(Zachary Woolfe’s article appeared in The New York Times, 12/30/12.)
Richard Rodney Bennett, the British composer who in a long, distinguished career moved with ease among classical concert music, jazz and film, died on Dec. 24 in New York, where he had lived since 1979. He was 76.
His death was confirmed by his sister, Meg Peacocke.
“Richard Rodney Bennett: The Complete Musician” was the title of a 2010 biography, and few other figures in the arts have had so plausible a claim to distinction in such diverse genres.