The Melodic Line - Podcast of the George Lloyd Society
The British composer George Lloyd (1913-1998) resisted trends in 20th Century music by continuing to write lyrical, romantic tunes. His output includes three operas, twelve symphonies, seven concertos, three large scale choral works, music for solo piano and violin, and virtuoso pieces for brass band. Born in Cornwall, Lloyd was a musical prodigy, his opera Iernin being performed in London when he was 21. His career was interrupted by the Second World War, which left him with severe physical and mental injures, from which he slowly recovered. In later years, he achieved hard earned success as a composer, conductor and recording artist. The Melodic Line podcast traces Lloyd's extraordinary rollercoaster life, from his prodigious career as an opera composer at Covent Garden aged 21, to his severe shellshock after his ship was torpedoed in the Arctic, twenty years as a market gardener growing carnations and mushrooms, his close association with pianist John Ogdon, and his extraordinary Indian summer as a best selling composer and conductor.
Listen on:
Episodes
Friday Aug 20, 2021
Friday Aug 20, 2021
The story of George Lloyd's Fourth Symphony and his traumatic experience as a Royal Marine, when HMS Trinidad was torpedoed in the Arctic in1942. 17 men died and Lloyd suffered severe PTSD. With the help of his wife Nancy, he rehabilitated himself using diet, exercise, hypnosis, mantras, herbs, homeopathy, radiesthesia, dowsing, and spirit healing, and 4 years later he composed his magnificent Fourth Symphony.