Clifton Parker

The composer's two elder brothers were also called Clifton Parker: Arthur Dennis Clifton Parker (1899 - 1967) James Dennis Clifton Parker (1901 - 1944)

Son of a bank manager, Clifton Parker followed his two elder brothers into the commercial profession, but studied music in private. After obtaining an A. R. C. M diploma in piano teaching at the Royal College of Music in 1926, he continued in commerce for a while before obtaining employment as a music copyist. A number of his own classical pieces began to get published, eventually attracting the attention of film conductor Muir Mathieson. Much admired for his lively symphonic style, Parker scored 50 feature films over a 21-year period, plus numerous documentary shorts, radio and television scores, and music for ballet and the Old Vic theatre. His second wife Yoma Sasburg was principal dancer in a number of the ballet productions.

Notable theatre scores included Tolstoy's 'War and Peace', staged at the London Phoenix from August 6 to 21, 1943. Muir Mathieson conducted the London Symphony Orchestra.

Notable radio scores included Alan Burgess's 'The Passing of Crab Village' broadcast on the Home Service on 24 September 1950. Muir Mathieson conducted the BBC Orchestra.

In 1963, Parker was one of three composers who quit film scoring in protest at the exorbitant percentage of royalties being raked off by the publishers. William Alwyn and Franz Reizenstein also quit. Parker continued to write scores for R. A. D. A. and the Hampstead Theatre Club. Sadly, Clifton Parker was inactive for the final 13 years of his life owing to ulcers and emphysema.

Parker's work as war documentary composer was honoured at the Imperial War Museum during June and July 2003 with special screenings of Battle Is Our Business (1942), Towards the Offensive (1944) and Western Approaches (1944).