James Bowman Interview
James Bowman gives some reference to David Munrow In search of a voice: James Bowman interviewed We met in an unusually empty bar in the rather posh Athanaeum Club, in the wake of the July 2005 London bombings. ?Usually?, Bowman joked, ?it?s full of sleeping Vicars, over in the other corner?. The comment set the tone for the interview: he has a wonderful sense of humour, and humanity and humility. And loves talking. Determined to keep to musical matters, I vowed not to be sidetracked by his humorous anecdotes. But one, I have to say, is worth repeating. The time when in France, his billing as an ?alto? meant that a group of viola enthusiasts turned up. How would he play the Schumann pieces, the Brahms or the Hindemith? The venue for our interview, and the fact that I forgot to wear a tie?dress-code for the club?underlined one driving force of his career: his quintessential Englishness. In his teens his life?s ambition was to sing in the choir at King?s College Cambridge?an ambitio...