The composer John White, who has died aged 87, sought new ways to write approachably tonal music that, especially from the early 1970s onwards, emphasised consonance, melody, unusual instrumental lineups – and a highly developed sense of ironic humour. When greeting him at concerts, I eventually got used to his unvarying response to my usual “How are you?”: the – somewhat alarming – “Cosmic!”
The 180 piano sonatas that he composed from 1956 onwards offer the best introduction to White’s stylistic range. Some of the earlier sonatas are substantial, multi-movement works, their musical features offering singular responses to the work of 19th- and earlier 20th-century composers who, to him, “sounded more pungent and less comforting” than did the standard German repertoire of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms.
