Kevin Crossley-Holland in Swanbourne Preparatory School, Swanbourne, Buckinghamshire - 1950
from The Hidden Roads: A Memoir of Childhood, pages 180–181:
In some ways, I was rather an oddity at Swanbourne. Each Monday evening, the young composer Philip Cannon arrived to give me my viola lesson – this had been arranged by my father, and I was the only pupil learning the instrument. I loved the look of my vintage instrument and lovingly tended it; I listened to my vinyl recording of Hassan; and I was excited to meet William Primrose after the first performance of Edmund Rubbra’s… more >>
Kevin Crossley-Holland, The Hidden Roads: A Memoir of Childhood (London, 2009), p. 180–181. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1546773998875 accessed: 22 November, 2024
Listeners
Listening to
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Serenade from 'Hassan'
written by Frederick Delius |
performed by Lionel Tertis? |
Experience Information
| Date/Time | 1950 |
| Medium | playback |
| Listening Environment | indoors |
Notes
Kevin Crossley-Holland attended Swanbourne Preparatory School from September 1951 until July 1954. Lionel Tertis made an acclaimed recording of the Serenade from 'Hassan'. The first performance of Edmund Rubbra's Viola Concerto took place on 15 April 1953 at the Festival Hall, London. Presumably Kevin Crossley-Holland heard the performance before meeting William Primrose, but he doesn't make this clear in his memoir. Kevin's father, the composer and ethnomusicologist Peter Crossley-Holland, was a close friend of Edmund Rubbra, being near neighbours in the Chilterns and sharing many interests, both musical and spiritual.