Malcolm Lipkin

Composer whose works plead for tolerance in a fragile world

THE LIVERPOOL-BORN composer, Malcolm Lipkin, who has died aged 85, passed away 12 days after his wife, Judith who was 81. They met in London shortly after she moved to the UK from her native South Africa and trained as a quantity surveyor.

A few years after their marriage in 1968, the Lipkins settled in Crowborough, Sussex, although remaining members of West London Synagogue throughout their lives. By this time Malcolm Leyland Lipkin was an established composer. Born in Liverpool to Reuben, a doctor and Evelyn née Urding, a fashion assistant at John Lewis, he studied piano with the legendary Liverpool-based teacher, Gordon Green and in 1949, at the Royal College of Music. At 19 he gave the premiére of his Third Piano Sonata at the Gaudeamus Foundation Music Week in Holland, encouraged by composers Boris Blacker and Georges Enescu. From 1954-1957 he studied with Hungarian-British composer, Máyás Seiber.

Lipkin established his name with several successful premiéres at the Cheltenham Festival. His First Violin Sonata (1957), dedicated to Yfrah Neaman and Howard Ferguson, had over 100 performances within a year. Two major commissions followed: from Neaman, the Second Violin Concerto premiéred in

1963 with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Constantin Silvestri: and from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society, his Sinfonia di Roma, whose 1966 début was directed by Charles Groves.

In 1959 Lipkin met Christopher Finzi, son of the composer Gerald Finzi and became a frequent guest at their Hampshire family home. Lipkin recalled being told by Christopher “that the Newbury String Players required a short piece for horn and strings within eight days, and I was set to work accordingly! Thus was my Pastorale completed in a single day”. Lipkin’s String Trio (1964) was dedicated to Gerald’s widow Joy and his Suite for Flute and Cello (1961), celebrated Christopher’s marriage to Hilary du Pré. By the late 1960s Lipkin’s compositional voice seemed “old fashioned” in comparison with other contemporaries and he and his publishers parted company. Undaunted, he became one of the first self-published composers, long before this became the norm. Judith tirelessly sent out scores to conductors, artists, administrators and broadcasters.

She was a superb hostess, welcoming family and friends from the music profession to their home, and offered crucial support when Lipkin tenaciously ploughed his lonely furrow composing a legacy of distinctive, finely crafted symphonies, such as The Pursuit (1975-9) and Sun (1979-86), premiéred by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. His prolific output includes Clifford’s Tower (1977), a wind quintet, an oboe concerto, a piano trio, and a suite for string orchestra, From Across La Manche (1998).

He wrote several psalm settings, like Psalm 121 (1975) , for liturgical use. Written for Sidney Fixman, who conducted its premiére at the West London Synagogue, its stark beauty expresses Lipkin’s connection to the Jewish faith.

Lipkin’s music sprang from his compassionate humanitarianism. Clifford’s Tower, was inspired by the massacre of the Jews in medieval York. Lipkin described it as “a plea for tolerance in a fragile world.”

His last work, Journey, for solo recorder was composed for John Turner as a tribute to their mutual friend, the composer, John McCabe. Lipkin’s symphonies were released on CD by Lyrita in 2015. Malcolm and Judith Lipkin are survived by their son Jonathan and daughter-in-law, Therese.

Malcolm Lipkin, born May 2, 1932; died June 2, 2017