by Bliss, Holst, Britten, Walter Leigh, Bax, recorded June 1963, LP: Jupiter Recordings, JEP OC33.
  • English choral works, John Alldis Choir, conducted by John Alldis, with Richard Rodney Bennett, piano LP: Argo ZRG 5426, 1965
  • Anthony Payne, Paean for solo piano, LP: BBC Enterprises, 1977, CD: NMC D159.
  • Saint-Saens, Carnival of the Animals, Vesuvius Ensemble, Poulenc, Babar the Elephant, Susan Bradshaw, solo piano, EMI BRNA 502 1977
  • Gustav Holst, The Planets, for two pianos, Richard Rodney Bennett, Susan Bradshaw, LP: Delos DEL-25442 (1981), CD: FACET 8002 (1987)
  • Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire, with Jane Manning, Vesuvius Ensemble.

Writings

Translations

  • Boulez, Pierre. 1971. Boulez on Music Today, translated by Susan Bradshaw and Richard Rodney Bennett. London: Faber. ISBN 0-571-09420-1. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-08006-8.
  • Jameux, Dominique. 1991. Pierre Boulez, translated by Susan Bradshaw. London: Faber. ISBN 0-571-13744-X. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-66740-9.

As editor

  • Hans Keller, Functional Analysis: The Unity of Contrasting Themes. Complete Edition of the Analytical Scores, ed. Gerold W. Gruber, Susan Bradshaw and Michael Meixner (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2001)

References