K Leighton
'Any natural composer is a product of his background, experience and training,' observed Kenneth Leighton, 'and I like to think that my music has the characteristic Yorkshire qualities which have been described as vigour, forthrightness and emotionalism tempered with common sense.'
Leighton was born in Wakefield on 2 October 1929 and gained his early musical experiences as a chorister at the city's cathedral. In 1940 he went to Queen Elizabeth Grammar School and whilst still there (1946) obtained the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (LRAM). He gained both his BA and BMus in 1951 at Oxford. After a year studying in Rome, Leighton taught briefly at the Royal Marine School of Music in Deal. From 1953-1956 he held a Gregory Fellowship in Music at the University of Leeds from where he became Lecturer then Reader in Music at the University of Edinburgh. In 1968 he moved to Oxford University as Fellow in Music of Worcester College.
Leighton returned to Edinburgh in 1970, where he remained Reid Professor of Music until his death in 1988.
For most of his career he managed to reconcile university commitments with composing. Amongst his distinguished students at Oxford and Edinburgh were Donald Runnicles, Nicholas Cleobury,
and the composer Nigel Osborne,. James MacMillan also studied at Edinburgh during Leighton's tenure. His interests in literature, and love of nature and countryside are reflected in the settings of English poetry in many works.
Programme
Crucifixus pro nobis (1961)
words by Patrick Carey d.1651 and Phineas Fletcher 1582-1650
Performed by St. Peter's Consort
Piano Sonatina No.1
Performed by Philip Collin
Sequence for All Saints (1978)
words from English Hymnal 731- Isaac Watts 1674-1748
Performed by Wakefield Cathedral Choir
Interval
What love is this of thine? (1985)
words by Edward Taylor ?1642 - 1729
Performed by St. Peter's Consort
Rockingham (1975)
Performed by Tom Moore
Second Service (1971)
Luke 1:46-55 and 2:29-32
Performed by Wakefield Cathedral Choir
Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child (1956)
words 15th Century (from the pagent of the Shearmen and Tailors, Coventry)
Performed by Wakefield Cathedral Choir
Let all the world in every corner sing (1965)
words by George Herbert 1593-1633
Performed by the joint choirs.
