The Early Music Legend

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 ...