Ruth Gipps

about

Ruth Gipps (20 February 1921 – 23 February 1999) was a British composer, oboist, pianist and impresario. Ruth Gipps was born in Bexhill-on-Sea, England in 1921. She was a child prodigy, winning performance competitions in which she was considerably younger than the rest of the field. After performing her first composition at the age of 8 in one of the numerous music festivals she entered, the work was bought by a publishing house for a guinea and a half. Winning a concerto competition with the Hastings Municipal Orchestra began her performance career in earnest. In 1936 Gipps entered the Royal College of Music, where she studied theory, composition, piano, and eventually oboe, and where several works of hers were first performed. Continuing her studies at Durham University would lead her to teachers Gordon Jacob and Ralph Vaughan Williams, as well as her future husband, clarinettist Robert Baker. She was an accomplished all-round musician, as a soloist on both oboe and piano as well as a prolific composer. Her repertoire include works such as Arthur Bliss's Piano Concerto and Constant Lambert's The Rio Grande. When she was 33 her performance career ended, however, due to a hand injury, and she decided to focus her energies on conducting and composition. A turning point in Gipps' career was the Symphony No. 2, Op. 30, first performed in 1946, which showed the beginnings of her mature style. Gipps' music is marked by a skillful use of instrumental color, and often shows the

top songs

albums

Gipps: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2

Gipps: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4, Song for Orchestra & Knight in Armour

Gipps: Orchestral Works Vol. 3

Gipps: Piper of Dreams

Gipps: Orchestral Works

Gipps: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4

Gipps: Clarinet Chamber Music

▥

Gipps: Oboe Concerto, Op. 20: III. Allegro vivace

▥

Opalescence

Ruth Gipps: OPALESCENCE Piano and Chamber Music (1921–1999)

▥

Gipps: Symphony No. 3, Op. 57: III. Scherzo

▥

Gipps: Sea-weed Song, Op. 12c

similar artists