Andrew Ball (pianist)
{{Short description|British pianist (1950–2022)}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Andrew Ball
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_date = 16 June 1950
| birth_place = Southampton, United Kingdom
| death_date = 10 July 2022
| death_place =
| genre = Classical
| occupation = Pianist, Educator
| years_active =
| label =
| module =
}}
Andrew Ball (16 June 1950 – 10 July 2022) was a British pianist. He was best known for his interpretations of Michael Tippett’s piano sonatas, which he studied with the composer.[https://slippedisc.com/2022/07/mourning-for-a-british-pianist-72/ Slipped Disc, 11 July, 2022]
Education
Ball was born in Southampton and was educated at Barton Peveril Grammar School in Eastleigh. One of his first appearances as a pianist was with the Havant Chamber Orchestra in 1966. He studied music at Queen’s College, Oxford and then at the Royal College of Music in London with Kendall Taylor, Maurice Cole and David Wilde.
Performer
Ball made his professional debut in London on 4 June 1974 at the Wigmore Hall, playing Clementi, Schumann, Chopin, Debussy and Prokofiev.[https://www.jstor.org/stable/959084 Musical Times, Vol. 115, No. 1575 (May 1974), p. 444] After studying the sonatas of Michael Tippett with the composer he frequently performed the works as a complete cycle.Ball, Andrew. 'Tippett's Piano Sonatas: A Pianist's Reaction', in Music and Musicians, January, 1985 He also recorded the complete Tippett song cycles with the tenor Martyn Hill.[https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA66749 Hyperion CD A66749 (1994)] Other works in his repertoire included Sofia Gubaidulina's Piano Sonata (British premiere at the Bath Festival in 1987)[https://www.jstor.org/stable/965023 Musical Times, Vol. 128, No. 1734 (August 1987), p. 451] and Olivier Messiaen's Couleurs de la Cite Celeste at the BBC Proms in 1995.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/exgxj5 BBC Proms, 11 September, 1995] For BBC Radio he performed Ferruccio Busoni's Fantasia Contrappuntistica in 1988.[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/service_bbc_radio_three/1988-08-01 BBC Radio 3 Programme Index, 1 August, 1988]
Ball played chamber music with the Villiers Quartet, the London Sinfonietta and the Nash Ensemble, and also for many years as a duo with violinist Madeleine Mitchell.[http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/oct07/Violin_Songs_Mitchell_dda25063.htm Madeleine Mitchell. 'Violin Songs' (2007), Divine Art CD reviewed at MusicWeb International] There was also a partnership with the clarinettist David Campbell, an old school friend.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/08/16/andrew-ball-pianist-who-specialised-contemporary-works-obituary/ Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 16 August, 2022] His recordings include the piano music of Billy Mayerl, John Casken and (with Julian Jacobson) the two-piano music of Roberto Gerhard.[https://divineartrecords.com/artist/andrew-ball/ Biography, Divine Art Records][https://www.discogs.com/release/4148193-Roberto-Gerhard-Andrew-Ball-Julian-Jacobson-Evenings-In-Barcelona Evenings In Barcelona, Largo (1992)] With Detlef Hahn he recorded music for violin and piano by Korngold.[https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/korngold-complete-music-for-violin-piano ASV CDDCA1080, reviewed in Gramophone, September 2000] His 2010 album Out of the Cool with flautist Susan Milan featured music by British composers, including Richard Rodney Bennett, Arthur Butterworth, David Heath, Cecilia McDowall and Robert Saxton.[https://www.discogs.com/release/9048303-Susan-Milan-Andrew-Ball-Out-Of-The-Cool-Contemporary-Music-For-Flute-And-Piano Out of the Cool, Metier MSV 28510 (2010)]
Teacher
As a teacher, Ball was initially on the staff at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before becoming head of keyboard at the Royal College of Music between 1999 and 2005, where he was made a Fellow of the College in 2006 and subsequently stayed on as a professor of piano until 2021. He was also an adjudicator, and gave masterclasses in Germany, China, Japan and the USA. Teaching, rather than performing, became his primary focus after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2012.[https://www.lect.co.nz/adjudicator-bio-andrew-ball#:~:text=Described%20by%20the%20Independent%20as,Maurice%20Cole%20and%20David%20Wilde. Biography, Lewis Eady Charitable Trust]
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{discogs artist|Andrew Ball}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Andrew}}
Category:20th-century British classical pianists
Category:20th-century British male musicians
Category:20th-century British musicians
Category:21st-century British classical pianists
Category:21st-century British musicians
Category:Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford