SMITH-BRINDLE Reginald

Reginald Smith Brindle was born in 1917 in Cuerden, England. His parents had been amateur musicians and he took lessons in flute, clarinet, saxophone and piano. He also displayed a great interest in the organ and the guitar at this time.
Smith Brindle was discouraged from a career in music by his family and, at the outbreak of the Second World War, joined the army. During this time, he studied counterpoint through a correspondence course, and re-acquainted himself with the guitar. He also encountered the recordings of Segovia and immersed himself and guitar and lute music.
After the war, Smith Brindle was awarded first prize in a composition contest in Rome for his string orchestra piece, Fantasia Passacaglia (originally a guitar piece). In 1946, he began his studies for his Bachelor of Music, and was subsequently granted a fellowship to continue studies in Florence with Ildebrando Pizzetti and Luigi Dallapiccola. During the 1950s, he met a young Julian Bream, who premiered two of his guitar works. Unconvinced that the guitar could convey his complex ideas, Smith Brindle wouldn’t write for the instrument again until 1970.
In 1957, Smith Brindle was hired as lecturer at University College of North Wales. During the next fifteen years, he would compose some of his most ambitious works, and enjoyed several premieres across Britain, including a BBC Proms performance in 1964. He was appointed as Professor of Music in 1970 at the University of Surrey and explored the possibilities of electronic music. His interest in guitar composition was revived during this period as well, beginning with the Trio for three guitars in 1970. This was followed by Variants, which was dedicated to Julian Bream, and premiered by John Williams. By 1974, he had become disenchanted with the technological aspects of music and expressed that “the guitar became my refuge in the philistine world of a technological university”. His output over the next three decades included several pieces for solo guitar, a guitar concerto, works for guitar ensembles of various sizes, and the three volume Guitarcosmos. Smith Brindle also continued writing for the orchestra and contributed to the organ repertoire. Reginald Smith Brindle died in Caterham, Surrey on September 9, 2003.

These editions with Doberman-Yppan have been made possible thanks to the editing work of Steven Thachuk, also responsible for the Smith-Brindle Collection.