Except for the Canons on Irish Folksongs, virtually all Spinner’s works are
composed according to his personal development within the 12-note method. The
early works before opus 1 show Bergian and Schoenbergian traits; thereafter the
stylistic and textural refinement of his music owes most to Webern, and he
contributed mainly to Webernian genres. Yet gesturally and dynamically Spinner
is often very distinct from Webern, and he continued to develop the 12-note
method in his own terms. The late ‘sonatinas’ (the term was surely ironical) approach something like ‘total serialization’ of
rhythm and dynamics as well as pitch, but combined with an intensity and indeed
violence of expression that makes them the reverse of mere essays in
abstraction. Rather than belonging in any relation to the Darmstadt
avant-garde, whose view of music he though fundamentally flawed, Spinner is
rather the logical next step after Webern.

He wrote a valuable practical textbook, ‘A Short Introduction to the Technique
of Twelve-tone Composition’, published by Boosey & Hawkes in 1960. Because of
his connection with Boosey & Hawkes Spinner at least had the majority of his
works printed in good editions, but this does not seem to have brought him many
performances.

Selected list of works

Orchestra or Chamber Orchestra

• Symphony for small orchestra (1932-33)
• Passacaglia for wind ensemble with violin, cello and piano (c.1934)
• Overture for orchestra (1944; originally intended as op. 4; dedicated to Schoenberg on his 70th birthday)
• Piano Concerto, op. 4 (1947; revised as Concerto for piano and Chamber Orchestra, 1948)
• Overture for orchestra, op. 5 (1948-49; unrelated to previous overture)
• Violin Concerto (1953-55)
• Concerto for Orchestra, op. 12 (1956-57)
• Prelude and Variations, op. 18 (1960-62)
• Ricercata, op. 21 (1964-65)
• Chamber Symphony, op. 28 (1975-79)

Chorus with or without accompaniment

• Ich lieb’ eine Blume for SATB (1936)
• Die Sonne sinkt, cantata after Nietzsche (1952)
• Cantata on poems of Hölderlin, op. 11 (1955-57)
• Six Canons on Irish Folksongs for SATB a cappella (1960-61) (also arranged for chorus and strings)
• Cantata on German Folk Texts, op. 20 (1963-64)
• Irish Folksongs for SATB chorus (1964)
• Schilflieder for SATB chorus, op. 27 (1974-75)

Songs

• 2 Klabund Lieder with piano (c.1935-36)
• 3 Lieder for soprano and piano (Trakl, Brentano, Mörike) (1941)
• 5 Lieder with piano, op. 8 (Nietzsche) (1953)
• 3 Songs for tenor and piano, op. 15 (Blake, Yeats, Lovelace) (1959)
• 3 Lieder for soprano and piano, op. 16 (Rilke) (1960)
• 2 Lieder for soprano and six instruments, op. 24 (Nietzsche, Rilke) (1970-71)
• 5 Lieder for mezzo and piano, op. 25 (1973)

Chamber Music

• String Quartet (1934-35) [at least two previous quartets are lost]
• Trio for clarinet, cello and piano (1935)
• Sonata for violin and piano, op. 1 (1936)
• String Quartet No.1, op. 2 (1941)
• Piano Quintet (1937)
• Trio for clarinet, viola and cello (1940)
• Piano Trio, op. 6 (1950)
• String Quartet No.2, op. 7 (1952)
• Suite for clarinet and piano, op. 10 (1955-56)
• Quintet for clarinet, horn, bassoon, guitar and double-bass, op. 14 (1959; 1963)
• Sonata for clarinet and piano, op. 17 (1961)
• Variations for violin and piano, op. 19 (1962)
• Sonatina for clarinet in D, oboe, bassoon and horn, op. 22 (1971)
• Sonatina for cello and piano, op. 26 (1972-73)

Piano Music

• Sonata, op. 3 (1942-45)
• Fantasy, op. 9 (1953-54)
• Inventions, op. 13 (1958)
• Sonatina, op. 22 (1966-69)