# Christopher Ball

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For the former Warden of Keble College, Oxford, see [Christopher Ball (linguist)](/source/Christopher_Ball_(linguist)).

**Christopher Ball** (7 July 1936 – 7 April 2022) was a British [composer](/source/Composer), arranger, [conductor](/source/Conductor_(music)), [clarinetist](/source/Clarinetist) and recorder player.

## Early life and education

Ball was born in [Leeds](/source/Leeds) in 1936.[1][2] His father had trained in piano tuning and his mother was an amateur pianist. Ball attended [Roundhay School](/source/Roundhay_School) and was taught clarinet by Michael Saxton.[1] He studied clarinet as well as piano at the [Royal Manchester College of Music](/source/Royal_Manchester_College_of_Music) (now the [Royal Northern College of Music](/source/Royal_Northern_College_of_Music)), where his clarinet teacher was with Norman MacDonald, and then continued his studies of the instrument at the [Royal Academy of Music](/source/Royal_Academy_of_Music) with the clarinetists [Jack Brymer](/source/Jack_Brymer), [Reginald Kell](/source/Reginald_Kell) and [Gervase de Peyer](/source/Gervase_de_Peyer).[1][2] He also studied conducting with [Maurice Miles](/source/Maurice_Miles).[1] After winning a Gulbenkian Scholarship at the [Guildhall School of Music and Drama](/source/Guildhall_School_of_Music_and_Drama), he took part in conducting masterclasses with [Pierre Monteux](/source/Pierre_Monteux), [Constantin Silvestri](/source/Constantin_Silvestri), [Sir Charles Mackerras](/source/Sir_Charles_Mackerras), [Norman Del Mar](/source/Norman_Del_Mar) and [Sir Georg Solti](/source/Sir_Georg_Solti) (whose masterclass was televised), and won the Guildhall School's Ricordi Conducting Prize.[1][3]

## Career

### Conductor and performer

Ball began his career freelancing as an orchestral clarinetist in the [Halle Orchestra](/source/Halle_Orchestra) under [Sir John Barbirolli](/source/Sir_John_Barbirolli),[2][3] while still a student at the Royal Manchester College of Music. In 1964 he became an apprentice conductor of the [BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra](/source/BBC_Northern_Symphony_Orchestra) (now the [BBC Philharmonic Orchestra](/source/BBC_Philharmonic_Orchestra)) and then assistant conductor of the [Vancouver Symphony Orchestra](/source/Vancouver_Symphony_Orchestra). He was one of several conductors of the [Royal Ballet](/source/Royal_Ballet), Covent Garden (1968–70).[1][3]

In 1971 Ball founded the Praetorius Consort, an early music ensemble, which he directed. The consort performed at the [Wigmore Hall](/source/Wigmore_Hall)[4] and elsewhere in London[5][6][7] as well as at festivals in Europe[8][9][10] during the 1970s. It made recordings for EMI, BBC Records and Decca,[citation needed] including *Medieval Paris: Music of the City*.[11][12][13] In 1973 he founded the London Baroque Trio, performing on recorder with Mary Verney (harpsichord) and Peter Vel (bass viol). They made their Wigmore Hall debut in 1974; [Joan Chissell](/source/Joan_Chissell), in a review for *[The Times](/source/The_Times)*, praised Ball's playing for its "cooing tone and agility", writing that he "almost transcended the treble recorder's limitations".[14] He played a [Bressan](/source/Peter_Bressan) treble recorder dated around 1710.[1]

### Academic

Ball was a professor of clarinet and recorder at the Royal Academy of Music[3] for 41 years. His notable students include the clarinetist [Leslie Craven](/source/Leslie_Craven).[2]

### Composer

In 1981 Ball began a ten-year association with the [BBC Midland Radio Orchestra](/source/BBC_Orchestras_and_Singers), during which the BBC commissioned many light orchestral compositions and arrangements from him.[1][15] These include *A Summer Day*, one of Ball's earliest compositions, which has been broadcast more than a hundred times.[15]

From the mid-1990s Ball concentrated on composing.[16] Starting with a recorder concerto entitled *The Piper of Dreams* (1995),[1][17][18] he wrote a total of nine concertos for various instruments: oboe,[1][15][17][19] clarinet (2006),[2][20] flute,[20] French horn,[15][19] cor anglais (English horn),[citation needed] violin,[16][21] and two for cello (dedicated to the Croatian cellist [Stjepan Hauser](/source/Stjepan_Hauser) of [2Cellos](/source/2Cellos); the first dated 2010).[19][22] His other recorded works include a Clarinet Quintet,[citation needed] *Caprice on a Baroque Theme*,[citation needed] the wind quintet *Scenes From A Comedy*,[17][23] and *Invocations of Pan*.[24][25] He also wrote multiple works for solo recorder and various recorder ensembles.[18][26]

Stephen H. Smith, in a recent book on 20th-century English composers, describes Ball's work as in the "tonal, easy-listening tradition".[27] [Alan Titchmarsh](/source/Alan_Titchmarsh) describes Ball as an "accomplished contemporary composer" and praises his arrangement, *The Lark in the Clear Air*.[28] [Jack Sullivan](/source/Jack_Sullivan_(literary_scholar)), in a review for *[American Record Guide](/source/American_Record_Guide)*, describes Ball's concertos for wind instruments as "unremittingly pleasant", describing them as avoiding all dissonance and characterised by a "benevolent eclecticism that gives an amiable nod to the least forced moments in 20th Century music".[17] Andrew Achenbach, in a critical review of two recordings for *[Gramophone](/source/Gramophone_(magazine))*, found the Cello Concerto no. 1 overlong, and described it and the concertos for horn and oboe as being written in an "innocuously tuneful, wanly pastoral idiom stifling in its timidity".[19]

Ball died on 7 April 2022 at [Denville Hall](/source/Denville_Hall).[29]

## References

1. John Turner (summer 2005). The Recorder Music of Christopher Ball, Part 1. *Recorder Magazine* 25 (2); 43

1. Thomas Hancox (September 2007). New faces: Adam Walker. *Pan: The Flute Magazine* 37–41

1. Robert Markow (1 May 2010). A Conversation with Christopher Ball. *[Fanfare](/source/Fanfare_(magazine))*

1. Christopher Monk (1973). Where the wind blows. *[Early Music](/source/Early_Music_(journal))* 1: 101–105 JSTOR [3125992](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3125992)

1. Robert Donington (1975). Music in London: Early Music. *[The Musical Times](/source/The_Musical_Times)* 116: 262–63 JSTOR [959125](https://www.jstor.org/stable/959125)

1. Robert Donington (1974). Music in London: Early Music. *[The Musical Times](/source/The_Musical_Times)* 115: 965 JSTOR [958220](https://www.jstor.org/stable/958220)

1. Howard Mayer Brown (1974). Music in London: Early Music. *[The Musical Times](/source/The_Musical_Times)* 115: 588–89 JSTOR [959777](https://www.jstor.org/stable/959777)

1. Clifford Armstrong (1977). Zadar Festival 1976. *[Early Music](/source/Early_Music_(journal))* 5: 125–27 JSTOR [3125868](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3125868)

1. Christopher Monk (1975). Where the wind blows. *[Early Music](/source/Early_Music_(journal))* 3: 393–97 JSTOR [3125414](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3125414)

1. Anon. (1975). Activities. *[Early Music](/source/Early_Music_(journal))* 3: 420–27 JSTOR [3125439](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3125439)

1. [David Fallows](/source/David_Fallows) (1977). Review: *Medieval Paris* by Praetorius Consort, Ball; Purcell Consort, Burgess. *[The Musical Times](/source/The_Musical_Times)* 118: 739 JSTOR [959513](https://www.jstor.org/stable/959513)

1. Peter Willsher (1977). Recordings: Quarterly Checklist 21. *[Early Music](/source/Early_Music_(journal))* 5: 445–51; lists reviews by *[Gramophone](/source/Gramophone_(magazine))*, *[Hi-Fi News and Record Review](/source/Hi-Fi_News_and_Record_Review)* and *[Records and Recording](/source/Records_and_Recording)* JSTOR [3126123](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3126123)

1. Mark Steighner (1979). Consorting with Praetorius: Establishing an Early Music Ensemble. *[Music Educators Journal](/source/Music_Educators_Journal)* 66: 50–53, 80 [doi:10.2307/3395717](https://doi.org/10.2307/3395717)

1. [Joan Chissell](/source/Joan_Chissell) (3 April 1974). London debuts. *[The Times](/source/The_Times)* (59055)

1. R. James Tobin (2012), [CD Review: Christopher Ball Concertos](http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/m/mco00143a.php). Classical Net (accessed 17 April 2022)

1. Robert Markow (January/February 2010). Ball *Violin Concerto*. 5 *Bagatelles*. *From the Hebrides*. *Celtic Twilight*. Christopher Ball, cond; Thomas Gould (vn); Paul Arden-Taylor (ob, Eh, rcr); Leslie Craven (c); Celia Birkinshaw (bn); Emerald Concert O. OMNIBUS 5003 (74:40)*[Fanfare](/source/Fanfare_(magazine))*

1. [Jack Sullivan](/source/Jack_Sullivan_(literary_scholar)) (November/December 1999). Ball: Recorder Concerto; Oboe Concerto; Scenes from a Comedy; Pagan Piper; Pan Overheard. *[American Record Guide](/source/American_Record_Guide)* 62 (6): 89

1. [Recorder Music by Christopher Ball](http://www.recordermagazine.co.uk/CBall.pdf) *Recorder Magazine* (accessed 17 April 2022); quotes from reviews in *[Classic FM Magazine](/source/Classic_FM_Magazine)*, *Classical Record Reviews* and *Recorder Magazine*

1. Andrew Achenbach (July 2012). [Concertos from clarinetist, conductor and composer Christopher Ball](https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/c-ball-music-for-cello). *[Gramophone](/source/Gramophone_(magazine))* (accessed 17 April 2022)

1. Julian Coward (March 2007). Reviews: CDs: *Something Old. Something Borrowed, Something New*. Jacob and Molly Roseman (flute and piano) / The Jennings-Johnson Duo. Concertartistsguild / Christopher Ball: Works featuring wind instruments, with Leslie Craven (Clarinet), Adam Walker (flute). Quantum QM 7040. *Pan: The Flute Magazine* 53–54

1. Julian Haylock (31 August 2009). [*Celtic Twilight*. Ball: *Violin Concerto*, *Five Bagatelles for wind trio*, *From the Hebrides*, *Celtic Twilight*.](https://www.thestrad.com/celtic-twilight-ball-violin-concerto-five-bagatelles-for-wind-trio-from-the-hebrides-celtic-twilight/1496.article) *[The Strad](/source/The_Strad)* (accessed 17 April 2022)

1. Tim Homfray (25 July 2012). [Ball: *Cello Concerto no.1*, *Song Without Words*, *Roundelay*, *Close of the Day*, *Folksong Arrangements*, *For Stjepan*](https://www.thestrad.com/ball-cello-concerto-no1-song-without-words--roundelay--close-of-the-day--folksong-arrangements--for-stjepan/698.article). *[The Strad](/source/The_Strad)* (accessed 17 April 2022)

1. Christine Woodward (December 2009). *Pan: The Flute Magazine* 69

1. Patrick Hanudel (May/Jun 2009). *Expressions*: Schocker, Wakefield, Jackson, Bimbi, Hexel, Ball. Leslie Craven, Tom Jackson, cl; Rachel Attwell, p; Katherine Thomas, hp; Jonathan Burgess, fl. *[American Record Guide](/source/American_Record_Guide)* 72 (3): 173–74

1. Frank Michael (2009). Christopher Ball: *Invocations of Pan*. *Tibia* 34 (4): 626

1. [John Turner](/source/John_Turner_(recorder_player)) (autumn 2005). The Recorder Music of Christopher Ball, Part 2. *Recorder Magazine* 25 (3): 77–85

1. Stephen H. Smith. "Survey" in *Albion's Glory: A Celebration of Twentieth Century English Composers* (Troubador; 2022) (ISBN 9781800466968)

1. [Alan Titchmarsh](/source/Alan_Titchmarsh) (1 February 2014). Alan Titchmarsh: why I love to listen to film and TV music. *[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)*

1. [Christopher Ball: Composer – Conductor – Recorder soloist – Photographer](http://www.christopherballcomposer.com) (accessed 17 April 2022)

## External links

- [Personal Website](https://web.archive.org/web/20071121152640/http://www.christopherballcomposer.com/)
- [Christopher Ball's Recordings](https://web.archive.org/web/20140407082606/http://christopherballcomposer.com/product-category/recordings/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Christopher Ball](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Ball) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Ball?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.