John McCabe, was a British composer and pianist. He created works in many different forms, including symphonies, ballets, and solo works for the piano. He served as principal of the London College of Music from 1983 to 1990. Guy Rickards described him as "one of Britain's finest composers in the past half-century" and "a pianist of formidable gifts and wide-ranging sympathies".
Early life and education
McCabe was born in Huyton, Liverpool on 21 April 1939. His father was a physicist. McCabe was badly burned in an accident when he was a child and was home schooled for eight years. During this time, McCabe said that there was "a lot of music in the house", which inspired his future career. He explained "My mother was a very good amateur violinist and there were records and printed music everywhere. I thought that if all these guys – Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert – can do it, then so can I!". By the age of 11 McCabe had composed 13 symphonies, but he later suppressed them, believing they were not good enough. He subsequently attended Liverpool Institute.
Career
Composer
After studies at the Royal Manchester College of Music and in Munich, with composers Humphrey Proctor-Gregg, Thomas Pitfield, Harald Genzmer and others, he embarked upon a career as both a composer and a virtuoso pianist. Guy Rickards considers McCabe's early works to have been overlooked because he was perceived as a pianist rather than a composer. One of his early successes was the orchestral song cycle Notturni ed Alba, based on a set of poems in medieval Latin about the theme of night, which was described in Gramophone as "an intoxicating creation, full of tingling atmosphere and slumbering passion" (quoted in harv|Anon.|2015bharv|Rickards|2015harv|Anon.|2015aharv|Anon.|2014harv|Anon.|2015bharvnb|Rickards|2015harvnb|Anon.|2015b
Pianist
McCabe first became known as a pianist. His repertoire was wide, from pre-classical to modern composers. He specialised in twentieth-century music, particularly by English composers. He gave the UK premiere of John Corigliano's Piano Concerto. Another specialism was the music of Haydn; McCabe's "definitive" mid-1970s recording of Haydn's complete piano sonatas was described in Gramophone as "one of the great recorded monuments of the keyboard repertoire". He recorded several CDs with the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber.
Teacher and administrator
From 1965 to 1968 McCabe was pianist‐in‐residence at University College, Cardiff. He served as principal of the London College of Music from 1983 to 1990, where his efforts to enhance the college's profile resulted in its merging with Thames Valley University (;. He also held visiting professorships at the universities of Melbourne, Australia and Cincinnati, USA during the 1990s. Among his notable pupils is Canadian composer Gary Kulesha.
He married Monica Smith, a former head of the Sittingbourne Music Society, in 1974. In December 2012 McCabe was diagnosed with a brain tumour. He continued to compose music during his treatment. John McCabe died after a long illness on 13 February 2015.
Career highlights
1974–76 – recorded the complete Piano Sonatas of Haydn for Decca/London.
