Richard Alston

Norman Del Mar

This is the first biography of great British conductor Norman Del Mar who sadly died in 1994. A horn-player colleague of Dennis Brain he owed the opportunites for his earliest conducting success to the teachings Beecham and Britten. He went on to hold opportunities in Scotland and Scandanavia, but never securecd a permanent post that would have perhaps enabled him to attain his full ptential as a conductor. However, he gave countless premieres at the BBc Proms and elsewhere, while his love of large-scale music occasioned pioneering UK performances of Mahler symphonies and major works by Schoenberg and Stockhausen. He was also a prolific author, notable for his study of richard Strauss and several books on the orchestra, and well-known as a teacher. But he is best rememebered today as a champion of British music all over the world, and this is reflected, albeit inadequately, in his discography, published here in full.

A wonderful, enlightening and nostalgic book which will be a joy and of great use to Del Mar admirers, thiose interest in conducting or in music and history.