Cornelius Cardew

by Cornelius Cardew

Paperback with a creased spine, no other faults. Very good condition throughout. AD

405 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2006

About the author

Cornelius Cardew was an English experimental music composer, and founder (with Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons) of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble. He later rejected experimental music, explaining why he had "discontinued composing in an avant-garde idiom" in his own programme notes to his 1974 piano album (Four Principles on Ireland and Other Pieces) in favour of a politically motivated People's Liberation Music.

From 1953 to 1957, Cardew studied piano, cello, and composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Having won a scholarship to study at the recently established Studio for Electronic Music in Cologne, Cardew served as an assistant to Karlheinz Stockhausen from 1958 to 1960. He was given the task of independently working out the composition plans for the German composer's score Carré.

Cardew became a member of the Communist Party of England (Marxist-Leninist) in the 1970s, and in 1979 was a co-founder and member of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist). His creative output from the demise of the Scratch Orchestra until his death reflected his political commitment.

Cardew died on 13 December 1981, the victim of a hit-and-run car accident near his London home in Leyton.