David Munrow

[doversoul1]

This year marks the 40th anniversary of David Munrow’s death. His Early Music Consort was not exactly HIPP by today’s standard but without him, I imagine it would have taken much longer for early music in the UK to establish as a (not sure what but) tangible musical idea. Although early music had been growing for many years, I suppose David Munrow gave the decisive push to it as a movement.

I very much envy those who were there when it was all happening.

Happy New Year‼

[ardcarp]

Indeed, dovers, the influence of DM should not be underestimated nor indeed forgotten. He and his Consort (mainly Bowman, Hogwood and Olly Brooks in the early days) really made Early Music....especially Medieval music...great fun. The sheer energy and élan with which they presented their concerts blew away the then prevalent notion that early music was done by a rather precious clique of terribly earnest and slightly weird people. I was lucky enough to be around at the time!

[french frank]

It seems as if there will be a successor programme to Pied Piper on R3 in the spring. A bold move - David Munrow will be a hard (impossible?) act to follow.

[mercia]

with such a programme presumably being aimed at the under-40s and the great man being so fresh in their memories, probably a bad idea.

[ChrisBennell]

I was fortunate enough to attend a David Munrow / Early Music Consort concert around 1974 in Eton as part of the Windsor Music Festival (if I remember correctly). This was one of those concerts I shall always remember - David Munrow gave fascinating introductions to each instrument he played, and he was not only a fantastic musician, but a very gifted communicator and presenter. I still have many of his recordings originally on cassette but now transferred to CD.

[oddoneout]

Paid Piper was essential listening and I bitterly resented days when bus problems meant I wasn't home from school in time. As an undergraduate I was fortunate enough to meet a group of people interested in instrumental Early Music - making the instruments in some cases as well as playing - and joined them as a recorder player. David Munrow's influence was really beginning to be felt, but there was still a fair amount of 'looking down noses'(to put it politely) among those who regarded themselves as proper musicians. I learned to keep quiet about the EM group when involved with orchestra activities.
Hearing about DM's death came as a real shock. I can still picture it - I was waiting for registration when a fellow student came up and said 'David Munrow is dead, I've just read it in The Times'. My initial reaction was 'he can't be', and then I read the announcement, and realised from the wording that it was likely to have been suicide, which somehow made it worse. Too short a life but what a lot he achieved and what a debt is owed.

[french frank]

with such a programme presumably being aimed at the under-40s and the great man being so fresh in their memories, probably a bad idea.

The great difference between Pied Piper and the latter day Making Tracks was that Pied Piper had an appreciative audience of all ages, even though it was aimed at children. David Munrow knew what he was talking about (unlike the Blue Peter and CBBC presenters) and he knew how to communicate his knowledge and enthusiasm to anyone. But his unique gifts (as well as his youth) were the key to the programme's success, which is why just putting Radio 3's Young Guard in charge would be unlikely to work

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The great difference between Pied Piper and the latter day Making Tracks was that Pied Piper had an appreciative audience of all ages, even though it was aimed at children. David Munrow knew what he was talking about (unlike the Blue Peter and CBBC presenters) and he knew how to communicate his knowledge and enthusiasm to anyone. But his unique gifts (as well as his youth) were the key to the programme's success, which is why just putting Radio 3's Young Guard in charge would be unlikely to work

It's New Year's Day - let's be optimistic: there's a group of Musician/Presenters who have benefited from the vast strides that have taken place in research into pre-Baroque Music and performance as a result of Munrow's pioneering activities. They will also be more aware of the changes in listening habits that have occurred in the past forty years, and shall be able to use not only the considerable facilities of the BBC, but also the even more considerable opportunities for further investigation offered by the internet.

What better way of commemorating Munrow's legacy? - And an immeasurably preferable one to the recent situation of having sod-all to continue the work that he started. It's a smidgen unfair (and hardly in the spirit of the season - unless we decide that we preferred Scrooge before his rather eventful night) to study the sheep's entrails and predict doom before said sheep has been sacrificed.

[MickyD]

Back in the late 70s, Munrow and the EMC made a series of programmes about early musical instruments for Granada TV. Strange to think such an esoteric subject was commissioned by ITV. Munrow explained each instrument before playing with the Consort. They must be languishing in the vaults somewhere, it would be nice to see them again.

[french frank]

It's New Year's Day - let's be optimistic: there's a group of Musician/Presenters who have benefited from the vast strides that have taken place in research into pre-Baroque Music and performance as a result of Munrow's pioneering activities. They will also be more aware of the changes in listening habits that have occurred in the past forty years, and shall be able to use not only the considerable facilities of the BBC, but also the even more considerable opportunities for further investigation offered by the internet.

What better way of commemorating Munrow's legacy? - And an immeasurably preferable one to the recent situation of having sod-all to continue the work that he started. It's a smidgen unfair (and hardly in the spirit of the season - unless we decide that we preferred Scrooge before his rather eventful night) to study the sheep's entrails and predict doom before said sheep has been sacrificed.

Well, indeed. Though I'm not sure that early music will necessarily be the focus (indeed Pied Piper covered a much wider brief). Perhaps the equivalent for today would be the exact opposite: new music for all?

[doversoul1]

Back in the late 70s, Munrow and the EMC made a series of programmes about early musical instruments for Granada TV. Strange to think such an esoteric subject was commissioned by ITV. Munrow explained each instrument before playing with the Consort. They must be languishing in the vaults somewhere, it would be nice to see them again.

This?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Early-Musical-Instruments-David-Munrow/dp/B001R4GYE4

[jean]

Does anyone remember the children's programmes Atarah Ben-Tovim did?

I had heard nothing of her for so long I thought she too had died, but apparently not.

[mercia]

I remember her on television in her colourful kaftans, but not on radio

[MickyD]

This?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Early-Musica.../dp/B001R4GYE4

Yes, that's the one DS! How amazing that it is available on DVD at last, well found!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Though I'm not sure that early music will necessarily be the focus (indeed Pied Piper covered a much wider brief)

Yes, it did - mentioning "New Music", I remember an interview with Peter Maxwell Davies (with whom Munrow shared work on Ken Russell's film The Devils) - but Early Music was the central focus, which gave Pied Piper an "identity" that subsequent R3 programmes for "young people" lacked - which must have posed problems for the non-specialist presenters. I hope that, with the references to the new programme being somehow in the "spirit" specifically of PP (as opposed to, for example, Making Tracks) that sort of focus and "identity" will be restored.

I remember her on television in her colourful kaftans, but not on radio

- still busy getting children involved in Flutey activities:

http://www.atarah.tv/