Articles

Articles labelled 'LBSJ' were first published in the Lennox Berkeley Society Journal.

Berkeley Society grants bear fruit in four major new recordings

Tony Scotland on four major recordings - and newly republished score - resulting from Berkeley Society grants. (LBSJ 2024)

Marina Firpo on Lennox Berkeley's 'Flute Sonatina'

The Italian flautist Marina Firpo analyses and compares works by Berkeley, Malcolm Arnold and York Bowen. (LBSJ 2024)

Obituary of Peter Dickinson by John Turner

John Turner writes about his friend and fellow musician, the composer, pianist, teacher and writer Peter Dickinson. (LBSJ 2024)

Robin Tritschler on Lennox Berkeley's 'Songs of the Half-Light'

Tenor Robin Tritschler writes about Berkeley’s de la Mare setting, ‘Songs of the Half-Light’, which he has recorded with guitarist Sean Shibe. (LBSJ 2024)

Sir Ashley Clarke and Lennox Berkeley's 'Sonatina for Two Pianos'

Tony Scotland on the re-discovery of the score of Berkeley's 'Sonatina for Two Pianos' - and Sir Ashley Clarke who comissioned it. (LBSJ 2024)

Nathan Williamson’s recording of Christopher Brown’s ‘24 Preludes & Fugues’

‘24 Preludes & Fugues’ by Lennox Berkeley’s pupil Christopher Brown. (LBSJ 2024)

Lennox Berkeley's incidental music for 'The Winter's Tale', RSC 1960

Tony Scotland writes about the premiere recording of Lennox Berkeley's forgotten score for the RSC's 'The Winter's Tale' 1960. (LBSJ 2024)

Sacred choral works by Berkeley father and son at Hampstead 2023

LFCCM Singers perform sacred works by Lennox and Michael Berkeley and Ewilliam Byrd Hampstead 2023. (LBSJ 2024)

Lennox Berkeley and the Latin Mass

Julian Berkeley writes about his father’s fight to save the Latin Mass after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. (LBSJ 2024)

Obituary of Peter Dickinson by Tony Scotland

Tony Scotland writes about the composer, pianist, teacher and writer Peter Dickinson, champion of the music of Lennox Berkeley. (LBSJ 2024)

John Turner on Lennox Berkeley's Recorder Sonatina

Recorder player John Turner on Lennox Berkeley's 'Sonatina'. (LBSJ 2024)

Obituary of Jack Black, copyright lawyer and former Chairman Cheltenham Music Festival

Tony Scotland writes about the copyright lawyer Jack Black, rescued from Nazism by the Kindertransport, and later Chairman of the Cheltenham Music Festival. (LBSJ 2024)

A look back at the funerals of Lennox Berkeley and his friend Benjamin Britten

Tony Scotland offers a last word about Lennox Berkeley and Benjamin Britten. (LBSJ 2024)

The neglect of the Britten/Berkeley suite 'Mont Juïc'

Tony Scotland argues the case for a revival of the orchestral suite, 'Mont Juïc', written jointly by Lennox Berkeley and Benjamin Britten. (LBSJ 2024)

Aubert Lemeland and Lennox Berkeley

Allan Clive Jones remembers French composer Aubert Lemeland and his admiration of Lennox Berkeley’s music. (LBSJ 2023)

The John Wilson Effect

Adam Pounds on the musical touch of conductor John Wilson in his recording of Berkeley’s ‘Divertimento’ and Pounds’ ‘Symphony No. 3’ with the Sinfonia of London. (LBSJ 2023)

Lennox Berkeley and the guitar

Guitarist Declan Hickey salutes Berkeley’s guitar repertoire, in particular the 'Songs of the Half-Light'. (LBSJ 2023)

Lennox Berkeley's family links with Leopold 1 of the Belgians – and the film 'The First Gentleman'

>Tony Scotland traces Lennox Berkeley’s family links with the Belgian royal family, and the story of the film, ‘The First Gentleman’. (LBSJ 2023)

Robin Tritschler on Lennox Berkeley's 'Five Housman Songs'

The tenor Robin Tritschler, who has just made the first complete recording of Berkeley’s ‘Five Housman Songs’, explores the complex emotional relationships that lie at the work’s heart, and analyses each of the five poems in the set. (LBSJ 2023)

Lennox Berkeley's ‘Gibbons Variations’ revived by London Choral Sinfonia

Conductor David Wordsworth writes about Lennox Berkeley’s ‘Gibbons Variations’, and its first-ever recording by the London Choral Sinfonia. (LBSJ 2023)

Lennox Berkeley in Paris 1979

Allan Clive Jones introduces a Radio France archive about Lennox Berkeley’s brief return to Paris at the end of his life. (LBSJ 2023)

Peter Dickinson reviews the legacy of Lennox Berkeley

A personal selection of Lennox Berkeley's life work by Peter Dickinson, composer, pianist and biographer. (LBSJ 2023)

Julian Berkeley on Lennox Berkeley's 'Missa Brevis'

Julian Berkeley recalls the first performance of Berkeley's 'Missa Brevis' at Westminster Cathedral in 1960 – and the recent discovery of a BBC live recording. (LBSJ 2023)

Contrasting choral settings of the 'Stabat Mater' by Lennox Berkeley and Francis Poulenc

Conductor Peter Broadbent analyses settings of the 'Stabat Mater' by Francis Poulenc and Lennox Berkeley – and finds reflections of their personalities and faith. (LBSJ 2022)

Composer Christopher Brown on Lennox Berkeley as teacher

Composer Christopher Brown, a student of Lennox Berkeley, writes about his teacher’s music and teaching methods – and the influence of Bach on both of them. (LBSJ 2022)

Jennifer Bate on Lennox Berkeley’s Organ Works

Organist Jennifer Bate recalls her first meeting with the composer Lennox Berkeley. (LBSJ 2022)

Lennox Berkeley's Oboe Quartet

The music writer John France finds reflection, angst and excitement in Lennox Berkeley’s Oboe Quartet of 1967. (LBSJ 2022)

Lennox Berkeley in 1938 writes to his aunt in Brussels about Benjamin Britten and impending war

Tony Scotland disovers a letter which Lennox Berkeley wrote to his aunt Anna, baronne d’Eppinghoven, in Brussels, about Benjamin Britten, his music and the war. (LBSJ 2022)

Lennox Berkeley operas on CD

Tony Scotland on the BBC recordings of Lennox Berkeley's grand opera 'Nelson' and his three one-acters, newly released by Nimbus. (LBSJ 2021)

Choral Suite Lennox Berkeley's opera 'Nelson'

Pianist/conductor David Wordsworth writes about his planned suite of choruses from Lennox Berkeley’s opera 'Nelson'. (LBSJ 2021)

Lennox Berkeley's setting of 'Gibbons Variations' for choir and orchestra

Conductor Michael Waldron revives Lennox Berkeley's choral masterpiece the 'Gibbons Variations'. (LBSJ 2021)

Lennox Berkeley's choral setting of John Donne's 'Legacie'

Chester Music publish Lennox Berkeley's choral setting of John's Donne's love poem 'Legacie'. (LBSJ 2021)

Christopher Daly tribute to Julian Bream

Guitar teacher Christopher Daly on Julian Bream as musician and guitar. (LBSJ 2021)

Michael Berkeley's tribute to Julian Bream

Composer Michael Berkeley remembers Julian Bream. (LBSJ 2021)

Lennox Berkeley's guitar collaborator Julian Bream

Guitar teacher Roland Gallery on Julian Bream's collaboration with Lennox Berkeley. (LBSJ 2021)

Lennox Berkeley's neglected 'Piano Concerto'

John France champions one of Lennox Berkeley's hidden treasures, the 'Piano Concerto'. (LBSJ 2021)

An American perspective on Lennox Berkeley

Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal discovers Lennox Berkeley. (LBSJ 2021)

Sheet music of neglected keyboard pieces free online

William Wynne Willson's archive of sheet music for the keyboard available free online. (LBSJ 2021)

Lennox Berkeley concert in Minneapolis 1976

American choral conductor Philip Brunelle meets Lennox Berkeley at the University of Minnesota 1976. (LBSJ 2021)

Lennox Berkeley celebration Merton College Oxford 2019

A celebration of Lennox Berkeley's years at Merton College in the Twenties with a talk by Selina Hastings, an address by his biographer Tony Scotland and an Evensong of his music. (LBSJ 2020)

Selina Hastings on Lennox Berkeley at Oxford in the Brideshead years

Selina Hastings, biographer of Evelyn Waugh, gives a talk at Merton College in 2019, about Berkeley's years at Oxford in the Roaring Twenties. (LBSJ 2020)

Tony Scotland on the faith in Lennox Berkeley’s music

In the Chapel of Lennox Berkeley's alma mater, Merton College, Oxford, Tony Scotland talks about Berkeley's faith and the way it is reflected in his music and that of his friends Ravel, Stravinsky and Poulenc. (LBSJ 2020)

Lennox Berkeley and the nocturne

Rob Barnett explores Lennox Berkeley's 'Nocturne' and his recurring use of night music. (LBSJ 2020)

Lennox Berkeley’s recorder pieces premiered in Aldeburgh

Composer David Matthews, biographer of Britten, reviews Lennox Berkeley's recorder premieres at the Red House in 2020. (LBSJ 2020)

Quad speakers at the Red House for a Berkeley concert

Audio designer Rupert Robertson offers a personal view of a concert of recorder music by Lennox Berkeley in Aldeburgh 2020. (LBSJ 2020)

Lennox Berkeley and Leonard Bernstein operas at the RCM

Julian Berkeley writes about a double bill at the Royal College of Music in 2020. (LBSJ 2020)

Lennox Berkeley’s opera ‘A Dinner Engagement’ on tour in Lincolnshire

Pianist and broadcaster Paul Guinery writes about accompanying the New London Opera Group in Berkeley's one-act comic favourite. (LBSJ 2020)

Lennox Berkeley at the Proms in 1973

John France examines the reception of Lennox Berkeley's 'Symphony No 3' and 'Sinfonia Concertante' at the Proms in 1973. (LBSJ 2020)

Lennox Berkeley’s Music for a Prince

Tony Scotland on Lennox Berkeley's 'Andantino' for Cello and Piano, written for King Charles III when he was Prince of Wales. (LBSJ 2020)

Lennox Berkeley 'Symphony No 3' premiere Cheltenham 1969

John France on the première of Lennox Berkeley's 'Symphony No. 3' in Cheltenham 1969, with contemporary reviews and his own commentary. (February 2019)

Lennox Berkeley unfinished opera 'Faldon Park'

Handel scholar Winton Dean, librettist of Lennox Berkeley's opera 'Faldon Park', tells the story of why it was never finished. (September 2014)

Lennox Berkeley Guitar Sonatina best recordings

Christopher Daly recommends the best recordings of Berkeley's guitar Sonatina (op. 52 no. 1). (June 2013)

Lennox Berkeley orchestral works

Conductor/composer Adam Pounds recommends two of Lennox Berkeley’s best orchestral works,'Divertimento' and 'Mont Juic'. (2012)