benjamin frankel (31 january 190612 february 1973) was a british composer. 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. ==biography== frankel was born in london on 31 january 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 gifts attracted the attention of victor benham, who persuaded his parents to let him study music full-time. he spent six months 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. known then as ben frankel, his jazz work can be heard on recordings by fred elizalde's band. by the early 1930s, ben frankel was in high demand as an arranger and musical director in london, working with several dance bands. he wrote many particularly fine dance band arrangements for henry hall's bbc dance orchestra, for example recordings of 'learn to croon', 'don't blame me', 'weep no more my baby', 'april in paris' and 'in town tonight'. ben frankel wrote many arrangements and scores for theatre and film music but gave up theatre work in 1944. he did, however, retain an interest in film composing until his death, writing over 100 scores. these included the first british serial film score, to the curse of the werewolf (1961).david huckvale, hammer film scores and the musical avant-garde, introduction, p.4 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 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. from 1941 till 1952 he was a member of the british communist party, but resigned his membership in protest at the prague show-trials.according to the evening standard of 12 december 1952 in 1955, he succeeded edward clark as chairman of the iscm.
1906_births 1973_deaths 20th-century_classical_composers British_Jews Deaths_in_London English_classical_composers English_communists English_film_score_composers Jewish_classical_composers Jewish_classical_musicians Light_music_composers