![]() ![]() P-G conducted the major orchestral concerts at the celebrations, and the Manchester Guardian of March 24th carried a glowing notice by Colin Mason on the previous evening’s programme of Prague Symphony and two double concertos (flute and harp and K. Maurice’s pianism was immediate and instinctive. ![]() (I never saw fingering marks pencilled into any of his piano copies!). He seemed to sight-read everything and I was often asked to turn the pages for him – this to me was a hair-raising delight though a big responsibility. Those wonderful hands knew no fear before any virtuoso texture. I stood in awe of Maurice and hung on to his every word. The Mozart bi-centenary of 1956 gave me the enviable opportunity of performing the two-piano Concerto K.365 with lecturer and pianist Maurice Aitchison who was a towering presence, literally and figuratively, in the department. Under the driving energy of P-G and his staff there were many outstanding concerts in those ‘golden 50’s’ and one could often see John Ogdon, John McCabe, Peter Maxwell Davies, Elgar Howarth, Peter Hope, David Wilde, Harrison Birtwistle and many other rising stars on Oxford Road between Dover Street and the R.M.C.M. I was a Yorkshire lad, from a mining-community background (sharing the same Barnsley Grammar School as Michael Parkinson!!) and I had a lot to learn. Thus began a friendship and close working partnership that was to endure until his death 25 years later.įrom the outset there was an obvious musical rapport and we got on well. Music Department as a result of my application for admission to the Joint Course at the University and R.M.C.M. I first met P-G (as he was universally known with gratitude and affection by several generations of students and colleagues) in the bitter winter of 1954-55 when attending interview at the old Dover St. Memoirs by former Manchester students - Michael Almond, Peter Hope and Douglas Steele ![]()
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