James Gibb (7 March 1918 – 16 June 2013) was an English pianist and teacher. He performed regularly as a solo recitalist, concerto pianist and chamber music player for over four decades, and appeared in many radio broadcasts.[1]
Born in Monkseaton, Tyneside, he went to school in Edinburgh, receiving his first piano lessons from George Ramsay Geikie.[2] He later studied piano with Mabel Lander, herself a pupil of Theodor Leschetizky.
In London before the war he became associated with the socialist community attached to the Unity Theatre in King's Cross,[3] including the actor Alfie Bass, poet Randall Swingler and piano duo Mary and Geraldine Peppin.[4][5] He marched against Oswald Mosley's Fascists in 1938.[2] Friendships were formed with composers including Constant Lambert, Alan Rawsthorne and Bernard Stevens, whose music he later performed.[6] During the war Gibb served as a radio operator with the Royal Artillery, latterly based in Hamburg, and performed concerts for the troops.[4]
Gibb made his debut at the Proms in 1949 (playing Dohnányi's Variations on a Nursery Song) and became a regular performer at the festival over the next decade.[7] In 1949 he also made his international debut, playing Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto in Hamburg with the North-West German Radio Orchestra. Gibb championed the works of British composers, but Scarlatti, Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert were also an important part of his repertoire.[1] In 1951 Gibb was one of the two pianists that accompanied the UK premiere of Marc Blitzstein's musical The Cradle Will Rock at the Unity Theatre.[4] He also gave the British premiere of Balakirev's Second Piano Concerto.[2]
He began teaching at the Guildhall School of Music from the 1960s, becoming head of keyboard studies there in 1967 and sometimes performing piano four hands with his colleague Edith Vogel.[8] His pupils included Andreas Boyde, Alissa Firsova, Ivana Gavrić, John Tilbury and Debbie Wiseman. He retired in 2002. Gibb lived in a flat at 10, Regent's Park Road, NW1 from 1956 until his death in 2013, aged 95.[9] He suffered from dementia in his final years.[1]
References edit
- ^ a b c Stephen Plaistow. Obituary, in The Guardian, 17 July, 2013
- ^ a b c Obituary, The Herald, 10 July 2013
- ^ Letter from Andy Croft. 'Why James Gibb held auditions for the Communist party', in The Guardian, 7 August, 2013
- ^ a b c Obituary, The Times, 6 July 2013
- ^ Colin Chambers. The Story of Unity Theatre (1990)
- ^ Lyrita CD REAM 1107 (2008)
- ^ BBC Proms performance archive, 30 July 1949
- ^ Mining the Archive: Edith Vogel, BBC Radio 3, 27 June 1997
- ^ Who's Who in Music, Fifth Edition (1969)