| George Lloyd - Composer of the Week - 13th November 2006 |
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Composer Of The Week
George Lloyd (1913-1998) Ep 1/5
Monday 13 to Friday 17 November
12.00 noon-1.00 pm BBC RADIO 3
Donald Macleod charts the ups and downs of British composer George Lloyd's remarkable rollercoaster career. Despite a large oeuvre of 12 symphonies, three operas, seven concertos, music for solo piano, brass band pieces, chamber music and three large-scale cantatas, George Lloyd makes his first appearance as Radio 3's Composer Of The Week.
Born in the same year as Benjamin Britten, Lloyd had a fairy-tale start to his career, touted as one of Britain's most promising young composers in the Thirties. He produced three symphonies by the age of 20 and two successful operas by the age of 25, both of which were performed on the London stage.
But this bright beginning was cut short, in common with so many young men of Lloyd's generation, by the Second World War. While serving on HMS Trinidad, Lloyd was badly injured in a horrific accident when the warship accidentally torpedoed itself.
Recuperation took Lloyd to his wife's native Switzerland, where he wrote his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies. Again his career veered in unexpected directions: after a brief return to the musical scene, marked by a disastrous production of his third opera, Lloyd took a break from the musical limelight to become a market gardener in Dorset. There he led a double life, rising at 4.30 every morning to write music before the day's work.
After more than 20 years in which the world heard nothing from him, Lloyd gradually reinvented himself, returning once more to London to enjoy an artistic Indian summer.
As well as Composer Of The Week, George Lloyd's music on Radio 3 this week includes a complete cycle of his 12 symphonies performed by BBC orchestras, including a new recording of his First Symphony by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Presenter/Donald Macleod, Producer/Emily Kershaw
BBC Radio 3 Publicity
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