Philip Wilkinson was an influential and distinctive figure in the musical world. Closely associated with the Royal College of Music for well over 50 years, 35 of those as professor of harmony and counterpoint. In that role he undoubtedly helped to mould the personalities of many of Britain’s most eminent practitioners. In addition, as a distinguished late Romantic composer himself, he was a very English equivalent of Sergei Rachmaninov, Nikolay Medtner or Ernö Dohnányi.
Philip George Wilkinson was born in London in 1929. His father was a Post Office employee. After a somewhat nomadic childhood due to the uncertainties of the Second World War, he was educated at Henry Thornton Grammar School, Clapham.
From there, his prodigious musical talents took him to the Royal College of Music, initially as a Junior Exhibitioner. Elected a full-time scholar in 1945, amid studies interrupted by National Service in the Army, he undoubtedly benefited from the stern but benevolent tutelage of two distinguished musicians, Hilda Klein and Gordon Jacob.
He emerged as one of the finest pianists of his generation. Musically adventurous, precise and flawless, his virtuoso solo playing rarely failed to make an impact. Particularly at home amid 19th-century repertoire, he matured into a thoughtful artist of solid accomplishment.
Having spent six years as a member of the music department at Cranleigh School, in 1959, armed with a hard-earned doctorate from the University of London, he returned to the Royal College of Music. While ostensibly responsible for the academic fortunes of countless generations of performers, his expertise also proved pivotal in the continuous development of the more formally structured graduate course. Extensive tours as an examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music afforded him regular breaks from this exacting routine.
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As a teacher he possessed a cultured and scholarly mind. To those students who truly wished to learn he gave much and became a mentor. A quiet and courteous presence, his manner was invariably encouraging. But his disapproval could be bleak and his criticism often devastatingly accurate.
Much of what he taught he practised in his own compositions. This was never truer than in his Symphony, a successful expansion of earlier doctoral exercises which he eventually unveiled in 1952. Logically crafted and attracting great critical acclaim, the work was awarded a Composition Prize by the Royal Philharmonic Society the following year.
Suitably emboldened by this success, the dramatic intensity of Prelude and Scherzo for Orchestra hinted briefly at a larger personality than was usual. In contrast, a searching String Quartet inhabits a rather more austere outlook, its tensile first movement and turbulent finale embracing a richly romantic slow movement. Perhaps more typical is the light and ebullient Capriccio Sinfonico for Piano and Orchestra or the vivid imagery inherent in the once hugely popular six-movement Shakespearean Suite of 1960.
Particularly and precisely imagined are many deft choral arrangements, mostly of folksongs and negro spirituals. They, like his primer on score reading, remain firmly in the repertoire. Sadly neglected are a number of meticulously crafted songs, piano pieces and instrumental works, each cleverly and precisely imagined, their structures handled with fluency and care.
Wilkinson was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 1970. He retired in 1994.
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He married Margaret Matterson in 1957. She and their twin son and daughter survive him.
Philip Wilkinson, teacher and composer, was born on August 28, 1929. He died on January 31, 2011, aged 81