Douglas Cook
was born in West Ham, London in 1930. He studied piano at the
James Ching Piano School , Manchester, during the late 40's and
after National Service in Egypt, music at Bretton Hall and composition
with Anthony Milner. Largely self taught as a composer he quickly
found that the avant garde held no appeal and that his natural
inclination was to develop a personal style firmly based on melody,
harmony and rhythmic interest.
Much influenced by the mainstream 20th century English school
including Vaughan-Williams, Holst, Walton, Tippett and Britten
as well as Early Music and modern French and Russian composers
his works include a number of pieces for solo piano (his own instrument),
flute & piano and various other instrumental combinations,
a number of songs, a Concertino for Cello and String Orchestra,
Suite for Brass Quintet, 8 Variations for Recorder Consort, incidental
music for a number of stage works as well as music for film and
television.
Douglas Cook moved to Cornwall in 1958 where he still lives.