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Biography
Selected Biographies of the Man and His Music
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| Cape Town Recital celebrates the Biography & College of Music Centenary | John Purser and Morag Chisholm, Trust Chairman made a special trip to Cape Town for this event. On 20th July in the Chisholm Recital Room, in the College, University of Cape Town. Purser gave an illustrated talk about the biography with musical interludes, performed by staff and students of the College... full report to follow.
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Chasing A Restless Muse: Erik Chisholm, Scottish Modernist (1904-1965)
by Dr John Purser.
This book is available for a limited period at a special discounted price of £37.50 incl p&p from the ECT. Order online or write to ECT for alternative methods |
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| Erik Chisholm, Scottish Modernist (1904-1965) | Chasing A Restless Muse
by Dr John Purser.
Chisholm’s astonishing legacy as composer and entrepreneur has never been properly presented, never mind assessed. This biography by the author of ‘Scotland’s Music’ will be the first full study of the man and his music. It has been published by Boydell and Brewer.
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| Foreword by Sir Charles Mackerras | I am delighted to be able to write this introduction to a long-overdue biography of a remarkable composer, performer and musical polymath. I met Erik Chisholm in Cape Town during a four-month stint there with the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra. We got on very well, partly because of a common interest in Janáček at a time when there were not so many experts on this composer as there are now. Ever since then I have held Erik Chisholm in high esteem and am very happy that through this volume his creativity and individuality will become better known.
| Erik Chisholm was a musician of rare capabilities. He was a pianist and organist, a conductor, a composer, a lecturer on music, an entrepreneur and administrator and to all these he brought a unique blend of originality, flair and energy. After an early start as a performing pianist, Chisholm established himself in Glasgow as an important influence on the progress of music in Scotland and Scottish music in general. He founded the Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music and through
this and the Glasgow Grand Opera Society; he brought many first performances to that city. Berlioz’ Les Troyens, for example, was first heard in the UK under his baton, as was Beatrice and Benedict and Mozart’s Idomeneo. He formed many other organisations including the Scottish Ballet Society and in the meantime composed prolifically. Chisholm’s passion for traditional Scottish music should also be noted.
Chisholm’s time in South Africa, notably as Principal of the South Africa College of Music and Professor of Music in Cape Town University, was equally productive. Here he focussed on the promotion of opera (including some of his own fascinating
works) and introduced much new music to South Africa.
John Purser’s biography is written with great affection for Chisholm the man and musician. He takes us through an exciting journey from his early Scottish and Probaireachd influenced works to his Hindustani influences, his interests in Russian music and his vital essays in modernism. John Purser’s title refers to a restless nature and this, together with Chisholm’s extraordinary passion and originality, is truly captured in a biography of great quality.
I recommend this work wholeheartedly.
ERIK CHISHOLM, SCOTTISH MODERNIST (1904-1965) - CHASING A RESTLESS MUSE
by John Purser
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| Contents | | Foreword by Sir Charles Mackerras
Acknowledgments
Glasgow, Kailyard or Coal Yard?
The Active Society – Bringing the Heroes of Modernism to Glasgow
Chisholm’s Scottish Inheritance
Interlude: The Love of Sorabji
A Trojan Horse in Glasgow - Berlioz, Mozart and Gluck
The Ballet and the Baton as Weapons of War
Centrepiece: Pictures from Dante and Night Song of the Bards – A Journey from West to East
From Italy to India and Singapore
Under Table Mountain
On Tour in the USA and Europe
Soviet Ambassador – Chisholm Behind the Iron Curtain
Interlude: The Love of Janacek
Chasing a Restless Muse – The Heart’s Betrayal
Envoi
Appendix 1: The Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music
Appendix 2: Patrick Macdonald Sources for Chisholm's Piano Works
List of Plates and Colour Plates
Select Bibliography
Discography
Selected Compositions
Thank you, Boydell and Brewer for the excellent publication of Erik Chisholm's Biography. Heartfelt thanks go to the extraordinary John Purser who researched and wrote the book in just one year. My advance copy arrived by chance on the 15th June, which would have been my mother’s 98th birthday. How she would have enjoyed her gift!
The opening paragraph of any book should set the scene for what will follow (213 pages in this case). Let me whet your appetite….
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| Opening Paragraph | | Glasgow: Kailyard or Coal Yard
TO HAVE BEEN BORN IN GLASGOW IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH century is not seen as a recommendation for a budding musician. Paris would carry weight, or Dublin, in the midst of a great literary revival. But much of the literature of Scotland at the time is described uncharitably as of 'the kailyard school', the kale yard being where coarse greens were grown at the back of small, self-satisfied homes, where folk were 'douce' and 'couthy', humour was 'pawky'; sentiment ruled over realism, and the parochial over the international. In this school, J. M. Barrie has been unfairly cast as the leading dominie, when, in reality, the bulk of the 'kailyard' publications were produced for the English, not the Scottish market.
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