University of York Music Press

Gilbert has built an impressive body of work over the 60 years of his compositional career. His is a uniquely direct and honest musical imagination, combined with a vibrant language that is by turns meditative, playful, vigorous and virtuosic. J McL. Glover has noted how poetry, painting, puns and political crisis, stained glass and secret messages, the art and music of the orient - these are the kinds of things that set Gilbert's wacky musical imagination in motion. As Nicholas Williams writes,

Tough yet often humorous, Gilbert's music reflects the uncompromising spirit of its creator. His dogged individualism is clear not only from his determination, relatively late in life, to become a composer, but also from his subsequent pursuit of artistic goals that answered personal challenges rather than topical concerns of the avant-garde. Although he has written in most of the major genres, his output resists conventional classifications of either sensibility or technique. The common factor in his works is his fertile imagination, which is charged both by his musical ideas and his thoughts on the nature of performance.

Gilbert's music has consistently been performed internationally. As well as appearing on a number of NMC discs, recordings of his piano music released by Prima Facie have been rated stimulating, showing striking inventiveness and probity. Well known and respected as a teacher for 40 years, Gilbert's pupils have included Simon Holt, Martin Butler and Robin Grant. UYMP is proud to publish Gilbert's works from 1994 to date, including the highly acclaimed violin concerto, On Beholding a Rainbow (recorded on NMC), the "sophisticated and understated" Encantos for soprano and ensemble, plus a range of solo, duo and chamber works that have garnered praise for their "beguiling beauty". Gilbert's next world premiere is Triptych for chamber orchestra, which will be performed on Saturday 6th December 2014 by the Northern Chamber Orchestra, directed by Nicholas Ward, at Macclesfield Heritage Centre. This will be followed in June 2015 by a new string quintet, Haven of Mysteries, which will be premiered at Wigmore Hall by the Carducci Quartet plus a guest cellist. Composition for me is a compulsion, writes Tony on his website. We wish him many more happy and successful years.