Destined for Greatness

Maconchy explodes onto Britain’s musical landscape, dazzling teachers, contemporaries and some influential gatekeepers.

Elizabeth Maconchy is surely the greatest composer of string quartets ever to emerge in the British Isles; and yet her music is often ignored in favour of lesser works by more famous British composers. So says Maconchy’s biographer, Erica Siegel, who joins Kate Molleson to explore the life and works of this key figure in Britain and Ireland’s musical story. Across the week, Kate and Erica set out to show us why Maconchy deserves much more of our attention. We’ll hear stories of personal crises, public apathy and outrageous institutional sexism, and how Maconchy met each challenge with characteristic grace and perseverance. Her works fizz with invention and purpose and she described her own music as “impassioned argument”.

Today, Kate and Erica see Maconchy shine as a star student at the Royal College of Music and her music is selected to be performed at the Proms. She confides to her friend: “I want to be very gay – or else quite wild – but a rather dull middle course is awful, don’t you think?”

String Quartet No 2: IV. Allegro
Hanson String Quartet

Clarinet Quintet: III. Lento, IV. Allegro molto
Thea King, clarinet
The Britten String Quartet

Four Shakespeare Songs: No 1, Come Away, Death
James Geer, tenor
Ronald Woodley, piano

The Land - A Suite for Orchestra
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Odaline de la Martinez

Concertino No 2 for Piano and String Orchestra
Simon Callaghan, piano
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Martyn Brabbins