John Ogdon facts for kids

John Andrew Howard Ogdon (born January 27, 1937 – died August 1, 1989) was a famous English pianist and composer. He was known for his amazing musical talent and his ability to play many different kinds of music.

Biography

Early Life and Training

John Ogdon was born in a town called Mansfield Woodhouse in England. He went to Manchester Grammar School. Later, he studied music at the Royal Manchester College of Music from 1953 to 1957.

While studying, he was part of a group called New Music Manchester. This group focused on playing new and modern musical pieces. John also had several important teachers who helped him become a great pianist. These included Iso Elinson, Gordon Green, Denis Matthews, Dame Myra Hess, and Egon Petri.

A Rising Star

John Ogdon became very well-known in the music world. In 1961, he won first prize at the London Liszt Competition. The next year, in 1962, he won another first prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He shared this award with another famous pianist, Vladimir Ashkenazy. These wins helped him become famous around the world.

John could play almost any piece of music just by looking at it. He also memorized a huge number of musical works. He planned to record all the piano music by Sergei Rachmaninoff, which would have been many albums. He managed to record about half of them. In 1971, he recorded all ten sonatas by Alexander Scriabin. John was also a great player of music by composers like Charles-Valentin Alkan and Ferruccio Busoni. He played with deep feeling and had incredible skill. He also made recordings with his wife, Brenda Lucas, who was also a pianist.

In 1969, John Ogdon performed Edward Elgar's Concert Allegro on British television. This piece had been lost for a long time. John and Diana McVeigh worked together to create a version that could be played from Elgar's old notes. From 1976 to 1980, John was a Professor of Music at Indiana University in the United States. He also toured Southern Africa four times, where he was very popular.

His Own Music

John Ogdon was also a composer. He wrote more than 200 pieces of music! These included four operas, two large works for orchestra, and many songs. He wrote a lot of music for solo piano, including two piano concertos. He even recorded one of his own piano concertos.

He also created 50 musical arrangements of works by other composers. These included famous names like Igor Stravinsky, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Richard Wagner. He also made piano versions of songs by popular American composers like Cole Porter and George Gershwin. Many of his original music papers are kept at the Royal Northern College of Music Library.

Health Challenges

John Ogdon was a strong person, and his wife often said he had a lot of energy. He was known as a "gentle giant" because he was kind and generous. However, in 1973, he experienced a severe health breakdown. This changed his personality at times. Doctors first thought he had schizophrenia, but later diagnosed him with manic depression, which is now called bipolar disorder. This condition might have been passed down from his father. John spent some time in a hospital in London. Even in the hospital, he practiced the piano for three hours every day.

In 1983, after leaving the hospital, he played at the opening of the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. In 1988, he released a five-disc recording of a very long and difficult piece called Opus clavicembalisticum by Sorabji. John Ogdon passed away in August 1989 from pneumonia, which was made worse by undiagnosed diabetes.

His Lasting Impact

John's wife, Brenda, wrote a book about their life together in 1981, and a second edition came out just before he died. Another book about him was published in 2014.

The BBC made a film about his life called Virtuoso. In the film, actor Alfred Molina played John Ogdon and won an award for his performance. The film showed John's illness as bipolar disorder, as he responded better to treatment for that condition. Brenda Ogdon also said that his intense focus on music could have been a sign of bipolar disorder.

In 2014, a TV show called John Ogdon: Living with Genius was shown on BBC Four. After the show, there was a musical tribute with piano performances by Peter Donohoe, including one of John Ogdon's own compositions.

Other musicians have also honored John Ogdon. In 1990, Gordon Rumson wrote a piano piece called Threnody for John Ogdon. Organist Kevin Bowyer commissioned and performed a work called Pansophiae for John Ogdon, written by Alistair Hinton.

John Ogdon is remembered by his daughter, Annabel, and his son, Richard.

Discography

John Ogdon made many recordings during his career. Here are some of the composers whose works he recorded:

• Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
  • Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 5 in E♭ major, Op. 73
  • 32 Variations on an original theme in C minor, WoO 80
• Sir Arthur Bliss
  • Piano Concerto in B-flat
• Johannes Brahms
  • Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in B♭ major, Op. 83
• Percy Grainger
  • Transcription of Lullaby from Tribute to Foster
  • Shepherd's Hey
  • Zanzibar Boat Song
• Alun Hoddinott
  • Sonata No. 3, Op. 40
• Franz Liszt
  • Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in E♭ major, S.124
  • Mephisto Waltz No. 1 (Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke), S.514
  • Grande Fantaisie de bravoure sur La Clochette (La campanella) de Paganini, S.420
  • Grande Etude S.137, No.11
• Tilo Medek
  • "Battaglia alla Turca" for two pianos
• Nikolai Medtner
  • Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 25, No.1 (Fairy Tale)
  • Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 25, No.2 (Night Wind)
• Franz Schubert
  • Piano Sonata in C minor, D.958
• Dmitri Shostakovich
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 61
• Igor Stravinsky
  • Sonata for two pianos (1943/1944)
  • Concerto for two solo pianos (1935)

Recordings

Here are some of his notable album recordings:

• Ferruccio Busoni: Fantasia contrappuntistica, Fantasia nach J. S. Bach, and Toccata.
• Ferruccio Busoni: Piano Concerto (with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Daniell Revenaugh, conductor).
• Kaikhosru Sorabji: Opus clavicembalisticum.