Owen Jensen

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 798, 5 November 1954, Page 29

Owen Jensen

) (COMPOSITION is more or less a ee : er pee spare time activity" Owen Jensen, who is better known as spianist, conductor, lecturer, teacher and critic. | ‘Nevertheless, he has an impressive list of works to his credit. They include Variations for Piano, an orchestral over- | ture, and songs and incidental music for radio plays. His Serenade for Clarinet and Piano, which is included: in the | series of Music by New Zealand Com- | posers now being broadcast from YZ | stations, was written at one of the Cam- | bridge Music Schools as a contribution to a programme by the School’s composers’ group. It is intended to be more | or less satirical, and was written for the clarinettist George Hopkins, who jogged the composer’s elbow from time to time and persuaded him to include some of the effects that the clarinet can bring off so well. Divertimento for Violin and Clarinet, which is included in the same series, was written for George Hopkins and his wife Helen to fit those musical occasions when a pianist might not be handy. Owen Jensen took an active part in Auckland’s musical life for a number of / years, before moving down to Welling- / ton in 1952. As a pianist he was for ten

years studio accompanist at 1YA, and he has made numerous broadcasts as a soloist and as a member of chamber music groups. He was founder and first conductor of the Auckland String Players, the Auckland Little Symphony, and the Auckland Choral Group. In 1953 he toured New Zealand for the Federation of Chamber Music Societies as accompanist to the violist Robert Pikler. He now lives in Wellington, and in addition to his other activities writes witty and often provocative articles on music, and reviews of concerts for the daily and weely Press.