Phillip Ramey (born September 12, 1939 in Elmhurst, Illinois, United States) is an American composer, pianist, and writer on music.
He studied composition with the Russian-born composer Alexander Tcherepnin from 1959 to 1962, first at the International Academy of Music in Nice, France, then at DePaul University in Chicago. He later studied composition with Jack Beeson at Columbia University (1962–65). Ramey has had professional associations with Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, Virgil Thomson, William Schuman, David Diamond and Vladimir Horowitz. Thomson honored him with a musical portrait for piano titled "Phillip Ramey: Thinking Hard," and Copland dedicated two piano pieces to him: "Midsummer Nocturne" and "Proclamation." For many years, Ramey was a close friend and a neighbor of Paul Bowles in Tangier, Morocco, where he has summered regularly. In 2017, the New York Public Library acquired Ramey's archive of manuscripts, scores and recordings of his music, which will be catalogued and made available for scholarly research.
Ramey is the composer of orchestral works, including three piano concertos, along with chamber music and many works for solo piano, among them ten sonatas. In 1993 his Concerto for Horn and String Orchestra, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to celebrate its 150th Anniversary, was premiered by that orchestra under Leonard Slatkin, with Philip Myers as soloist. On Nov. 14, 1985, Proclamation for Orchestra, Ramey's orchestration of Copland's Proclamation for Piano, received an unusual bi-coastal premiere: by the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Erich Leinsdorf. (The New York Philharmonic concert was telecast as "Aaron Copland's 85th Birthday," episode 61 of the Live from Lincoln Center telecasts.) Ramey's music has been published by Boosey & Hawkes, G. Schirmer, C. F. Peters and Edward B. Marks, among other firms.
Ramey is the author of several hundred liner notes and interviews with American composers, and served from 1977 to 1993 as the annotator and Program Editor for the New York Philharmonic. He is also the author of Irving Fine: An American Composer in His Time, which received the 2006 ASCAP Deems Taylor/Nicolas Slonimsky Award for Outstanding Musical Biography.
Ramey appeared in the 1998 documentary Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles and the 2000 documentary Night Waltz: The Music of Paul Bowles. In 2010 he completed his autobiography, and he currently serves as Vice-President of The Tcherepnin Society.
(Selected, with some titles linked to recorded performances archived at YouTube.com)
1959 - Three Early Preludes for Piano1960-63 - Suite for Piano (revised 1988)1960 - Three Preludes for Solo Horn1960 - Incantations for Piano1961 - Piano Sonata No. 11962 - Sonata for Three Unaccompanied Timpani1962 - Concert Suite for Piano and Small Orchestra (revised, reorchestrated and expanded 1984 as Concert Suite for Piano and Orchestra)1962 - Cat Songs for Soprano, Flute and Piano (text: T. S. Eliot)1965 - Seven, They Are Seven: Incantation for Bass-Baritone and Orchestra (text: Konstantin Balmont)1966 - Diversions for Piano1966 - Piano Sonata No. 21966 - Capriccio for Percussion1967 - Epigrams for Piano, Book I1967 - Orchestral Discourse1967 - Night Music for Percussion1968 - Piano Sonata No. 31968 - Harvard Bells, Soundpiece for Piano1968 - Toccata Breva for Percussion1968 - Commentaries for Flute and Piano1969-71 - Piano Concerto No. 11969-72 - Piano Fantasy1971 - Suite for Violin and Piano1972 - Leningrad Rag (Mutations on Scott Joplin) for Piano1974 - Concerto for Chamber Orchestra1976 - Piano Concerto No. 21977 - Memorial (In Memoriam Alexander Tcherepnin) for Piano1977 - Arabesque for Solo Flute1979 - La Citadelle, Rhapsody for Oboe and Piano1980 - A William Blake Trilogy for Soprano and Piano1980 - Autumn Pastorale for Piano1981/85 - Cossack Variations for Piano1981 - Fanfare-Sonata for Solo Trumpet1982 - Canzona for Piano1983 - Echoes for Piano1982-86 - Moroccan Songs to Words of Paul Bowles for High Voice and Piano1984 - Phantasm for Flute and Violin (or Two Violins)1984 - Concert Suite for Piano and Orchestra1985 - Proclamation for Orchestra (Orchestration of Aaron Copland's Proclamation for Piano)1985 - Capriccio (Improvisation on a Theme from Youth) for Piano1986 - Toccata No. 1 for Piano1986 - Epigrams for Piano, Book II1987-88 - Piano Sonata No. 41987-93 - Concerto for Horn and String Orchestra1989 - Piano Sonata No. 5 (For the Left Hand)1989 - Tangier Nocturne for Piano1990 - Toccata No. 2 for Piano1990 - Burlesque-Paraphrase on a Theme of Stephen Foster for Piano1990 - Cantus Arcanus (In Memoriam Aaron Copland) for Piano1991-94 - Piano Concerto No. 31991-2013 - Twenty-two Tangier Portraits for Piano1992 - Rhapsody for Solo Cello1992 - Café of the Ghosts: Fantasy-Trio on a Moroccan Beggar's Song for Violin, Cello and Piano1993 - Trio Concertant for Violin, Horn and Piano1993 - Chromatic Waltz for Piano1994 - Color Etudes for Piano1994 - Praeludium for Five Horns1995 - Gargoyles for Solo Horn1995 - Elegy for Horn and Piano1996 - Concertino for Four Horns, Timpani and Percussion1997 - Sonata-Ballade for Two Horns and Piano1997 - Dialogue for Two Horns1997 - Phantoms (Ostinato Etude) for Piano1998 - Sonata for Harpsichord1998 - Effigies for Viola and Piano1998 - Lyric Fragment for Flute and Harpsichord (or Piano)2001 - Lament for Richard III for Piano2002 - Color Etudes for Piano and Orchestra (arranged from Color Etudes for Piano)2002 - Orchestral Epigrams2003 - Winter Nocturne for Piano2004 - Ode for F.D.R. for Piano2007 - Primitivo for Piano2007 - J.F.K.: Oration for Speaker and Orchestra (text from speeches of President John F. Kennedy)2008 - Piano Sonata No. 6 (Sonata-Fantasia)2008 - Dream Preludes for Trumpet and Piano2008 - Ballade for Clarinet and Horn2008 - Blue Phantom for Piano2009 - Djebel Bani (A Saharan Meditation) for Piano2009 - Simon Songs: Six Poems for Baritone and Piano (text: John Simon)2009 - Simon Songs: Suite for Baritone and Orchestra (text: John Simon)2010 - Slavic Rhapsody (The Novgorod Kremlin at Night) for Piano2010 - Bagatelle on "Dies Irae" for Piano2010-11 - Piano Sonata No. 72011 - Bagatelle on "Panis Angelicus" for Piano2011 - Manhattan Soundings for Piano2011-12 - Piano Sonata No. 82012 - Demons of Barsoom (Homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs): Ballade for Trombone and Piano2012 - Concerto for Trombone and String Orchestra, Harp and Percussion2012 - Hurricane Etude for Piano2012 - Bagatelle on Twelve Tones for Piano2013 - Bagatelle with Thirds for Piano2013 - Bagatelle Romantique (on Themes of Alexander Tcherepnin) for Piano2013 - Night of the Djinns for Piccolo, Contrabassoon and Percussion2013 - Piano Sonata No. 9 (Ballade)2014 - Second Rhapsody for Oboe and Piano2014 - Musings: Thirteen Pieces for Piano2014 - Loup-garou: Caprice for Tuba and Percussion2014-15 - Piano Sonata No. 102015 - Symphonic Song for String Orchestra2015 - Dead End, An Existential Song for Baritone and Piano (text by composer)2016 - Noir Nocturne for Piano2016 - Two Duos for Violin and Horn2016 - Concerto-Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra2017 - Phillip Ramey: Music for French Horn. Philip Myers, horn; Howard Wall, horn; Elmira Darvarova, violin; Virginia Perry Lamb, piano. Affetto Records (Naxos) CD AF1704. Trio Concertant for Violin, Horn and Piano; Elegy for Horn and Piano; Gargoyles for Solo Horn; Two Duos for Violin and Horn; Dialogue for Two Horns; Sonata-Ballade for Two Horns and Piano. (Booklet notes by the composer.)2017 - Symphonic Song for String Orchestra; Paul Mann, conductor; Toccata Classics CD (forthcoming)2013 - Phillip Ramey Piano Music, Volume Four: 1959-2011. Stephen Gosling, pianist. CD. Toccata Classics, TOCC 0153: Incantations, Cossack Variations, Three Early Preludes, Piano Sonata No. 3, Epigrams Book Two, Lament for Richard III, Piano Sonata No. 7. (Booklet notes by Benjamin Folkman and the composer.)2011 - Phillip Ramey Piano Music, Volume Three: 1960-2010. Stephen Gosling, pianist. CD. Toccata Classics, TOCC 0114: Suite, Two Short Pieces, Toccata Giocosa, Slavic Rhapsody (The Novgorod Kremlin at Night), Burlesque-Paraphrase on a Theme of Stephen Foster, Bagatelle on "Dies Irae", Djebel Bani (A Saharan Meditation), Blue Phantom, Piano Sonata No. 6 (Sonata-Fantasia). (Booklet notes by Benjamin Folkman and the composer.)2008 - Phillip Ramey Piano Music, Volume Two: 1966-2007. Mirian Conti, pianist. CD. Toccata Classics, TOCC 0077: Diversions, Epigrams Book One, Leningrad Rag--Mutations on Scott Joplin, Winter Nocturne, Toccata No. 1, Ode for F.D.R., Toccata No. 2, Piano Sonata No. 4, Primitivo. (Booklet notes by Benjamin Folkman, Mirian Conti and the composer.)2006 - Phillip Ramey Piano Music, 1961-2003. Stephen Gosling, pianist. CD. Toccata Classics, TOCC 0029: Color Etudes, Memorial--In Memoriam Alexander Tcherepnin, Chromatic Waltz, Piano Sonata No. 1, Piano Sonata No. 2, Piano Sonata No. 5--for the Left Hand, Piano Fantasy, Four Tangier Portraits, Toccata No. 2. (Booklet notes by Benjamin Folkman and the composer.)1986 - American Piano Music, Volume Two. Etcetera Records, KTC 1036. CD. Phillip Ramey: Canzona, Bennett Lerner, pianist.1984 - American Piano Music. Etcetera Records, KTC 1019. CD. Phillip Ramey: Piano Fantasy, Bennett Lerner, pianist.1978 - Opus One, No. 37. LP. Leningrad Rag, Piano Fantasy, Piano Sonata No. 4 (Subsequently retitled Harvard Bells: Soundpiece), John Atkins, pianist.1975 - Carlos, Wendy (né Walter). Walter Carlos, By Request. LP. Columbia. Re-released as Wendy Carlos, By Request on enhanced CD in 2003 by East Side Digital (Minneapolis, Minnesota). Performed by Wendy Carlos, synthesizer; with Phillip Ramey, pianist (4th and 5th works: Dialogues for piano and two loudspeakers and Episodes for piano and electronic sounds).1965 - Electronic Music. LP. Vox Turnabout. Carlos, Walter, Dialogues for piano and two loudspeakers with Phillip Ramey, pianist.Ramey, Phillip. Irving Fine: An American Composer in His Time. Hillsdale, New York/Washington, D. C.: Pendragon Press, in association with the U. S. Library of Congress, 2005.Ramey, Phillip. Sergei Prokofiev: The Modern Classicist. Time-Life booklet, 1975.Ramey, Phillip. Rachmaninoff: His Life and Times. Funk & Wagnalls booklet, 1975