THE RESONANCE ATLAS
Ruth Gipps
Biography
Ruth Gipps (1921–1999) was an English composer, conductor, oboist and pianist. Born in Bexhill-on-Sea, she studied at the Royal College of Music, where her teachers included Gordon Jacob and Ralph Vaughan Williams, and later earned a doctorate at Durham University. An accomplished performer, she turned increasingly to composition and conducting after an injury curtailed her playing career. She founded the London Repertoire Orchestra and the Chanticleer Orchestra, championing young performers and living composers. Her output includes five symphonies, concertos, chamber music and works for winds.
Why this music interests us
Gipps is an especially compelling figure for Resonance: a musician who combined ambitious composition with the practical creation of performance opportunities. Her wind writing offers a direct route into a substantial body of British repertoire still deserving wider attention. Seascape, Op. 53, for double wind quintet, is a vivid example of her imagination on a larger chamber scale; her smaller works and Wind Octet open further possibilities for programmes devoted to neglected British music.
Selected works & listening
Seascape, Op. 53 (double wind quintet: 2 flutes, oboe, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns; optional double bass in one edition); Honey-Coloured Cow, Op. 3d (bassoon and piano); Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 45; Sonata for Oboe and Piano, Op. 5a; Rhapsody for Clarinet and String Quartet, Op. 23; Wind Octet, Op. 65
Further information