I have had a long-time interest in composition and orchestration since my schooldays. I was inspired by Hector Berlioz's great 1843/44 & 55 Treatise on Instrumentation (Grand Traité d’Instrumentation et d’Orchestration Modernes).

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I have published a range of works for children, including the The Peter Rabbit Recorder Book (Frederick Warne, 1984: pictured/below on mobile), The Pooh Recorder Book (Methuen, 1985), The Wind in the Willows Recorder Book (Methuen, 1987), and The Brambly Hedge Music Book (Collins, 1991).

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I have also composed a number of commissioned choral works for schools, and I conducted the Early Music Consort, Pifaresca, for Kent Music School (see programme pages from our National Trust Concert at Knole in 1997: opposite/below on mobile).

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I was a guest in June 2008 on Private Passions (BBC Radio 3).

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I am especially interested in Early Music, and I feel strongly about the woeful neglect until recently of women composers, such as Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel and Clara Wieck Schumann.

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I am also a great balletomane, particularly enjoying the early August Bournonville (1805-1879) Danish ballets, such as La Sylphide (Danish: Sylfiden) of 1836, and the wonderful pas de deux fromThe Flower Festival in Genzano (Danish: Blomsterfesten i Genzano) of 1858. As a treat for everyone, you can watch (opposite below/use this link on mobile) a seminal performance of the latter by two great exponents of the style at the Royal Danish Ballet, Gudrun Bojesen (Rosa) and Mads Blangstrup (Paolo) - a sheer delight in these dark times.

 

And speaking of dark times, I have drawn up a Synopsis, à la Frederick Ashton, for a full-length story ballet based on the C17 tale of separated lovers in the famous plague village of Eyam in Derbyshire. The ballet, provisionally called 'A Plague on Love’, is in a Prologue and Three Acts, and it is founded on a real-life tragedy. You can read my proposal in the .pdf document (opposite above; below on mobile). 

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I am married with two grown-up daughters and three grandchildren.

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Professionally, I was, until retirement, an academic at the University of London. Between 1987 and 2004, I was editor of the internationally-important Journal of Biogeography.

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Go to: Non-Music Publications

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Go to: Works for NT Ightham Mote

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