Mentors Have A Big Impact On A Young Musician

#SimonWright #JohnWallace #WallaceCollection #LeedsFestivalChorus #Berlioz #LaMarseillaise #HymneàlaLiberté #AmpleforthCollege #GodBeInMyHead #AveMaria #12tone #SerialMusic #SimonWright #MarkWilkinson #JamesMorgan #AndrewGreasley #MyHolyPlace #RecordareChamberChoir 

The Royal Scottish Academy of Music is giving a tribute to John Wallace on 19 November. John was not only a great musician but he was generous in sharing his love of music with others. I recall as a young adult in London, I was invited, by Simon Wright, to take part in a Berlioz recording with the Wallace Collection. We spent an enjoyable day in All Saints Church, Tooting, made memorable by the antics of John Wallace. While we were recording the Marseillaise, John was solemnly processing at the back of the church, carrying an enormous Union Jack. Berlioz would have been horrified – poking fun at his revolutionary zeal and hope of liberty – the purpose of Hymne à la Liberté. But it made for a joyous rendition, as you can hear. 

I was fortunate to work with John Wallace, but I was even more fortunate to be taught by Simon Wright (who conducted the John Wallace / Berlioz album but was not credited).  

Simon Wright was the first person to take my music seriously.  

I was a teenager at Ampleforth College, seeped in music as a chorister, principal cellist in the symphony orchestra and using every opportunity to write, perform and listen.  

My earliest surviving composition, God Be In My Head, owes its existence to Simon who believed in me as a composer. He even stuck with me during my twelve tone, serial phase, when I thought that was the only way to be taken seriously as a composer. I wrote a setting of Ave Maria for eight part choir, using tone rows throughout. It was fiendishly difficult to sing but Simon printed up copies on the school roneo printer (on pink, yellow and green paper) and rehearsed the Schola Cantorum. They gave a very creditable première performance one Sunday morning and my parents drove a 500 mile round trip in one day, just to hear it. Fortunately, it has not had a second performance and it only remains in my catalogue for historical interest. 

God Be In My Head has stood the test of time. It has been recorded by Recordare Chamber Choir for release on the choral album, My Holy Place.