Benjamin Frankel

Benjamin Frankel (January 31, 1906 – February 12, 1973) was a British composer.

Biography
Frankel was born in London on January 31, 1906, the son of Polish-Jewish parents. He started learning the violin at an early age, showing remarkable talent; at age 14, his piano-playing talents attracted the attention of Victor Benham, who persuaded his parents to let him study music full-time. He spent a few weeks in Germany in 1922, but quickly returned to London, where he won a scholarship from the Worshipful Company of Musicians and attempted his first serious compositions while earning his income as a jazz violinist, pianist and arranger.

By the early 1930s, Frankel was in high demand as an arranger and musical director in London; he gave up theatre work in 1944, though, even though he retained an interest in movie composing until his death, writing over 100 scores. Frankel also became widely-known as a serious composer after World War II; his first work to gain fame was the violin concerto dedicated "in the memory of 'the six million'", a reference to the Jews murdered during the Holocaust, commissioned for the 1951 Festival of Britain and first performed by Max Rostal.

Frankel's most famous pieces include a cycle of five string quartets and eight symphonies as well as a number of concertos for violin and viola; his single best-known piece is probably the First Sonata for Solo Violin, which, like his concertos, resulted from a long association with Max Rostal. During the last 15 years of his life, Frankel also developed his own style of 12-note composition that retained contact with tonality.

Frankel died in London on February 12, 1973 while working on the three-act opera Marching Song and a ninth symphony which had been commissioned by the BBC. When he died, Marching Song had been completed in short score and was orchestrated by Buxton Orr, a composer who had studied with Frankel and whose advocacy has been at least partly responsible for the revival of interest in his works.

Posthumous Reputation
In the twenty years following his death, Frankel's works were almost completely neglected. In 1996, BBC featured him as "Composer of the Week", allowing many people a first opportunity to hear his music (they did so again in 2006). A major turning point, however, came when a German record company CPO (Classic Produktion Osnabrück, since bought by JPC) decided to record his entire output with the help of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. This has allowed, for the first time, an appraisal of his output.

A selection of works

Symphonies
Symphony no. 1 — op. 33, three movements, 1958 (first twelve-tone work?)
Symphony no. 2 — op. 38, three movements, 1962
Symphony no. 3 — op. 40, one movement, 1964
Symphony no. 4 — op. 44, three movements, 1966
Symphony no. 5 — op. 46, three movements, 1967
Symphony no. 6 — op. 49, five movements, 1969
Symphony no. 7 — op. 50, four movements, 1970
Symphony no. 8 — op. 53, four movements, 1971

Concertos
Violin concerto To the memory of the six million op. 24, four movements, 1951
Serenata Concertante for piano trio and orchestra, one movement (in parts,) op. 37, 1960
Viola concerto op. 45, three movements, 1967

Other orchestral and small-orchestra works (selected)
Three sketches for strings (originally for quartet,) op. 2, 1920s?
Solemn Speech and Discussion, op. 11
Youth Music, four pieces for small orchestra, op. 12
May Day (overture), op. 22, 1948
Mephistopheles Serenade and Dance, op. 25, 1952
Shakespeare Overture, op. 29
Overture to a Ceremony, op. 51

Selected chamber works
Three piano studies, op. 1, 1926
String trio no. 1, op. 3
Trio for clarinet, cello and piano, op. 10, three movements, 1940
Violin solo sonata no. 1, op. 13 (before 1943)
String quartet no. 1, op. 14, four movements, around 1944–5
String quartet no. 2, op. 15, five movements, 1944
String quartet no. 3, op. 18, five movements, around 1947
Early Morning Music, trio for oboe, clarinet and bassoon, three movements, 1948
String quartet no. 4, op. 21, four movements, around 1949?
Quartet for piano and strings, op. 26, three movements ((c) 1962 but written sometime in the 1950s?)
Quintet for clarinet and strings, op. 28, three movements, 1956
Inventions in Major/Minor modes, cello and piano, op. 31
String trio no. 2, op. 34, three movements, (c) 1960 (?)
Cinque Pezzi Notturni for eleven instruments, op. 35, five pieces, 1959
Violin solo sonata no. 2, op. 39, three movements, 1962
Pezzi pianissimi for clarinet cello and piano, op. 41, four pieces, 1964
String quartet no. 5, op. 43, five movements, 1965

Vocal works
The Aftermath, op. 17
Eight songs, op. 32, 1959

Film scores
Radio Parade of 1935, 1935
London Belongs to Me, 1948
Trottie True, 1948
So Long at the Fair, 1950
Night and the City, 1950 UK release
The Man in the White Suit, 1951
Appointment with Venus, 1951
A Kid for Two Farthings, 1955
The Curse of the Werewolf, 1960
Battle of the Bulge, 1965