Elizabeth Maconchy - ACE157.2

Busts, paintings and statues of composers. Music over. People listening on headphones. None of them knows who wrote what they’re listening to, when it was written, what nationality it is. Elizabeth Maconchy working on a score. Maconchy at work, by herself and with other musicians. Richard Rodney Bennett talking about Maconchy and his early dealings with her. Maconchy talking about her life and career. Photographs of her and her family. Film of Dublin where her family moved after First World War. View of Albert Hall from the Royal College of Music where she went in her teens. Interiors of the RCM. Photographs of Charles Wood and Ralph Vaughan Williams who was a great influence. Pathetone item Sir Henry Wood and members of the B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra in Vaughan Williams "Serenade to Music"; Maconchy VO. Photograph of Bela Bartok, another strong influence. Photograph of Maconchy. She talks about going in for the Mendelssohn scholarship, and Sir Hugh Allen’s comments on her not getting it. Photograph of her and her husband. Family sitting in garden; Maconchy’s, daughter Nicola LeFanu, did win the scholarship. Poster for 1935 Prague contemporary music festival; 1939 programme from the Smetana Hall including Maconchy’s Piano Concerto. Programme for 1930 Promenade Concert, including Maconchy’s The Land; some of the press coverage of this. Talks about the prejudice outside college against female composers. Photographs of Elisabeth Lutyens, Iris Lemare, Anne MacNaghten who started their own concerts. MacNaghten at the Mercury Theatre, London, talking about the concerts.