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‍The George Lloyd Society   

‍  Newsletter - October 2024

Greetings  ‍Visitor ‍

‍In this Newsletter:

1. Last chance sale of Albany Records CD stock.

2. Short Pieces for Orchestra - a new publishing initiative.

3. Short Pieces for Orchestra - YouTube channel sampler videos.

4. Note on assistance with music hire costs.

5. George Lloyd biography - progress report. 

‍Sale of Albany Records CD stock

Lyrita Nimbus have announced a FINAL SALE of the remaining CDs of George Lloyd recordings previously issued on the Albany Records label.  

New releases of new couplings and box sets of the complete George Lloyd Signature Edition have appeared regularly over the last few months, and the catalogue of complete new editions of George Lloyd CDs and scores is now almost complete. 

A full catalogue listing will follow, but use button below to browse all SALE items, or select from the CD covers.

Last chance:  Available until 1st December 2024 

All CD's £7.99 

‍Scroll down for a selection from the new Short Pieces for Orchestra

‍Short Pieces for Orchestra - scores:

‍Nimbus Music Publishing have announced their adventurous new publishing initiative: Short Pieces for Orchestra.

Sold with a three-year, unlimited performance licence, these music scores offer significantly better value for money than typical hire arrangements. Some pieces have been extracted from larger symphonic works and each is published with a descriptive name to support thematic programming and engage with the new “streaming” audiences.

This series supports the desire to perform, programme and introduce audiences to new repertoire for less initial cost, and allows multiple performances for no additional cost. Each kit contains a full conductor's score and one “master part” per instrument,  along with a licence for the ensemble to reproduce and perform as often as they like for the next three years. 

Between three and fifteen minutes, Short Piceces for Orchestra are perfect for opening your concert or inserting just before the interval to create a talking point.  See note below for discounted hire rates from the George Lloyd Society Performance Fund. 

‍The Nimbus Lyrita Short Pieces for Orchestra series includes works by Richard Blackford and Augusta Read Thomas, reflecting a range of styles to suit most concert programmes. 

‍‍Short Pieces for Orchestra - samples

‍Hall of Mirrors from Charade

 Flying Saucers from Charade:

Politics and Pomp from Charade:

‍Comedy of Manners from Charade:

‍The George Lloyd Society:  YouTube playlists:

‍Note on assistance with music hire costs:

The George Lloyd Society has licensed all the composer's copyrights to Lyrita Nimbus, with the exception of some brass band and wind music  published by Boosey & Hawkes and Music Sales. 

Lyrita has now published new editions of the full scores and the orchestral parts for hire and sale, and they will apply their standard music hire tariff.

Whilst Lyrita Nimbus is committed to enabling performances at all levels, this may not include the level of hire discount which the George Lloyd Society has previously offered to amateur ensembles. We have therefore allocated a proportion of our annual royalty income to a George Lloyd Performance Fund, which we intend will replace that discount and lower the cost of music hire in those cases.

Please contact us if you would like to apply for a hire discount from the Performance Fund and we will be happy to assist if we can. 

‍George Lloyd biography - update:

‍‍The biography of George Lloyd is progressing slowly but steadily. We have now catalogued over 6,000 letters, covering three-quarters of the material in the archive. The remaining letters are mostly personal and family correspondence between George and his wife, Nancy. By organizing the letters chronologically and dividing them into distinct periods, we have created a timeline of George’s life, which serves as the foundation for the chapters of the biography.

We began with the most complex period, 1947–1951, when George returned to England from Switzerland to fulfil a commission for the Festival of Britain: the opera John Socman.

‍The archive reveals an extraordinary narrative. Despite a series of management and financial crises, John Socman became the only one of the three Arts Council commissioned operas to be performed during the Festival, when both Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams were unable to deliver their scores on time, for various reasons.

Delays in announcing the Arts Council commissions led to fierce competition for prime dates and venues. The last-minute appointment of the producer and the subsequent sacking of the designer, amid allegations of nepotism, intrigue, corruption, and the passing of 'brown envelopes', produced a tense atmosphere of mistrust and scheming, which culminated with the producer and the conductor refusing to speak to each other during rehearsals. The saga unfolded against the backdrop of a severe financial crisis at the Carl Rosa Opera Company, and the threat of a factional boardroom coup which could have collapsed the entire project.

The composer managed to (mostly) stay above the fray of administrative and management upheavals, with the composition process being the only aspect that proceeded smoothly.  William Lloyd, the librettist and the  composer's father, played a key role in helping to steer the project through the turbulent waters. 

One thing is certain - there never was an opera born without a turmoil and we may find when this dust storm has subsided that quite a healthy young plant is looking at us.
William Lloyd, librettist,.

The first draft of the chapter on John Socman runs to 55,000 words. If this pattern is repeated with other chapters, when the biography is complete it will likely be a substantial work, probably to be published in several volumes.

‍Coming soon:

‍In our next Newsletter:

Complete listing of all new CDs, downloads, streaming and music scores in the Lyrita Signature Edition.

Thanks for reading to the end, and please do share this newsletter wherever appropriate. 

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