The Early Music Legend

I think readers may be interested in this. Ted Watson was contemporary to David Munrow, and knew him very well, and called him a super guy! The following of what he mainly recalls is here for all to see... I first met David Munrow in 1966 when I joined the Royal Shakespeare Company as a musician. He was a very fine bassoon player and as I was a clarinettist we generally sat together during performance. At that time the windband was based around a brass quartet (2 trumpets, horn and trombone) and a wind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon) plus percussion. As a wind quintet we gave regular concerts both in the theatre and also outside venues. At this time David was acquiring the early music instruments and I regularly was called upon to play duets for clarinet and crumhorn, clarinet and rackett, clarinet and recorders various. As we played he would often stop to tune certain notes usually by sticking layers of paper into the vents. The playing of th...

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 David Munrow - more than early music 'David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London transformed our view of medieval music. The impact of their performances far surparssed any that had gone before: by demonstrating how medieval music could sound normal, they created a niche for it in the concert hall and on record that it has never lost' ~ From Daniel Leech-Wilkinson's notes for Music of the Gothic era May 15 2007 is the thirty-first anniversary of the death of David Munrow. His contribution to the acceptance, understanding and performance of early music almost defies summary. He was born in 1942, and learnt the bassoon and recorder as a child. Between school and university he travelled and taught in South America , and started the collection of ethnic instruments that were to give him, and the world, a new perspective on early music making. He read English at Pembroke College , Cambridge, and was encouraged by Thurston Dart to ta...