Archive

Virgil Fox, organist – Saint or Sinner?

 

I knew the name Virgil Fox, as one half of the dynamic duo who – with English émigré E. Power Biggs – had established the organ as a concert instrument in the US, rather than simply being the box of tricks which accompanied hymns in church. But until now, I had never heard him […]

How famous is scholar, conductor and harpsichordist Thurston Dart, 40 years on? Part 2

With the death of Dart’s close personal friend and executor William Oxenbury, Gustav Leonhardt is now probably the only person alive who knew Dart, but not as a teacher. They were apparently well acquainted and served together on the jury at the harpsichord competition at Bruges.

Their approach to Froberger seems quite similar in […]

How famous is scholar, conductor and harpsichordist Thurston Dart, 40 years on?   Part 1 

Music Faculty, King’s College, University of London, 1968. Reproduced by kind permission of King’s College London. Professor Thurston Dart (holding the serpent) was at the time King Edward Professor of Music and established the faculty in 1964.

The composer Michael Nyman well-known for his collaboration on Peter Greenaway’s films, is described on […]

The Early Music revival, does anyone still care?

Early Music (i.e. music up to around 1800) started to become more widely popular after World War II. This blog will primarily be about the pioneers who re-discovered this repertoire and started playing it on original instruments, or modern copies, in the authentic style, which is now often called historically informed performance, or HIP for […]