The Early Music Legend

          PhD Student Email edward.breen@kcl.ac.uk Music Department King's College London Strand Campus London WC2R 2LS         Thesis Title The performance practice of David Munrow and The Early Music Consort of London Another "thesis" or rather article    See          Biography Edward Breen trained as countertenor and has taught at Trinity College of Music and Morley College. He is also a music researcher for BBC Four. His PhD at King’s College, London, ‘The Performance Practice of David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London’, combines a close reading of the recorded history of this ensemble with a wide ranging oral history project testing the claims of the early music revival against their discography to reveal the roots of many modern standards in early music perfo...

JAMES BOWMAN Countertenor Bowman at the 1985 recording session for Athalia between Joan Sutherland and Hogwood I first met Christopher Hogwood in 1967, when David Munrow formed his Early Music Consort. He always remained a strong influence on my development as a singer, and I can sincerely say that I learnt all I know about Baroque performance from him. I shall always be grateful to Chris for his help and support when I went through a series of vocal problems in the late 70’s, shortly after Munrow's death. He was always positive about the eventual outcome, and indeed welcomed me back to record with him in several memorable Handel projects, the most notable being the recording of Orlando Chris remained constant in his views on interpretation and actual performance, and I always admired and respected him for it. Source Ref  http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/remembering-christopher-hogwood-1941-2014

When Hogwood was interviewed by  Gramophone  in 2002 he looked back to the roots of Historically Informed Performance: 'I'm a Handel and Haydn man. But that's not where it all began. I'd come from playing medieval music with David Munrow. It was completely speculative, a sort of inspired circus, putting on a host of colourful works to entertain, very well run on the concert platform. But there were a number of worrying things about it; one was the impression it gave the world that most medieval music consisted of instrumental, secular music when 98 per cent was religious, sacred vocal music. And the other one was that there is so little surviving evidence of what really went on, what it actually sounded like.' So began an unforgettable musical journey.......................Ref Gramophone Obit of CH September 2014

The following is from the late Chris Hogwood's official website (News section). May 2, 2014 In the process of expanding his online discography, Christopher was delighted to rediscover several LPs of albums by folk groups The Young Tradition and Shirley & Dolly Collins, featuring Christopher himself on the harpsichord. In a series of unusual but striking collaborations, these young folk singers joined forces with players from the Early Music Consort on period instruments, creating what Dolly Collins felt to be the "natural orchestra" that her arrangements needed. So far we have unearthed copies of "Galleries", by The Young Tradition (1968), along with two albums by Shirley & Dolly Collins, "Anthems in Eden" (1969) and "Love, Death and the Lady" (1970). Featuring a variety of what were then relatively little-known instruments including viols, shawm, cornett, sackbut, crumhorns, along with the harpsichord played by Chr...

Christopher Hogwood was a conductor and scholar whose extensive research led to a resurgence in interest in early music (I was told recently that Hogwood was on the "way out" so to speak. Hence, this post which has relevance, as he played a pivotal part in David Munrow's Early Music Consort of London. Indeed, he was a founder member of it. Also, I did try to contact him on the phone many moons ago. Instead of Hogwood, I talked to his secretary as he was on Tour. I was hoping to ask him about whether he would write anything more about David Munrow. However, at a later stage I contacted his secretary again, and she said that she had passed the message on to him. She said he replied by saying he had "written enough" about Munrow. RS blogger) Christopher Hogwood   Photo: THIERRY MARTINOT 6:22PM BST 25 Sep 2014/Telegraph         Christopher Hogwood, the conductor, who has ...

The material of the following  posts  on this google blogger site comes from the blogger's David Munrow Forum. http://www.earlymusic.co/davidmunrow/ The posts are produced by Robert Searle, the blogger, who uses the user name piepiper on the above forum site. The Forum is part of the following site http://www.davidmunrow.org

 ‘Sir John Alot of Merrie Englandes Musyk Thynge & Ye Grene  Knyghte’  First full studio album. Engineered by John Wood,  Sound Techniques Chelsea. Studio musicians included David  Munrow and drummer Terry Cox.  Formed a group with Bert Jansh and Jacqui McShee, Terry Cox  and bass player Danny Thompson – named Pentangle as a nod  to Sir Gawain. First album ‘The Pentangle.’ Second (double)  album ‘Sweet Child’ partly recorded at the Festival Hall. Cover  design by Peter Blake.  Family move to Buriton village in Hampshire. ‘Bert and John’ released in America as ‘Stepping Stones’    http://www.johnrenbourn.co.uk/biography/