GORDON LANGFORD
Born 1930 Composer
To many people, Gordon Langford will be remembered as one of the finest and most widely heard composers of light music and brass band music of his generation. Born in Edgware and educated at the Royal Academy of Music, his early career saw him work as a pianist, arranger and composer for the BBC – as well as writing music for test cards, he also regularly composed and arranged for Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night. Fans of the King’s Singers, meanwhile, also know him as the man whose arrangements of songs such as ‘Blow away the morning dew’ helped launch the vocal sextet in the late 1960s. ‘In that one arrangement, I believe he instantly created what was to become the “sound” of The King’s Singers,’ writes founder member Brian Kay. ‘His impeccable ear for choral balance, his amazing skill at voicing and his own great sense of humour all combined to create something very special and we never looked back.’ Much of Langford’s music has been recorded – not least his Concertino for Trumpet and Orchestra and Rhapsody for Trombone – and in 1971 he won an
Ivor Novello Award for his March from the Colour Suite.