Journal Entries

For John White NO LONGER Will I have my telephone calls answered with the cheery Wodehouseian “What Ho?” NOW, FOR EVER Even the possibility of our two -piano-six-hands ensemble is

Philip Jeck died peacefully on Friday, March 25th. He was a good friend, an unclassifiable artist who produced the most poetic music imaginable (and yet to be imagined). He was without

On March 12th I was to join forces with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for a spectacular performance at Cryptic’s Sonica Glasgow 2022. There were three works:  Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet, Arvo Pärt’s If Bach Had

Cambridge Summer Music Festival, West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge The Gavin Bryars Ensemble was to perform at the Cambridge Summer Music Festival on July 20, 2021, this being our first

Part 1 – From Studio to Hobart My Viola Concerto had been originally written for performance at the 2020 Dark Mofo Festival. Although the festival was cancelled the commission went

I was very sorry to learn of the death at the end of April of Conrad Cork, who was a close friend and colleague for many years though we had

I was born in Goole, and never left the town until I went to university and, in spite of living in many different places since, still think of it as

Virginia Anderson I was shocked and deeply saddened when I learned of the sudden and unexpected death early last Saturday morning (January 30) of my friend Virginia Anderson, clarinettist, musicologist

Robert Stutley (1953-2020) I was deeply saddened to learn of the sudden and unexpected death of Robert Stutley early on Tuesday morning. I received a message from his wife Margaret

For the last three years or so, the French writer Jean-Louis Tallon has conducted interviews with me at various locations in France – when I was involved with performances there

Recently, John Potter asked to let him have a list of the singers I’ve worked with over the years, a list that became bigger and bigger as I looked back.

Almost 50 years after its composition, and after many different versions of the piece, my publisher Schott has put together material for a fixed 30 minute orchestral version of Jesus’

After writing what became my First Book of Madrigals for the Hilliard Ensemble, setting texts by Blake Morrison, starting in 1998, I turned to Petrarch for my second book. Coincidentally

In June I wrote a journal entry about life here in the current situation, and I talked about music that I’d been writing and music that I planned to write.

I moved to Billesdon in 1992 and from a few years earlier there had been a monthly magazine, Billesdon and District Parish New and Views, that continues to this day.