Norman Hallam (composer)

  1. Home
  2. Wiki
For the footballer, see Norman Hallam.

Norman Hallam (born 9 October 1945, died April 2025) was an English clarinetist and the composer of the Dance Suite for wind quintet.[1]

Born in Coventry, Hallam began playing the clarinet from the age of 11,[2] studying with Michael Saxton, then principal clarinet with the BBC Midland Orchestra. He continued his studies at the Birmingham School of Music with Saxton and composition with Allan Hawthorne-Baker (1909-1977). He attended the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1964 until 1968. After two years as a freelancer he joined the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 1970 as 2nd Clarinet under Kevin Banks,[3] staying there until 1999 when he retired for health reasons. Hallam was also a member of the Canzona Wind Quintet from the mid-1970s until the mid-1980s.[4]

His best known composition is the Dance Suite (1980) for wind ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon), which was written for Canzona.[5] It has four movements: Waltz, Bossa Nova, Quickstep and Charleston.[6] Other pieces include a Fantasy for four horns and a Fantasy for unaccompanied clarinet (1992), which has been performed by Michael Whight.[7] His jazz-influenced Clarinet Concerto, premiered in October 1998, was composed for Kevin Banks, who performed it twice (at Cheltenham and Poole). Banks has described the difficulties of the piece as "fiendish".[8]

Hallam contacted polio in 1949 at the age of four, and used a wheelchair all his life.[4][2] He had a daughter and son from his first marriage. He married his second wife Sally (a viola player) in the early-1980s, and they had a son and daughter.[9]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ 'Remembering Norman Hallam'. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra news, 30 May 2025
  2. ^ a b 'Norman (11) spends six happy days', Coventry Evening Telegraph, 30 April 1957, p. 9
  3. ^ John Stolls. 'Man with a noted win over polio', Coventry Evening Telegraph, 29 September 1970, p. 10
  4. ^ a b Norman Hallam biography, Camden Music
  5. ^ Max Derrickson. Program notes for Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra concert, 16 March 2024
  6. ^ Recorded by The Galliard Ensemble on Opus Number Zoo: Twentieth century wind quintets, Deux-Elles DXL 1025 (2002)
  7. ^ Fantasy for Solo Clarinet, performed by Michael Whight, 2014
  8. ^ Interview with Kevin Banks, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, 2018
  9. ^ 'The talented musician who has overcome all the odds', Coventry Evening Telegraph, 14 October 1998, p. 6
[edit]