| "George Lloyd" according to the critic
Harry Farjeon, writing in 1939 "gets into his music something
of the soil and nothing of the carpet: he writes as though
on the moors of Cornwall or Yorkshire, not as though in
a walled-in study." Indeed there is an earthy, unmistakeably
English quality to Lloyd's music, which by the late 30s
had made the young composer a phenomenon: in 1938, London
greeted with astonishment and acclaim the 25 year old
Lloyd, who had composed two operas - Iernin at the Lyceum
and The Serf at Covent Garden - seemingly from nowhere.
It is telling that George's third opera, John Socman,
was one of three commissioned for the Festival of Britain
in 1951, alongside works by Britten and Vaughan Williams.
However, World War II had left Lloyd physically and psychologically
scarred: whilst serving in the Royal Marines - where his
long and fruitful association with Band Music began -
Lloyd was among the lucky few Bandsmen to survive when
his cruiser HMS Trinidad was torpedoed on the Arctic convoys. |
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| By the time he could return productively to work, the
musical and critical tides had changed dramatically: his
former reputation disregarded, George strove alone to
continue his work, finding no recognition from an establishment
which now saw him as regressive. It is a credit to George's
devotion to his art, and his strong self-belief, that
in the last years of his life, following several commissions
from the Albany Symphony Orchestra (bringing the number
of symphonies to 12!) and the runaway success of his Symphonic
Mass, Lloyd's music once again started to reach a larger
audience, and receive the critical appreciation it deserved.
This can in part be attributed to the enduring appetite
of modern audiences for music which is unapologetically
melodic - by and large Lloyd's writing is tuneful and
easily accessible - but its appeal is more sophisticated
than that: his music invites us, unabashed, to share a
heartfelt and consuming passion, delivered with an unparalleled
clarity of expression. Lloyd's is deeply personal music,
the triumphant product of a life marred by personal tragedy,
and a joyfully defiant response to an increasingly cynical
world. As Richard Morrison, writing in BBC Music Magazine
shortly before George's death in 1998 put it, "how many
could say 'I write what I have to write' with such conviction?". |
