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McBurney, Gerard (b. June 20, 1954, Cambridge). British composer of mostly stage and chamber works that have been performed in Europe; he is also active as a musicologist.
As a musicologist, Mr. McBurney has worked in radio broadcasting since 1985, especially for BBC, in both English and Russian. He has also made radio contributions in Denmark, Kazakstan, Russia, Slovenia, the USA, and elsewhere. His writings have appeared in numerous publications and he has served as the Soviet and Russian music consultant for Boosey & Hawkes since 1991.
He is also active in other positions. He has served as music advisor to his brother Simon's theatre company Complicite since 1983 and has written and researched many documentary films since 1987, primarily with director Barrie Gavin and one in collaboration with Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Opera about the history of Russian music.
He worked as a part-time lecturer on music and English literature at various institutions from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s and taught composition and 20th-century music at the London College of Music from 1984-93. He has lectured at the Royal Academy of Music in London since 1994. He has also done occasional lectures and other work for assorted musical institutions in Denmark, Russia, the UK, and Uzbekistan.
CONTACT INFORMATION
E-mail address: gerard@agmcburney.co.uk
Street address: Mr. Gerard McBurney, 66 St. George's Ave., Tufnell Park, London N7 0AH, UK
Telephone/fax: + 4420 7607 6117
SELECT LIST OF WORKS
STAGE: Image in the Glass (dance piece after Dante Gabriel Rossetti), dancer, violin, piano, marimba, 1979; The Phantom Violin (pasticcio after the works of 25 composers, 25 poets-writers, various painters, architects of the 1820s), 2 voices, 3 actors, clarinet, French horn, harp, string quartet, double bass, 1986-87; Desire – Reflections in a Poet's Eye (musical peepshow, texts by amateur poets), male speaker, female chorus, amplified soprano recorder, alto saxophone, trumpet, slide trumpet, harp, 3 violas, double bass, percussion, 1991; White Nights (choreographic fantasy after Fyodor Dostoyevsky), orchestra, 1992; Out of a House walked a Man (musical scenes after Daniil Kharms), voices, ensemble, 1994; Stones and Trees (site-specific happening), ensemble, lights, 1995; The Caucasian Chalk Circle, voice, 3 folk players, tape, live electronics, 1997; Here comes the tiger! (text by Zinovy Zinik), 1999
CHAMBER MUSIC: Persephone Dream, violin, 1979; Three walking songs, cello, 1984; Pustiaki – Sweet Nothings, 3 tea-shop players, 1985; Except for tears, violin, 1986; Sehnsucht (in memoriam Jacqueline Du Pré), cello, piano, 1987; What the eye sees (motet), 6 percussion, 1987; From the islands (12 folksongs after Flora McNeil), 4 clarinets, 1987; Grey Light, Early Morning 2nd July 1992, alto flute, 1992; A Winter's Walk round the Park at Troitse-Lykovo, 3 clarinets, piano, 5 strings, 1995; Hildegard Quartet, any voice ad libitum, string quartet, 1996
CHORAL: This is the faith (introit, text by John Donne), mixed chorus, 1979; Babel (madrigal comedy, text by Michael Davies), 6 male voices, 1980; Amor mi spira (motet, text by Dante Alighieri), mixed chorus, 1987; The Castle (song-cycle, texts from British nursery rhymes), children's/female chorus, 1994
VOCAL: Easter 1982 – Achanalt (text by the composer), high voice, any player, 1982; The Ammil (text by Mark Beeson), voice, piano, 1984; My Gypsy Life (cantata), countertenor, string quartet, 1987; Rain (text by Mark Beeson), soprano (+ clapsticks), 1990; Michelangelo, soprano, 5 players, 1996; Echoes of Pushkin, countertenor, violin, viola, cello, 1996; Letters to Paradise (text by Daniil Kharms), bass-baritone, orchestra, 1998
PIANO: The view from my window, 1991; Musica Amata, 2001
FILM SCORES (FOR SILENT MOVIES) (DIRECTOR): One Too Exciting Night, 1983 (Cecil M. Hepworth); Chess Fever, 1984 (Vsevolod Pudovkin)
ARRANGEMENTS (MUSIC BY DMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH): The Bedbug, Op. 19 (suite), violin, cello, piano, 1982; Jazz Suite No. 1 (2 movements), ensemble, 1986; Four Romances on words of A. Pushkin, Op. 46, male voice, ensemble, 1986 (also version of fourth romance as Stanzas, male voice, ensemble, 1992); Hypothetically Murdered, Op. 31, small orchestra, 1991; Moskva, Cheryomushki, Op. 105, dance ensemble, 1994; The Lost Jazz Suite No. 2, 27 swing players, 2000; 5 lost movements from Hamlet, Op. 32
DISCOGRAPHY (as composer)
Out of a House walked a Man. (TDC: 1)
What the eye sees. Mark Pekarsky Percussion Ensemble (due soon)
DISCOGRAPHY (as arranger; music by Dmitry Shostakovich)
Moskva, Cheryomushki, Op. 105. (BBC Music Magazine, 1995)
5 lost movements from Hamlet, Op. 32. (CACD: 1021)
The Bedbug, Op. 19. (ENS: 132)
Four Romances on words of A. Pushkin, Op. 46; Hypothetically Murdered, Op. 31. Dmitri Kharitonov, bass; Mark Elder/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (United: 88001)
(Last updated on October 7, 2004)
