I studied with Alfred in 1974-'75 when I was an exchange student from Tufts University in Boston. While my 40 peers were equally divided between English literature and theatre majors, I was the sole musician in the lot and we all resided at a hotel on Gloucester Road in South Kensington. All of their teachers came to the hotel but I mostly traveled around London studying privately with Birgette Wild (piano) and Alfred (composition). My weekly lessons were held in his private studio at his home in Hampstead and I'd usually try to get there early and walk around the idyllic Heath. In addition, I took his enlightening improvisation class at the Guildhall which really opened me up.
Alfred was a powerhouse of intellectual stimulation and I recall picking up a copy of his enlightened essay on Anton Webern which I still have to this day. He taught me to appreciate and respect pointillism in music. He also instilled the belief of linear equality in musical counterpoint. Taking the traditional concept of "bass" out of music was a radical thought for an impressionable 20 year old composition student, but one that I quickly became aligned with.
I know Alfie was intrigued by his young American student and likewise I was immediately taken with his youthful and playful elf-like character. During that time I wrote some highly complex and dissonant student works that included a Trio, Quartet, plus some ferociously jagged ragtime solo piano sketches.
Alfred always had a sparkle in his eye which seemed like he was up to something deviously fun but harmless. I continued to correspond with Alfred up until his death and could see that his music was not receiving the attention and accolades that other British composers of his generation were getting. Alfred sent me cassettes of his works in hopes that I might be able to find an audience in the US. Unfortunately his music was far too complex to be readily accepted by the masses. Paradoxically, I was aware that he wrote some beautiful pop songs in the Tin Pan Alley tradition which he would periodically pull out during one of my composition lessons. I would love to know if any of these were professionally recorded or performed.
Upon receiving my Masters in composition/piano from the University of Iowa in 1977, I started the short-lived Boston-based art punk band Moving Parts. At that time, my musical mission for this ensemble was to mix the disparate worlds of Webern and the Stooges (Iggy, not the Three...). The group disbanded after an explosive year but out of the ashes came two more substantial groups, Mission of Burma and Birdsongs of the Mesozoic.
Alfred was directly influential in creating much of my musical aesthetic and I am forever indebted to him for the important lessons that he taught me. He wanted to bring out the child in everyone, and there is no better goal in life than to see life in that light.
Erik Lindgren
www.birdsongsofthemesozoic.org
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