Sir David Willcocks(1919-2015)

[Dundonnell]

I think that we should recall with affection and respect the wonderful career of Sir David Willcocks who has died at the great age of 95.

As organist and choirmaster of Salisbury and Worcester Cathedrals and King's College, Cambridge he did so much to reinvigorate the marvellous tradition of English (British) Choral Music. As a conductor of the masterpieces of English choral music his legacy survives in the recordings he made of the repertoire of composers like Britten, Dyson, Hadley, Holst, Howells and, of course, Vaughan Williams. I continue to treasure his recording of RVW's "Sancta Civitas". Before Richard Hickox came along to assume the mantle of the go-to conductor of recordings of British choral music Willcocks was championing composers like William Mathias-the Chandos recording of Mathias's "Lux Aeterna" for example.

Willcocks was truly a giant within British music and his passing has been perfectly properly acknowledged in lengthy obituaries. A generation passes indeed.