Dennis Stoll

[mikben]

I recently heard a record made by the Nefer Ensemble of music by the composer Dennis Stoll. Some of it is very attractive indeed and I would be keen to discover more about him and hear more of his music, but apart from a couple of references on the internet he seems to be totally forgotten.

There is a biography of him here and you can hear a short excerpt of his music.

http://www.starwisdomteaching.com/about/dennis-stoll/

There is mention of a song cycle  called 'Songs of Karnak' for bass and harp which was performed by Marie Korchinska and Raymond Herincx, and apparently Herincx performed the songs quite often, and they were broadcast as well. I'd also be keen to hear the pieces for solo harp that are mentioned.

Details of the record can be seen here. The quality of the playing is very high!

http://www.discogs.com/Dennis-Stoll-Conducting-Nefer-Ensemble-Raymond-Cohen-Kelly-Isaacs-Kenneth-Essex-Terence-Weil-Terence/release/7113905

[Alan Howe]

...sounds full of Eastern promise.

[Alan Page]

Some Australian friends of mine were part of his London entourage ("The Meditatational Arts") during the 80's. It seemed vaguely cultic to my young mind. Something that revolved around him believing himself to be a reincarnation of a court musician to Ahmenhotep the third.

He wrote quite a few books (including an autobiography at the age of 24 (called "I Give Myself Away") which you can find under his full name Dennis Gray Stoll on Amazon.

I think he was one of that generation that was sidelined by the advent of serialism as he wrote to me that he regarded it as an attempt to stop English musical growth and declared that William Glock and Hans Keller had encouraged the spread something that was just as detrimental to young composers as the AIDs epidemic.

He seems to have had quite a significant career prior to his Egyptian phase and, like you, I would be interested in hearing more of his music.