Frank Anderson Tyrer (17 November 1891 – 16 December 1962) was an English concert pianist, composer and first conductor of New Zealand's National Orchestra.
Biography
editTyrer was born in Accrington, Lancashire in 1891 and studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music.[1] He won a scholarship of four years from the County Council.[citation needed] He served in the Army in 1914 to 1918.[citation needed]
He made his debut at a Promenade concert under Thomas Beecham in 1919, playing the Rachmaninoff second concerto. Over the next four years he gave a series of orchestral concerts in the Queen's Hall, London, playing concerti by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Arensky, Liszt and Mackenzie. He also played the piano part in Scriabin's Prometheus several times.[citation needed]
In around 1922 Tyrer made some gramophone records with Adrian Boult and the British Symphony Orchestra for the Velvet Face (V-F) label, a department of Edison Bell Records; the recordings included Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat and Franck's Symphonic Variations.[citation needed]
He toured Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa as a performer, conductor and musical examiner.[1][2] He visited New Zealand during the 1930s, often as a music examiner.[1][2][3][4]
He performed as a soloist with and conducted the Wellington Symphony Orchestra.[1] In 1940 he became conductor of the New Zealand Centennial Music Festival Orchestra which played concerts in several cities between May and June.[1][2][5] The orchestra played his composition Dr Faustus (1940), a symphonic setting for chorus and orchestra based on Marlowe's poem.[1][2] He was the founding conductor of the New Zealand National Orchestra, now the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, from 1946 to 1950.[1][6]
His composing style was English and of the first half of the 20th century.[1] He wrote symphonic works, a piano concerto, piano pieces and songs.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i Thomson, John Mansfield (1990). Biographical dictionary of New Zealand composers. Wellington [N.Z.]: Victoria University Press. p. 139. ISBN 0-86473-095-0. OCLC 22895790.
- ^ a b c d Thomas, Allan (2004). "Centennial Music". Creating a National Spirit: celebrating New Zealand's Centennial. Wellington: Victoria University Press – via NZETC.
- ^ Thomson, John Mansfield (1991). The Oxford history of New Zealand music. Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford University Press. p. 143. ISBN 0-19-558176-8. OCLC 26724223.
- ^ "Personal Notes". Inangahua Times. 2 February 1934. p. 2. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
- ^ Walls, Peter (2014). "The first professional orchestras". teara.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 4 May 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ^ Walls, Peter (2014). "The National Orchestra". teara.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 4 May 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
Sources
edit- Arthur Eaglefield Hull, A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924).
- Joy Tonks, The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, The First Forty Years (Reed Methuen, Auckland, 1986)
See also
edit- British Symphony Orchestra discography – for details of recordings of Anderson Tyrer
External links
edit- Interview with Peter Mechen on RNZ, 20 February 2013 – discusses Anderson Tyrer's appointment as conductor of the National Orchestra