Lionel Salter (8 September 1914 – 1 March 2000) was an English pianist, conductor, writer and administrator who had a long association with the

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

.Sadie, Stanley, rev. Jon Stroop. 'Salter, Lionel (Paul)' in ''Grove Music Online'' (2001) Born in London, Salter was a distant descendent of

Salomon Sulzer Salomon Sulzer ( he, סלומון זולצר, March 30, 1804, Hohenems, Vorarlberg – January 17, 1890, Vienna) was an Austrian '' hazzan'' (cantor) and composer. Biography His family, which prior to 1813 bore the name of ''Levi'', removed to ...

, the composer cantor, a contemporary of Beethoven and Schubert.'Lionel Salter', in ''The Musical Times''
Vol. 141, No. 1871 (Summer 2000), pp. 5-6 He showed promise as a pianist from an early age, making his first professional appearance aged 12 and his first recording aged 14. He studied music and modern languages at St John's College, Cambridge from 1932 to 1936 under Edward Dent and harpsichord with Boris Ord, and then at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...

, where he studied conducting with

Constant Lambert Leonard Constant Lambert (23 August 190521 August 1951) was a British composer, conductor, and author. He was the founder and music director of the Royal Ballet, and (alongside Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton) he was a major figure in th ...

and

Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

and piano with

Arthur Benjamin Arthur Leslie Benjamin (18 September 1893, in Sydney – 10 April 1960, in London) was an Australian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. He is best known as the composer of '' Jamaican Rumba'' (1938) and of the '' Storm Clouds Cantata'' ...

and the Bach specialist James Ching.G R Seaman. 'Salter ormerly Sulzer Lionel Paul Sydney', in ''The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (2006) After a brief period working at

Denham Studios Denham Film Studios was a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952, founded by Alexander Korda. Notable films made at Denham include ''Brief Encounter'' and David Lean's ''Great Expectations''. From the 1950s to the 1970s th ...

(

London Films London Films Productions is a British film and television production company founded in 1932 by Alexander Korda and from 1936 based at Denham Film Studios in Buckinghamshire, near London. The company's productions included ''The Private Life o ...

) with

Muir Mathieson James Muir Mathieson, OBE (24 January 19112 August 1975) was a Scottish conductor and composer. Mathieson was almost always described as a "Musical Director" on many British films. Career Mathieson was born in Stirling, Scotland, in 1911. A ...

(where he edited

Arthur Bliss Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (2 August 189127 March 1975) was an English composer and conductor. Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army. In the post-war years he qu ...

's score for '' Things to Come'') he joined the BBC in 1936.Obituary by John Duarte
in ''The Guardian'', 6 March, 2000 During the war Salter was involved in both educational and intelligence roles, and when his duties took him to Algiers he stepped in as chief guest conductor of the Radio France Symphony Orchestra, which was based there in 1943-44. The following year he returned to the BBC, becoming assistant conductor of the BBC Theatre Orchestra. In 1948 he became music supervisor of the BBC European Service and also took on special responsibility for the

Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual f ...

(later BBC Radio 3). By 1956 he was head of music production for BBC Television, where he furthered the broadcast of concerts, ballet and opera. He is credited with establishing many of the techniques still used in music programmes today. His final role at the BBC was as Assistant Music Controller under

William Glock Sir William Frederick Glock, CBE (3 May 190828 June 2000) was a British music critic and musical administrator who was instrumental in introducing the Continental avant-garde, notably promoting the career of Pierre Boulez. Biography Glock was bo ...

(and from 1972 Robert Ponsonby). He retired in 1974. Salter was also a regular recitalist (harpsichord and piano) and a writer and editor for many publications, including (from 1948) frequent contributions to '' Gramophone'' and as editor of the BBC Music Guides until 1975. He composed, arranged and conducted for radio, television and films (for instance ''

The Divorce of Lady X ''The Divorce of Lady X'' is a 1938 British Technicolor romantic comedy film produced by London Films; it stars Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Binnie Barnes. It was directed by Tim Whelan and produced by Alexander Kord ...

'' (1938), adjudicated at festivals, lectured and broadcast, and made over 100 opera translations. He was the author of ''Going to a Concert'' (1950), ''Going to the Opera'' (1955) and ''The Musician and his World'' (1963), all of them best sellers. A visit to interview Pablo Casals in Prades was the initial impetus in 1954 for a 26 part radio series, ''The Heritage of Spain'', prepared with

Roberto Gerhard Robert Gerhard i Ottenwaelder (; 25 September 1896 – 5 January 1970) was a Spanish Catalan composer and musical scholar and writer, generally known outside Catalonia as Roberto Gerhard.Malcolm MacDonald. 'Gerhard, Roberto' in ''Grove Music Onl ...

.'The Heritage of Spain', ''Radio Times''
Issue 1573, 3rd Jan 1954, p. 21 Lionel Salter married Christine Fraser in 1939. She died in 1998. He died in 2000 of cancer, in Camden Town, London at the age of 85. There were three sons, including Graham Salter, a professional oboist.

References

External links

Lionel Salter Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salter, Lionel English pianists 1914 births 2000 deaths Classical musicians associated with the BBC