CriticalDance Forum

John Lanchbery

more...

John Lanchbery

Composer and conductor whose musical mastery enriched the ballet for more than 50 years

Noel Goodwin
Friday February 28, 2003
The Guardian

more...

I've combined two topics here:

********************************************

Azlan posted 28 February 2003 02:11 AM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

sugar plum fairy posted 28 February 2003 05:07 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a lot of ballet recordings that he did , especially with The Royal Opera House Orchestra.I found that he could portray the music as it was supposed to be heard , which , as yet i haven't found with any other conductor.
He will be sadly missed .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Auntie posted 28 February 2003 10:27 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Absolutely right! I saw him any number of times when the Royal appeared here locally. I also won his recording of Swan Lake in a contest a couple of years ago...and I rarely win anything...so it was a real treat.

<small>[ 28 February 2003, 04:54 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

John Lanchbery, ballet composer-conductor, dies
By MOLLY GLENTZER
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

<a href="http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/ae/dance/1798125">click here for more</a>

John Lanchbery
Tireless and ubiquitous conductor/composer for ballet - from The Indpendent

A conductor and arranger, John Lanchbery was a pivotal figure in ballet. As arranger he collaborated with choreographers such as Frederick Ashton to compile the scores of many of the most popular ballets of the last half of the 20th century. As conductor he acted as jovial referee between the sometimes opposing visions of performers and composers, and his tactful sensitivity made him the trusted choice of innumerable stars, including Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. Conducting the scores which he had arranged, he reached the top of a field which he had largely created and monopolised. As such, he worked with leading companies all over the world.

click for more

John Lanchbery
Obituary by ALASDAIR STEVEN for The Scotsman

John Lanchbery, ballet composer and conductor. Born: 15 May, 1923, in London Died: 27 February, 2003, in Melbourne, aged 79

CONDUCTING ballet is never straightforward: the music is the servant of the drama and the choreography. Worse, the maestro has to cater for the whims of the dancers on stage. It is something of a (grudging) artistic compromise. John Lanchbery accepted, but was never bogged down by, such strictures and was a much respected musician in his own right. He also gained an international reputation as a musical arranger for the movies.

He was involved in some of the Royal Ballet’s most popular works and adapted the music for Scottish Ballet’s Tales of Hoffmann. He often conducted at Covent Garden during the heydays of Fonteyn and Nureyev and became a close friend of both. Mark you, that did not stop him having several spats with Nureyev, who sometimes considered that Lanchbery’s tempi were not quite as he thought they should be.

John Arthur Lanchbery was a scholar at the Royal College of Music and studied conducting under Sir Henry Wood. On graduation, he joined the Royal Army Corps and served with them throughout the Second World War. After several freelance posts, he joined the Royal Ballet in 1951 as principal conductor.

click for more

From the LA Times, but appearing in the SF Chronicle.

more...

John Lanchbery
From The Daily Telegraph

John Lanchbery, who has died aged 79, was the principal conductor of the Royal Ballet from 1959 to 1972 and a talented composer and arranger; during a career spanning more than 50 years, he worked with the greatest names in ballet, including Sir Frederick Ashton, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev.

Lanchbery was considered by many (including Nureyev) to be the greatest conductor of his time. Following his spell at the Royal Ballet he spent five years as musical director at the Australian Ballet and two years at the American Ballet Theatre. Dancers and choreographers alike were always inspired by his vitality, sensitivity and masterly control. As one critic put it, when Lanchbery was in the orchestra pit, "the music was always on its best behaviour".

click for more