Sir Charles Groves - British Music

Charles Groves was too young to have known Elgar, Holst and Delius personally, but when he was growing up, a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral and a pupil at the Cathedral School, they were the dominant names in British music. Although Groves’s training and temperament helped to form his character as an all-round musician, British music was always important to him, and British composers featured strongly in his friendships and professional relationships. It wasn’t just established composers either: he was keenly interested in the music of the younger generation, and gave early performances of works by the Manchester School — Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies and Harrison Birtwistle. The young Simon Rattle was a regular attendee at Groves’s concerts during his time as principal conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and recalled “If a wonderful new piece arrived like, for instance — 1970 I think it was — Birtwistle’s Triumph of Time, Charlie heard about it and that would be the beginning for the next season.”