ABSTRACT
The music of Maurice Ohana has been unjustly neglected in Britain despite his work having long achieved recognition beyond our shores. In France, during his life-time, Ohana ranked among the leading figures of his generation for more than thirty years and received many of the highest official accolades. 1 Since his death, his music continues to be regularly performed, broadcast, as well as recorded, and a prize has been established to his memory, commemorating his contribution to French musical life as both composer and pianist. 2 Much of Ohana’s music has found a permanent place in the French repertoire, most notably, the works for guitar, for percussion, for piano and for harpsichord, as well as many of those for choral forces. In Britain, the view of French music since 1945 has tended to be identified with the music of Olivier Messiaen and Pierre Boulez to the exclusion of other composers whose work has long been honoured in France, as well as in the wider, international arena. These others include, among the older generation, Maurice Ohana and Henri Dutilleux. Undoubtedly Boulez has been one of the most phenomenal figures in music since 1945 and the position of his erstwhile teacher Messiaen is secure as one of the giants of the twentieth century; yet however significant their respective contribution, they represent only part of the wider French, compositional mainstream.
