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Gordon Watson AM (28 February 192116 April 1999) was an Australian classical pianist and teacher. He taught at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music from 1964 to 1986, retiring as Head of the Keyboard Department. ==Career== Gordon Charles Watson was born in Parkes, New South Wales in 1921. He served with the Australian Imperial Force for four years in World War II.〔(''The Courier-Mail'', 2 January 1953 )〕 He studied piano under Laurence Godfrey Smith in Sydney, and later had advanced studies at Mills College, Oakland, California with Egon Petri (piano),〔(Sitsky: Conversations with the Composer )〕〔(Sorabji Resource Site )〕〔 and Darius Milhaud (composition).〔〔(Music Web International, ''Quadrille With a Raven: Memoirs by Humphrey Searle'', Chapter 15, "Two New Continents" )〕 As early as 1943, commentators such as Neville Cardus were noticing that his piano playing, while showing great skill and promise, revealed the soul of someone other than a performer (Cardus suggested composing or conducting might be Watson's natural bents).〔(Neville Cardus, "Young Pianist of Promise", ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 8 December 1943 )〕〔(''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 27 March 1947 )〕 Watson spent some years living in the United Kingdom as a touring performer. On 22 October 1951, to celebrate the 140th anniversary of the birth of Franz Liszt, he performed the complete ''Transcendental Études'' in a concert at the Wigmore Hall. On that occasion he also premiered Humphrey Searle's Piano Sonata, Op. 21, written for the occasion.〔 (The sonata was loosely based on Liszt's Sonata in B minor and has been described as "probably, both the finest and most original piano work ever produced by a British composer".〔(David C F Wright, ''Humphrey Searle'' )〕) Watson later recorded the sonata, but the recording was quickly deleted.〔(''The Music Parlour'' )〕 In 1957 he was able to introduce Searle to his teacher Egon Petri.〔(Music Web International, ''Quadrille With a Raven: Memoirs by Humphrey Searle'', Chapter 12, "Breakthrough" )〕 Watson wrote the sleeve notes for the LP recording of classic Egon Petri performances issued by EMI in 1967 as number 7 in its Great Instrumentalists series.〔(World Cat org )〕 In 1951 he was chosen by Constant Lambert to play the difficult piano part in the premiere of his final ballet, ''Tiresias''.〔(Graeme Skinner, musicologist )〕 In late 1952 he gave the premiere performance of Darius Milhaud's 1st Piano Concerto, in London.〔 In 1954/55, Watson commissioned a piano concerto from Humphrey Searle (his first), but was unable to be the soloist at the premiere at the Cheltenham Festival in July 1955 as he was touring in Australia.〔(Music Web International, ''Quadrille With a Raven: Memoirs by Humphrey Searle'', Chapter 11, "Lesley and Rosie's Pub" )〕 He did, however, premiere Searle's 2nd Piano Concerto, Op. 27, on 14 August 1956, at the Royal Albert Hall, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under John Hollingsworth.〔 On 20 August 1956 Watson and Thea King gave the first performance of Humphrey Searle's Suite for Clarinet and Piano.〔(Arts and Humanities Research Council )〕 In 1958 on a visit home to Sydney he was asked by Winifred Burston, a renowned piano teacher at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, to assess the young Larry Sitsky's skills. He did so, and he and Burston jointly formed the view that Sitsky would benefit from study with Egon Petri, who accepted him as a pupil. Sitsky went on to study with Petri for over three years, from May 1958 until the end of 1961.〔(Current Issues in Music, Volume 2 (2008), ''In Search of New Worlds: A Festschrift for Larry Sitsky'' )〕 Gordon Watson played the solo piano part of Brian Easdale's score for the controversial 1960 Michael Powell film ''Peeping Tom''.〔(Cast of ''Peeping Tom'' (1960) at IMDb )〕 In 1964 Sir Bernard Heinze appointed Watson to succeed Winifred Burston on the teaching staff of the Sydney Conservatorium.〔(''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 20 May 1964 )〕 He was the head of the Keyboard Department until 1986, being succeeded by Elizabeth Powell.〔(Sydney Conservatorium of Music )〕〔(Elizabeth Powell.com )〕 His students included: Gerard Willems,〔(Southern Highlands International Piano Competition )〕 Michael Kieran Harvey,〔(University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music )〕 Stephanie McCallum〔(David C F Wright, ''A Second Set of Pianists'' )〕 (she dedicated her album "Perfume: The Exquisite Piano Music of France" to her teacher Gordon Watson),〔(Stephanie McCallum )〕 Elena Kats-Chernin,〔(Sydney Symphony Orchestra )〕 Carey Beebe, Barry Walmsley,〔(Music Teachers Association of NSW )〕 Brennan Keats,〔(Wirripang )〕 Garry Laycock (1944–88; who also used the professional name Leon Gibbons),〔(State Library of New South Wales )〕 and Peter Carthew.〔(Australian Piano Teachers )〕 He was a juror for the Sydney International Piano Competition.〔(SIPCA )〕 The Australian pedagogue and composer Alex Burnard (1900–1971), a student of Ralph Vaughan Williams, wrote a set of ''Twelve Folk-Songs Settings'' for Watson.〔(Larry Sitsky, ''Australian Piano Music of the Twentieth Century'', p. 76 )〕 Gordon Watson died in Sydney on 16 April 1999. An obituary appeared in ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' on 27 April.〔(Ryerson Index ); Retrieved 4 May 2013〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gordon Watson (pianist)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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