George John Malcolm

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

KSG (28 February 191710 October 1997) was an English pianist, organist, composer,

harpsichordist A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. Harpsichordists may play as soloists, as accompanists, as chamber musicians, or as members of an orchestra, or some combination of these roles. Solo harpsichordists may play unaccompanied son ...

, and conductor. Malcolm's first instrument was the piano, and his first teacher was a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

who recognised his talent and recommended him to the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

at the age of seven, where he studied under Kathleen McQuitty FRCM until he was 19. He attended

Wimbledon College Wimbledon College is a government-maintained, voluntary-aided, Jesuit Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form for boys aged 11 to 19 in Wimbledon, London. The college was founded in 1892 "for improvement in living and learning for the g ...

, and went on to study at

Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, Oxford in the 1930s.Obituary

The Catholic Herald The ''Catholic Herald'' is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly newspaper and starting December 2014 a magazine, published in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and, formerly, the United States. It reports a total circulation of abo ...

. Retrieved 22 September 2014. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he had a musical role with the RAF becoming a bandleader. After the War he completed his musical studies with Herbert Fryer. He bought a harpsichord at auction and went on to develop a career as a harpsichordist. He continued to make occasional appearances as a pianist, for example in Mozart's music for

four hands 'Four Hands' is a Taiwanese drama directed by You-Ning Lee, starring Wu Hsing-kuo. The movie premiered on 12 October 2014 in Taiwan. The story depicts a veteran of the Republic of China Army from Shantung who settled in Taiwan, separated from his ...

and with the

Dennis Brain Dennis Brain (17 May 19211 September 1957) was a British horn player. From a musical family – his father and grandfather were horn players – he attended the Royal Academy of Music in London. During the Second World War he served in the Roya ...

Wind Ensemble (with whom he made one of his rare recordings as pianist in the first performance of the

Gordon Jacob Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob CBE (5 July 18958 June 1984) was an English composer and teacher. He was a professor at the Royal College of Music in London from 1924 until his retirement in 1966, and published four books and many articles about m ...

Sextet, written for the group). As a mentor, he also influenced a number of musicians not necessarily associated with the harpsichord such as Andras Schiff.

Harpsichord career

Wanda Landowska Wanda Aleksandra Landowska (5 July 1879 – 16 August 1959) was a Polish harpsichordist and pianist whose performances, teaching, writings and especially her many recordings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in ...

, he favoured rather large 'revival' harpsichords with pedals, built in a modern style, that now are seen as "unauthentic" for Baroque music. While aspects of his interpretations may seem outdated by the standards of today's "historically informed

performance practice Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of the musical era in whic ...

", his recordings and live performances introduced many people to the

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

. As well as

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

works, he played modern harpsichord repertoire. His own composition "Bach before the Mast" (a humorous set of variations on ''The Sailor's Hornpipe'' in the style of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

) was written as a

B side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

for a cover version of the

Alec Templeton Alec Andrew Templeton (4 July 1909/1028 March 1963) was a Welsh composer, pianist, and satirist. Templeton was born in Cardiff, Wales. There is some confusion concerning Alec Templeton's year of birth. Most published and Internet biographies g ...

number ''Bach goes to town'' which he released in the 1950s.The Faber Pocket Guide to Bach He also wrote "Variations on a Theme of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

Collaborations with other harpsichordists

In the 1950s he participated in annual concerts featuring four harpsichordists, the three others being

Thurston Dart Robert Thurston ("Bob") Dart (3 September 1921 – 6 March 1971), was an English musicologist, conductor and keyboard player. Along with Nigel Fortune, Oliver Neighbour and Stanley Sadie he was one of Britain's leading musicologists of the post ...

Denis Vaughan Denis Edward Vaughan (Melbourne, 6 June 1926 – London, 7 July 2017) was an Australian-born orchestral conductor and multi-instrumentalist. In 1950, he joined the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and by 1966 had settled in Rome. He was a c ...

and

Eileen Joyce Eileen Alannah Joyce CMG (died 25 March 1991) was an Australian pianist whose career spanned more than 30 years. She lived in England in her adult years. Her recordings made her popular in the 1930s and 1940s, particularly during World War I ...

. In 1957 this group also recorded two of

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...

's Concertos for Four Harpsichords, one in a Bach arrangement, with the

Pro Arte Orchestra The Pro Arte Orchestra was a British symphony orchestra founded in 1955.Potts, Joseph E.“Orchestral Profile – The Pro Arte Orchestra” ''The Gramophone'', October 1959, p. 163 (p. 33 in online version) Background The Pro Arte Orchestra was fou ...

under Boris Ord. Malcolm, Dart and Joyce also recorded Bach's Concerto in C for Three Harpsichords. In 1967, he appeared with Eileen Joyce, Geoffrey Parsons and

Simon Preston Simon John Preston (4 August 1938 – 13 May 2022) was an English organist, conductor, and composer.
...

in a four-harpsichord concert with the

Academy of St Martin in the Fields The Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) is an English chamber orchestra, based in London. John Churchill, then Master of Music at the London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Neville Marriner founded the orchestra as "The Academy o ...

under

Neville Marriner Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English violinist and "one of the world's greatest conductors". Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ranks Marriner #14 of th ...

in the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

Organist and choir-master

He also pursued a notable career as an organist and choir-trainer. After serving as organist-choirmaster of St Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Clapham, he was Master of Music of

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City of ...

for 12 years (1947–1959). He developed the choir's forthright, full-throated tone—often, but rather vacuously described as "continental"—which contrasted with that of

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

choirs at the time.

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

praised the choir's 'staggering brilliance and authority', and proposed to write a piece for them. This resulted in the ''

Missa Brevis Missa brevis (plural: Missae breves) is . The term usually refers to a mass composition that is short because part of the text of the Mass ordinary that is usually set to music in a full mass is left out, or because its execution time is relati ...

'' (1959). Its first performance was one of Malcolm's last services at Westminster Cathedral before he retired on 1 September 1959. He continued to play the organ, recording the Handel organ concertos for example."CLIP AND SAVE: JOHN BARKER'S BEST-OF-HANDEL LIST.(RHYTHM)"
''The Wisconsin State Journal'' (Madison, WI). McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. April 2008. Accessed via

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. 28 October 2014 (subscription required). Malcolm was founding patron of Spode Music Week, an annual residential music school that places particular emphasis on the music of the Roman Catholic liturgy. Malcolm also composed for voices, a well-known piece being his

Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Holy ...

introit The Introit (from Latin: ''introitus'', "entrance") is part of the opening of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, psalm verse and ''Gloria Patri'', ...

''Ingrediente Domino''. His setting of Psalm 51 ''Miserere mei'' (composed in 1950, presumed lost but rediscovered in the Cathedral archives in 2011) is reminiscent of

Ivor Atkins Sir Ivor Algernon Atkins (29 November 1869 – 26 November 1953) was the choirmaster and organist at Worcester Cathedral from 1897 to 1950, as well as a composer of songs, church music, service settings and anthems. He is best known for editi ...

' 1951 version of

Gregorio Allegri Gregorio Allegri (17 February 1652) was a Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic priest and Italy, Italian composer of the Roman School and brother of Domenico Allegri; he was also a singer. He was born"Allegri, Gregorio" in ''Chambers's Encyclop ...

's ''Miserere''. A devout Roman Catholic, Malcolm was awarded papal honours for his services as Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral.

Conducting

Benjamin Britten engaged Malcolm in 1960 to conduct the second and third performances of ''A Midsummer Night’s Dream''. In later life Malcolm developed a career as a conductor, forging long-standing relationships with ensembles such as the

English Chamber Orchestra The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and their ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall. The orchestra regularly tours in the UK and internationall ...

and the

Northern Sinfonia Royal Northern Sinfonia is a British chamber orchestra, founded in Newcastle upon Tyne and currently based in Gateshead. For the first 46 years of its history, the orchestra gave most of its concerts at the Newcastle City Hall. Since 2004, the o ...

orchestra. The pianist

András Schiff Sir András Schiff (; born 21 December 1953) is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor, who has received numerous major awards and honours, including the Grammy Award, Gramophone Award, Mozart Medal, and Royal Academy of Musi ...

, who left Hungary to study with Malcolm, was a frequent concerto soloist under his baton, and the two recorded Mozart's complete works for piano duet together on the composer's own piano.

Burial and legacy

Malcolm was born and died in London. He is interred in the graveyard at St Nicholas Church, Saintbury, Gloucestershire. Malcolm's centenary was marked by Balliol College in 2017.

Discography

In 1967, he recorded ''The Complete Harpsichord Works of Rameau'' ( Argo Record Co, London).

Notes

External links

Interview from The Harpsichord MagazineGeorge Malcolm official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malcolm, George 1917 births 1997 deaths English classical organists British male organists English classical pianists Male classical pianists English harpsichordists English Roman Catholics English people of Scottish descent Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the Royal College of Music Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Cathedral organists 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century English musicians People educated at Wimbledon College 20th-century organists 20th-century British male musicians Male classical organists