Iain Ellis [Iain] Hamilton (06/06/1922 - 21/07/2000), a Scottish composer, born in Glasgow. An important figure in music on both sides of the Atlantic, he was a composer of both stage and concert works, whose music has been praised for the "brilliance of its orchestral textures…uninhibited lyricism" (Anna Karenina—Opera) and "a vast terrain of color, movement, expression and invention" (Voyage—Horn and Chamber Orchestra). These quotes are typical of the critical commentaries on Mr. Hamilton’s music, which constantly refer to the color, texture, variety, lyricism and craftsmanship.
Requiem
| Period: | Modernism |
| Composed in: | 1979 |
| Duration: | 30' |
| In memory of: | a close personal friend |
A requiem for SATB mixed chorus, a cappella. Duration: 30'.
The Fourth Symphony (1981) was commissioned by the Scottish National Orchestra and Sir Alexander Gibson who gave the first performance of the work in 1983. It was started whilst the composer was still living in New York and finished after he had returned to reside permanently in London in 1981. The Symphony no 4 is one of his most personal works and he uses his most accessible tonal idiom to express himself. It is dedicated to the memory of a close personal friend, to whom the Requiem of 1979 is also dedicated and there are quotations from the Requiem in the Symphony.
Conceived within the bounds of liturgical worship are a number of a cappella requiem settings, which display a simplicity and sobriety that recall the aims of the 19th-century Cecilian movement. Principal among these are those of Pizzetti (1922–3), Georges Migot (1953), Priaulx Rainier (1955), Randall Thompson (1958) and Iain Hamilton (1979).
| Author: | Steven Chang-Lin Yu |