The Art-Music, Literature and Linguistics Forum

I don't think that the death of George Hurst should go unnoticed on this forum.

Few outside Britain may have heard of that fine conductor because he was seldom used by record companies but he was highly influential in British musical circles. Although Sir Charles Groves had been principal conductor of the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra in the late 1940s, by the time Hurst took over in 1958 the orchestra was in dire shape. It was Hurst who turned into the excellent orchestra which has now further developed, as the BBC Philharmonic, into one of the best in Britain and an orchestra regularly used by, for example, Chandos, to perform out of the way repertoire.

Hurst also founded the Bournemouth Sinfonietta(now sadly defunct) but it was his master-classes for conductors which really will be his lasting legacy. As the obituary in the Daily Telegraph points out Simon Rattle was inspired to become a conductor after hearing Hurst conduct the Mahler 2nd.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/9549077/George-Hurst.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/9549077/George-Hurst.html)

Hurst is another of that generation of sound, reliable British conductors who ran or guest conducted regularly the BBC's regional orchestras(Norman Del Mar, Sir Edward Downes, Vernon Handley, Richard Hickox et al.) but who have now been mostly replaced by young conductors from abroad, frequently Russian.

Gosh, how sad. I must admit I had no idea he was still alive! I assumed he'd died around the same time as Sargent and Barbirolli!