posted 15 September 2009
MMD Associate Chris Larner writes: "Mark Stevens, composer and pianist, has died, after a brief but heroic battle with cancer. He was 61. He had composed much fine music for theatre, film and TV, and his skill and taste at the piano made him a session player of demand.
He and I collaborated on the music for many theatre shows, songs for film and TV: sometimes with Mark writing music and I lyrics, sometime with me having nominally written both but with Mark's guiding hand above my own querulous dots.
We started too late, he and I. Mark had, before I met him, already had a stellar career as a pianist, composer and MD, having worked with Tom Jones, Nelson Riddle, Sarah Vaughan, Chuck Berry and others too numerous to mention here. He and I wrote our first musical, The Translucent Frogs Of Quuup, in 2004 and it won The Guardian prize for Best Original Music. In this score, Mark brilliantly echoed musical styles and structures from the 1920s, recast in a modern idiom. Last year we wrote a second - and final - musical together, On The Island Of Aars, in which Mark wrote tunes of such spectacular beauty that I felt guilty setting lyrics to them.
Amongst Mark's film music, that for Best is particularly affecting.
His music was always hummable, considered, approachable and intelligent. His sensitivity and passion as a pianist is irreplaceable. I feel honoured to have worked with him. He had much more to give than his tragically curtailed life has allowed, but what remains is still testament to a towering talent.
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