{{short description|British composer (1943–1997)}} {{distinguish|Paul Read (disambiguation){{!}}Paul Read}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}} {{Use British English|date=May 2012}} {{infobox musical artist | name = Paul Reade | birth_name = Paul Geoffrey Reade | birth_place = Liverpool, England, United Kingdom | birth_date = 10 January 1943 | death_place = | death_date = 7 June 1997 (aged 54) | occupation = Composer | genre = Television, ballet | associated_acts = English National Opera }} '''Paul Geoffrey Reade''' (10 January 1943 – 7 June 1997) was an English composer. Born in Liverpool, he studied piano and composition (1962-1965) at the Royal Academy of Music with Alan Richardson and worked at English National Opera as a ''répétiteur''.<ref name=times/> In 1991 he received an Ivor Novello Award for his theme music for ''The Victorian Kitchen Garden'' television series.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Ivors 1991 |url=https://ivorsacademy.com/awards/the-ivors/archive/?ay=1991 |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=The Ivors Academy |language=en-GB}}</ref>
==Career== Reade's first piece for orchestra, ''Overture to a City'', was performed in 1965 by the Academy Orchestra under Maurice Handford. From the late 1960s he became well known as a composer for children's television, with credits including the theme tune and many songs for Play School in 1968. (He was also the Play School pianist). He arranged the Beethoven extracts heard by millions of children in the surreal animated series ''Ludwig''. His other children's television credits include ''The Flumps'', ''Crystal Tipps and Alistair'', ''Alphabet Castle'' and ''Mortimer and Arabel''. There is also a full length opera for children, ''David and Goliath'' (1975), which was successfully revived by Stephen Lawless at the Buxton Festival in 1985.<ref name=times/>
He also composed the scores for the BBC Classic serials ''A Tale of Two Cities'' (1980), ''Great Expectations'' (1981) and ''Jane Eyre'' (1983).<ref name=celeb>[https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/a-celebration-of-paul-reade-composer Martin Davies. ''A Celebration of Paul Reade, Composer'']</ref> The music for ''The Victorian Kitchen Garden'' (1989) has been published in various arrangements and continues to be played in recitals and music examinations. With Tim Gibson he composed the theme music for the ''Antiques Roadshow''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=1997-06-11 |title=Obituary: Paul Reade |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/obituary-paul-reade-5563497.html |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>
Several works featuring narrator and orchestra for young people appeared in the 1980s, written for the Manchester Camerata, including ''Cinderella'' (1980) and ''The Midas Touch'' (1982). They were premiered at the Royal Exchange, Manchester and later broadcast, with narrations by Michael Hordern and Nigel Hawthorne.<ref name=times/> The Camerata commissioned Reade's Flute Concerto in 1985, first performed by his future wife Philippa Davies.<ref name=celeb/> The orchestral song cycle ''Chants du Roussillon'', first performed in 1988 at Moura Lympany's Rasiguères Festival, were written for the soprano Elizabeth Harwood and subsequently recorded by Virginia Kerr.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Virginia Kerr {{!}} International Soprano, Vocal Teacher & Psychotherapist |url=https://www.virginiakerr.ie/ |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=Virginia Kerr |language=en-GB}}</ref> Choral works include the cantatas ''The Journey of the Winds'' (1976)<ref>'First performance of new cantata', ''The Times'', 23 November 1976, p.11</ref> and ''Ballads of Judas Iscariot'' (1988). His chamber music in particular shows the influence of French impressionism, tempered by the English pastoral style.<ref name=times/> Examples include the Saxophone Quartet (1979)<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/942018 ''Notes'', Vol 47 No 2, December 1990, p.563]</ref> and ''Aspects of a Landscape'' for solo oboe.<ref>Recorded by Nicholas Daniel, [https://www.discogs.com/release/9798493-Nicholas-Daniel-Oboe-Alone-Hautbois-Seul Léman Classics, LC 42801] (1991)</ref>
Reade eventually turned to ballet; among the latter works he scored were ''Hobson's Choice'' in 1989 (choreographed by David Bintley from the eponymous play), and 1996's ''Far from the Madding Crowd'' (after the work by Thomas Hardy).<ref name=":0" /> ''Hobson's Choice'' was recorded by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia and released on ASV Records in 1993,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reade Hobson's Choice |url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/reviews/review?slug=reade-hobsons-choice |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=Gramophone |language=en}}</ref> while ''Far From the Madding Crowd'' was recorded by the Sinfonia in 1998 on Black Box.<ref>[https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/reade-far-from-the-madding-crowd ''Far From the Madding Crowd'', reviewed in ''Gramophone'' July 1998]</ref>
A recording of vocal, orchestral and chamber works, ''A Celebration of Paul Reade'', was issued in 2023 by Signum Records, including ''Chants du Roussillon'', ''Song of the Birds'', ''Suite from The Victorian Garden'', the Serenata for Wind Sextet, and ''Catalonia'', the first movement of a proposed bassoon concerto, which was the last piece that Reade composed.<ref>[https://signumrecords.com/product/a-celebration-of-paul-reade/SIGCD758/ ''A Celebration of Paul Reade'', Signum SIGCD758 (2023)]</ref> Also left unfinished was a harmonica concerto for Larry Adler.<ref name=times/>
== Death == Reade died of cancer on 7 June 1997.<ref name=times>Obituary, ''The Times'', 24 June 1997, p. 25</ref> He was survived by his wife Philippa Davies (the principal flautist of the London Mozart Players), as well as his ex-wife Mary Clark (married 1965, divorced 1985), and their son and daughter.<ref name=":0"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Reade, Paul}} Category:1943 births Category:1997 deaths Category:20th-century British classical musicians Category:20th-century English composers Category:20th-century English male composers Category:20th-century British musicians Category:British ballet composers Category:English television composers Category:English male television composers Category:Musicians from Lancashire Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Ivor Novello Award winners