British conductors no longer with us

[calimac]

Orchestra conducting is a profession that's supposed to be good for your longevity, so when a conductor dies at the age of 60, that's way too young. I have a lot of recordings by Richard Hickox. Between them, he and Vernon Handley, who died a couple months ago at 77 (still young for a conductor), had a good share of my recordings of modern British symphonists. Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Bax, Walton, Bantock, Rubbra, Alwyn, Simpson, Arnold, Moeran, Maconchy, and others - Hickox and Handley did them all, and very well too. I am muchly appreciative of their work. Now they join Bryden Thomson (whose death at 62 some years ago was likewise dismaying) and Sir Adrian Boult (who lasted to a more venerable 93), who led most of the rest of the recordings I have in this area, among those whose achievement will remain just in vinyl and aluminium bits.