Thomas Johnson Piano Music
THOMAS JOHNSON (1908-89)
Many amateur pianists will be familiar with the name Thomas Arnold Johnson, because he produced a good deal of music for learners. Much of it was for piano duet though there are solos, sight reading exercises and two-piano works ( a form which now seems to be in decline; a house containing two pianos in the same room is now a rarity).
I met Tom in about 1983, after sending him, unsolicited, some of my own piano pieces. He was kind enough to write back and offered help and guidance. From that date we corresponded regularly, and a year or so later I met Tom at his home in Neston, Wirral. For several years we played duets together occasionally, and exchanged music.
Tom's first piano pieces were published whilst he was still a schoolboy. Also whilst still at school (aged 15) he began accompanying films at the local cinema, providing the musical sound track. This lasted about five years, when the "talkies" arrived. He used Metzler's Cinema Music, and pieces by Darewski, Ewing, Haines and Ketelbey, as well as his own improvisations. He had a great love of early films and had an enormous collection of film stills in his music room at Neston. Up to the age of 20 he was self-taught, but he subsequently studied in Manchester at the Royal College of Music and obtained his teaching and performing diplomas. He made lots of radio broadcasts in the 30s, and gave recitals. He gave the first broadcast of the Raff piano concerto. He also gave talks on music which were broadcast (e.g. in "Music Magazine") but none of them survive in the BBC archive; only one item involving Tom exists: "Children's Activities", 5 July 1956, with James Brown (another composer) and Olivia Cufolla (pianist) - clearly an educational programme aimed at young children. The later part of his life was largely occupied in teaching the piano to private pupils.
He collected sheet music and had a very large amount of material from the 1800s, including the complete published works of many minor composers. He was especially keen on Raff, but if you named a composer from this period, the chances were that he would have the piece you were looking for: Jensen, Hiller, Fibich, Chaminade, Godard, Moszkowski, the Scharwenkas, and so on. With the help of the Associated Board he produced decent versions of favourite pieces by minor composers. His starting point for a piece would often be a badly edited Victorian edition, long out of print, but the only version available.
Philip Scowcroft of the British Music Society has written an interesting article about Tom Johnson, which is on-line, and I have no wish to plagiarise. But Philip doesn't mention why Tom's music is special. His music is well-liked because it's fun for both player and listener; it is uplifting, happy music, which reflects his sunny, attractive personality. His enthusiasm for life and for the piano jumps out from every page - from the simplest sight reading books to the powerful unpublished sonata which he recorded at the HMV studio just after the war.
Nigel Deacon
Thomas Johnson: some of the works held by N.D:
RECORDINGS
Four CDs containing Sonata Fm, variation sets, studies, sonata for piano & clarinet,
and about 50 pieces published by Peters / Hinrichsen.
SCORES
TWO PIANOS
Scherzo
Traditional Tunes (folktune arr)
DUETS: ONE PIANO
Summer Bells
Country Pedlar
Lady of Brazil
Pachelbel Canon, arr
Haymaking
Rumba, dedicated to Billy Mayerl
Caprice
Valsette
Valse
Polka
Vicar of Bray
Fiesta
5 Easy Duets
Scherzino
PIANO SOLO
Concert Waltz, unpublished
Sonata, unpublished, 2nd mvt.
Themes from the concertos, arr
Tango & Rumba
At Eventide
Four rural sketches
Western Suite
Rigaudon
Quicksilver
Dawn Sunset
In the Meadows
The wanderer
Butterflies
In the heart of the country
PS...Somewhere there is a "Greyfriars" suite - pieces based on the Billy Bunter stories, with titles like "Harry Wharton", "Bob Cherry", etc, but at the time I knew Tom, he had lost the ms. He said there were no copies.
Nigel Deacon , Diversity Website
