Singing or conducting?

This article will appear in the Spectator magazine dated October 17th Someone somewhere recently asked me in a public forum whether I would prefer to be a singer, the conductor or a member of the audience at the concerts we give. He himself was of the opinion that he would rather be a singer, saying [...]

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Phillips on Cardus

The following book review will appear in the autumn issue of the Musical Times. Cardus – Celebrant of Beauty  A Memoir by Robin Daniels The Elusive Mr Cardus  Letters and Other writings edited by Bob Hilton Neville Cardus has been a hero for many people for a long time now. From his deprived upbringing in [...]

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Out of harmony

The current exhibition at the Tate Modern (‘Rodchenko and Popova: Defining Constructivism’, until 17 May) is rich in cultural reference, apart from any reference to music. Here we have Popova collaborating with theatrical producers and designers, Rodchenko working alongside film-makers and poets (especially Mayakovsky), and everyone in a headlong dash away from easel work towards [...]

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When is it acceptable?

Someone needs to write a history of vibrato. Clearly this should be Roger Norrington: to judge from his words on Radio Three recently he has given the topic much thought and come up with some historically-based conclusions. I suspect he isn’t going to do it though because, like me, he is too busy chiselling out [...]

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The drama of the Passion outperforms even the most tragic opera

The following article appeared in The Times of London on the 9th April, as part of a series of articles dedicated to Holy Week. To see it in its original form visit www.timesonline.co.uk and type in my name. It appears under the title quoted above. The best sacred music is inherently dramatic. The drama may [...]

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A new British ‘tradition’

Now that the Allegri Miserere season is fully launched – the text is suitable for Lent – it seems fitting to ask why every choir in the land thinks it incumbent on them to sing this piece of music, for 150 years only ever sung within the walls of the Sistine Chapel. It never used [...]

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Zeitgeist, assumptions, and a pope in Oz

People make assumptions about how other people think, and then influence the zeitgeist by broadcasting their findings. There is a circularity to this rule of thumb which is ultimately sterile, but which takes some deconstructing. One of the current such verities is that sacred music in worship is of no wide cultural relevance, either because [...]

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Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices in Lusaka

As calling cards go, renaissance polyphony would not seem to promise a ticket to anywhere much, unless to heaven. When I started giving concerts in 1973 the received wisdom on the subject, even in the UK, was that whole concerts of it would never draw an audience. How true that was. But slowly perceptions have [...]

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Future publications

I am considering a third book. This would take the form of a series of essays, in the nature of jottings, mopping up some of the untied ends which are loose in my head. Here is a possible list of topics: The disconcerting effects of finding that two masterpieces one loved are not what we [...]

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What We Really Do

My second book, What We Really Do, was published by the Musical Times. It was indeed launched on October 15th 2003 on the occasion of my 50th birthday, and within three weeks of the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the Tallis Scholars, on November 3rd 1973. The book is much more concerned with the [...]

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