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Michael Brand (composer)

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Michael Brand
Born1952 (age 71–72)
Alma mater
OccupationRadio producer (1979–1982), conductor, music arranger, composer, councillor (1998–2001), councillor (2009–2013) Edit this on Wikidata
Employer
  • BBC (1979–1982) Edit this on Wikidata

Michael Brand (born 1952) is an English orchestral conductor and composer, also known for his work with members of Van der Graaf Generator. He previously worked as a radio producer for the BBC.

Early life

Brand was born in England in 1952,[1] the son of the composer Geoffrey Brand.[2] He was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School, and read music at University College, Oxford, graduating in 1974.[1][3]

After a stint as a freelance conductor and arranger, Brand worked as a producer for BBC Radio from 1979.[1] During his BBC tenure, he produced BBC Radio 2 programmes, including those presented by David Hamilton,[4] Brian Matthew,[5] and Ray Moore.[6] He left the BBC in 1982 to devote himself fully to his music.[1]

Composing

Many of his compositions are published by the firm of G & M Brand Publications,[7] which he runs with his father, Geoffrey.[8]

His Chosen Gems for Winds featured on a Naxos CD of music primarily by Percy Grainger, conducted by Bjarte Engeset.[9]

Together with his wife[10] Jane Bramwell he is a founder and director of the non-profit Oxford Music Theatre.[11] He composed the musicals "King & Country"[1] (2014; based on Allan Moorhouse's 1923 play The Conquering Hero[12]) and "CLD: The Real Lewis Carroll" (2016; in which Lewis Carroll meets his alter ego Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), and "Guilty of Love" (2017; about Alan Turing),[13] each with lyrics by Bramwell.[14][15] The reviewer Tim Bano, writing in The Stage, said of "CLD": "Brand's music has a contemporary hymnal quality, the jaunty piano melodies of modern church music".[15]

Music written or arranged by Brand has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3.[16][17]

Van der Graaf Generator

Peter Hammill of Van der Graaf Generator asked Brand to undertake the orchestral arrangement and conducting for his song "This Side of the Looking Glass", on his 1977 solo album Over.[18] The orchestral track was retained when Hammill reworked the song for his album The Love Songs of 1984.

Brand also worked with former Van der Graaf Generator member Judge Smith. Smith provided the libretto for Brand's 1992 cantata Pioneer 10.[19][20] and Brand wrote choral arrangements for Smith's album The Climber, released in 2000. Brand also orchestrated Smith's 1975 Requiem Mass, which was released on CD in 2016.[21] Smith described Brand's role in creating the piece:[22]

it was not until meeting Michael Brand, then a young music publisher and Brass arranger, that the piece entered the physical universe. Michael’s family publishing company was going to publish my other music, and, rather than pay me an advance on royalties, Michael, a highly talented and sympathetic musician, would transcribe my Requiem. In a laborious process, I sung the music to him, note by note and bar by bar. Utterly ignorant of any form of musical language, as I was at the time, this was all I could do to help him. Nonetheless, amazingly, it worked. We somehow created the orchestrations, and by 1975, the result was a complete manuscript score in pencil and paper.

Personal life

Brand has twice served as an elected member of Buckinghamshire County Council, for the Liberal Democrats, representing the Amersham East ward from June 1998 (at a by-election following the death of the incumbent[23]) to June 2001, and representing the Chesham North West ward from June 2009 to May 2013.[24][25][26]

Brand's wife also served as a Liberal Democrat councillor.[10] As of 2014, they were residents of Rottingdean.[27]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Brand, Michael (b. 1952)". Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  2. ^ "An Eleventh Garland of British Light Music Composers". MusicWeb International. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  3. ^ "Michael Brand | composer / arranger - concert band Noten & Partituren". HeBu Musikverlag GmbH. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  4. ^ "David Hamilton". The Radio Times. No. 2928. 20 December 1979. p. 36. ISSN 0033-8060. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  5. ^ "Brian Matthew". The Radio Times. No. 2973. 30 October 1980. p. 66. ISSN 0033-8060. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Ray Moore". The Radio Times. No. 2930. 3 January 1980. p. 70. ISSN 0033-8060. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  7. ^ "music by this composer". G&M Brand. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  8. ^ "G&M Brand - British Music Publishers". Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  9. ^ "Grainger: Complete Music for Wind Band, Vol. 1". Chandos Records. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  10. ^ a b Towler, Jenna (7 August 2006). "Stress causes councillor to quit". Bucks Free Press. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  11. ^ "About Us". Oxford Music Theatre. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  12. ^ "King and Country". Oxford Music Theatre. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  13. ^ "Guilty of Love". Oxford Music Theatre. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  14. ^ "CLD – The Real Lewis Carroll". Oxford Music Theatre. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  15. ^ a b Bano, Tim. "CLD – The Real Lewis Caroll review at St Columba's, Oxford". The Stage. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  16. ^ "Bandstand, 12 July 1980". Bandstand. 12 July 1980. BBC Radio 3.
  17. ^ "Bandstand". The Radio Times. No. 2957. 10 July 1980. p. 22. ISSN 0033-8060. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  18. ^ "PETER HAMMILL - OVER / 1977/ VIRGIN/CHARISMA /NOWA - 7249650913 - oficjalne archiwum allegro". archiwum.allegro.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  19. ^ "Chris Judge Smith". Memories of Van der Graaf Generator. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  20. ^ "Biography". Judge Smith. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  21. ^ "Musicography « Judge Smith". Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  22. ^ "Judge Smith's Projects". Facebook. 24 September 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  23. ^ "New councillor promises to carry on colleague's work". Bucks Free Press. 13 June 1998. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  24. ^ "Councillor details - Michael Brand". Buckinghamshire County Council. 6 July 2019. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  25. ^ "Agenda item - Call-in submission from Michael Brand". Buckinghamshire County Council. 13 July 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  26. ^ "Election results for Chesham North West, 4 June 2009". Buckinghamshire County Council. 4 June 2009. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  27. ^ "World Premiere of KING & COUNTRY, a WWI Opera, at the Brighton Fringe". BroadwayWorld.com. 4 March 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
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