Musicologist
Born: October 12, 1960;
Died April 28, 2017
PROFESSOR Kenneth Gloag, who has died aged 56, was a renowned Edinburgh-born musicologist, a leading authority on 20th century British music and an enlightened writer and critic on postmodern music.
He was awarded a personal chair at Cardiff University in 2015 where his drive and search for the new was illustrated when he introduced to the syllabus rock, pop and jazz – all of which he loved. He was a scholar with a broad range of interests in music, politics and literature but was widely acknowledged as an authority on contemporary music.
Dr Charles Wilson, also of the music department at Cardiff University, spoke to The Herald of his colleague with much warmth. “Ken was a large man who, as a friend, was totally loyal with a pawky sense of humour," said Dr Wilson. "I admired him as an academic, as a musician and personally.
“Ken was always kind and sympathetic, but also intransigent in the best possible way, indignant at those of his generation busy kicking away the ladders of opportunity that neither he nor they could have done without.”
Kenneth Gloag was born and brought up in Edinburgh and attended Bruntsfield Primary School and then James Gillespie’s High School. He displayed a keen interest in music from his youth when his mother bought him an organ on which, his brother Alex, recalls, “Ken used to bash away on with one finger.”
He left school at 16 and while carrying out further studies he worked in the Phoenix record shop on the Royal Mile and played rhythm guitar in a band called Ducktail which toured widely throughout Scotland. Professor Gloag studied for his Highers at evening classes and then graduated from Napier University with a diploma on the piano.
He gained a first in BMus at Surrey University and in 1991 graduated in music theory and analysis from King’s College London. Professor Gloag then did his PhD at Exeter University on structure, syntax and style in the music of Stravinsky. Professor Philip Grange who was then at Exeter recalls, “Ken was in a group of extremely talented and highly committed students whose work and interests focused on contemporary music, and who helped form a creative hothouse. Ken was absolutely vital to the success of those times.”
He briefly returned to teach at Napier University but was appointed a lecturer in music at Cardiff University in 1995. There he encouraged an exchange of views with other departments – notably history and philosophy – and he created a forward-looking MA degree in music, culture and politics. Professor Gloag was also an enthusiastic director of postgraduate research.
Professor Gloag wrote and lectured with a compelling lucidity on 20th century music. His 2012 book (Postmodernism in Music) set about defining the term using specific musical examples to define the genre.
But it was his writings on individual composers that brought him wider recognition – for example Professor Gloag’s co-editing of a book on Peter Maxwell Davies to mark the composer’s 75th birthday. His two books on Michael Tippett gained wide praise and others followed on Harrison Birtwhistle and Nicholas Maw.
He often returned to Scotland to visit family and friends – especially at festival time in Edinburgh. He gave talks when Sottish Opera presented Tippett’s The Knot Garden in 2005 which marked the centenary of the composer’s birth.
Professor Gloag, who died of cancer, loved watching both cricket and football (he was a keen Chelsea supporter) and also attended theatre and opera productions. He is survived by his mother and brother.
ALASDAIR STEVEN
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