John Abbott

Daniel Ruyneman - Wikipedia

127) Daniel Ruyneman, Dutch composer, pianist, inventor of the Electrophone, an instrument with various electric bells playable from a keyboard. Its cup-bells were either cast by the John Taylor bell foundry, Loughborough, or found in a London junk shop en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_... #jawiki

126) Eleanor Rudall, composer and pianist, who after a promising start struggled to find more widespread recognition. The second wife of composer Frederick Corder, she lived at 13, Albion Road (now Harben Road), South Hampstead, until her death in 1960 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor... #jawiki

Good to see that it's not just AI companies that indulge in the circular economy

Once you've sat enough times on a runway-bound BA plane wedged into position, fearing for your life and (in the event that you survive) facing 12 hours of wedgedness/economy class syndrome ahead, whatever charms or calming influence the Flower Duet might once have had are lost for all time

Broadcasting etc. has been wearing out music since the 1930s, and BBC Radio 3 must take some of the blame. Every 2 or 3 pieces on the morning shows are overplayed potboilers (however originally worthy they were). Gershwin dog walking, Nessun dorma (footie), BA theme tune (Delibes). Unlistenable!

125) Royal College of Music war memorial. Intrigued by the names I tried to find more about them. As many were students still developing careers, and others were staff with no public persona, details are still sparse. But the RCM Magazine is a useful resource en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_C... #jawiki

124) Francis Routh (died November 2021) was a composer and author, but also the long-term organiser of the Redcliffe Concert Series - I attended many of them in the 70s and 80s at the QEH and Purcell Room - including the 21st Anniversary events below (4/21) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis... #jawiki

123) Mervyn Roberts was (said pianist composer Eiluned Davies) one of Y Pump Cymreig (The Welsh Five) along with Denis ApIvor, Daniel Jones, Grace Williams and David Wynne, all born in the first two decades of the 20th Century. (9/22) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mervyn_... www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6GS...

122) Kathleen Riddick, one of the pioneers who opened up the world of conducting to women musicians in Britain. She inspired Ruth Gipps to begin her own conducting career. (3/21) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathlee... #jawiki

Using Alexa (not "voice AI" because it is dumb, dumb dumb!), it appears to be impossible to ask for a specific movement of a quartet or symphony - I get whatever track is first on the disc. And if I ask for something obscure I get: "here's some other music by Vivaldi" - and it plays the Four Seasons

The National Portrait Gallery Character Sketches series of compact hardbacks are great to collect, many of them very cheap (under £3 each), though a complete list is hard to find

121) Helen Pyke - I wrote about her after finding this sheet music in a second hand shop. A composer pianist (1905-1954) who, with Paul Hamburger, appropriately gave the premiere of Alan Rawsthorne's The Creel in 1940. She married musicologist Mosco Carner. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_P... #jawiki

120) John Pudney - a jobbing author who made his living from non-fiction, often commissioned by companies. But also a popular WW2 war poet, anthologist, novelist, unflinching autobiographer and children's writer (4/20) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pu... #jawiki

no problem at all

Bridge was a wonderful composer, from the salon pieces through the pastoral works for strings, the increasing challenging numbered string quartet cycle (1906-1937), his orchestral suite The Sea (that knocked Britten sideways) and the later orchestral pieces from Enter Spring to Oration and Phantasm

119) Stephen Pruslin was an American pianist and librettist who relocated to London in the 1970s to work with Peter Maxwell Davies and Harrison Birtwistle. In January 1989 he appeared in an episode of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot as a pianist. (10/22) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen... #jawiki

I'm really enjoying the directness, economy and underlying humour of Winston Graham's The Walking Stick (1967), even as the tension very gradually mounts

Takes longer to listen through than most episodes, as every five minutes you are compelled to seek out clips of the songs mentioned - I'd only half realised before that the live performances are so much more powerful than the more polished recordings. A wonderful episode, thank you

YouTube video by Andrew Long - Topic Violin Sonata No. 4 in D Major: II. Andante

118) Humphrey Procter-Gregg founded the Chair of Music at Manchester University - but his conservative tastes irritated many of the Manchester Group students he taught (especially Maxwell Davies). He championed (and composed) much chamber music while there www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvID... #jawili

yes, please to both - thanks.

117) Montague Phillips, composer of the popular operetta The Rebel Maid (1921) was also a symphonist, and an organist in Esher for over 43 years. He married the singer Clara Butterworth and composed 100+ "royalty ballad" for her to perform (2/22) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montagu... #jawiki

Especially when that passage recurs towards the end as a duet for "in the looks and in the lies" - that chromatic slide on the word "lies" from E sharp to F sharp gets me every single time...

Unfortunately I don't know her family - excellent about the piano piece - has it been published in any form? It's incredible that most of her manuscripts were lost

Brilliant - the Concerto was premiered by Albert Sammons, conducted by Constant Lambert, on Tuesday 19th May 1936 at a BBC studio concert. I expanded her Wikipedia page back in 2019 and several times since, even bought her 1969 cookbook as part of the research... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guirne_...

Picked these two up at Oxfam in Poole yesterday - 1960 and 1963 editions in good condition

Elizabeth Poston - Wikipedia

116) Elizabeth Poston composed many scores for radio and television, collaborating with C S Lewis, Dylan Thomas, Terence Tiller and others. She wrote the score for the 1970 BBC TV production of Howards End while living in Rooks Nest House, the setting for the novel. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabe...

Helen Perkin, pianist and composer, pupil of John Ireland. She premiered his Eb Piano Concerto on 30 October 1930, and was the soloist in the first performance of his Legend four years later. But after her marriage in 1935 they stopped talking. (7/22) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_P... #jawiki

114) Mary and Geraldine Peppin, twin sister pianists & influential piano teachers, Unity Theatre activists and perhaps some espionage on the side. James Gibb said of them: "Their ensemble was as near perfection as I have ever heard in duo-playing" (1/21) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_an... #jawiki

113) King Palmer was a jobbing composer for the theatre before the war, then in library and film music after. In 1944 he wrote Teach Yourself to Compose Music, a splendidly clear guide to basic harmony, rhythm and form (10/18) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Pa... #jawiki www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcc4...

Pagani's Restaurant - Wikipedia

112) Pagani's Restaurant in Great Portland Street was close to Queen's Hall and a favourite gathering place for artists and musicians before, during and between the wars. Some of the wall panels, decorated by over 5,000 notes and signatures, are in the British Museum en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagani%...