Kendall Taylor

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Edgar Kendall Taylor
Portrait of Edgar Kendall Taylor
Portrait of Edgar Kendall Taylor
Born(1905-07-27)27 July 1905
Sheffield, UK
Died5 December 1999(1999-12-05) (aged 94)
Wimbledon, London, UK
NationalityBritish
Occupations
  • Pianist
  • Teacher
  • Pedagogue
Known forConcertos Broadcast on the BBC
Spouse
Mirjana Nikolic
​
(m. 1950)​

Edgar Kendall Taylor

pedagogue.[2][3][4][5][6]

Early life

Kendall Taylor was born in Sheffield, England. He made his concert début at the age of 6 accompanying his father, Maurice Taylor, a well-known cellist. His debut with a professional orchestra was at the age of 12 with a rendition of Mozart's D minor concerto, K.466.[7] He was a pupil of Vera Dawson, who in turn was a pupil of Iwan Knorr, who studied with Johannes Brahms.[citation needed] In 1923, he won an open scholarship to the Royal College of Music (RCM). There he studied piano with Herbert Fryer (a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni), composition with Gustav Holst,[8] and conducting with Adrian Boult[9] and Malcolm Sargent.[10]

Professional career

While a student at the RCM, he performed concertos with leading British orchestras which were broadcast on the BBC.[5]

In 1926, he made his first professional performance at a

Sir Henry Wood. This was the first of 26 appearances as a solo pianist at a Promenade concert—in two of which he was soloist for the 'Last Night of the Proms.'[11] In 1927 he was the only British pianist chosen to play at the Esposition Internationale de Musique in Geneva, where he won the praise of Alfred Cortot, Arthur Rubinstein and Ernest Schelling.[12] In 1929 he was appointed Professor of Piano at the RCM where he continued teaching there for a record 63 years until his retirement in 1993.[13]

In 1938 he joined the Grinke piano trio with violinist Frederick Grinke and cellist Florence Hooton. He also performed duos with both Grinke and Hooton.[14]

During World War II, he gave numerous broadcasts and recitals for troops with the Entertainments National Service Association. He travelled often, and frequently performed at multiple locations daily.[6]

After the war, he performed in frequent overseas tours in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Southern Africa

Barbirolli, Boult, Sargent and Colin Davis. He was Barbirolli's chosen concerto soloist at concerts in Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra.[16] He gave recitals in all of the countries he visited, and often premiered new work, including works by British composers.[citation needed
]

Teaching

Taylor worked as a professor at the RCM from 1929 to 1993. He also gave lectures in many venues around the world, and sat on competition juries and award panels

Paul Stewart
and Hilary Macnamara.

In later years he gave many lecture-recitals, focusing particularly on the life and work of

Beethoven prize for pianists at the RCM.[citation needed
]

After his death a scholarship, the Kendall Taylor Award, was established in his memory to sponsor British pianists studying at the RCM.[citation needed]

Personal life

Taylor was married twice. He met his second wife, Mirjana, while on a concert tour of the Balkans in 1947. They were married for nearly 50 years until his death in 1999.[18] Kendall Taylor had a daughter and a step-daughter, both of whom studied at the RCM. His two grandchildren are both professional musicians.

Death

Kendall Taylor died on 5 December 1999 in Wimbledon, England.

Honors

  • 1982 appointed a
    Commander of the Order of the British Empire
    (CBE)
  • 1982 appointed President of EPTA (UK)
  • 1993 Founder President (UK) of the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe
  • Vice-President and Senior Professor of the Royal College of Music – for several years and until his retirement
  • Hon Professor of
    Belgrade Academy of Music
  • Hon Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music

Publications

  • Kendall Taylor 'Principles of Piano Technique and Interpretation' publ Novello 1981
  • Kendall Taylor An annotated edition of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas, 4 vols, publ Allans Australia 1987
  • Many articles in Journals (e.g. Piano Journal, Arietta, etc.)
  • Compositions for Voice and Piano

Recordings

  • John Ireland, Phantasie Trio of 1908, the 1938 Trio no 3 in E major, and The Holy Boy (with Florence Hooton (cello) and Frederick Grinke (violin)),
  • Frank Bridge Phantasy trio
  • Beethoven trio in E flat Op 70 no 2
  • Stanford trio
  • Dvořák G major Sonatina Op 100 with Frederick Grinke
  • Mozart Sonatas for violin and piano, with Frederick Grinke, Decca
  • Beethoven Sonatas for piano Op 109, Op 110 and Op 111, Meridian
  • In addition to the commercial recordings there are numerous recordings from broadcasts and live performances held in the BBC archive and the National Sound Archive at the British Library

References

  1. ^ "Obituary". The Times. London. 11 January 2000.
  2. Grove Music Online
    (subscription required)
  3. ^ Miller, Malcolm (January 2001). "Obituaries: Kendall Taylor". Musical Opinion (subscription required)
  4. Musical Times
    (April 2000). In Memoriam: Kendall Taylor" (subscription required)
  5. ^ a b Article by Michael Gough Matthews (former Director of the Royal College of Music) in The Guardian, 22 February 2000
  6. ^ a b A brief Chronology of the life and career of Kendall Taylor in Arietta vol 2, 2000
  7. ^ Malcolm Miller in the Journal of the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe in Autumn of 2000. In Memorial Kendall Taylor CBE
  8. ^ Jonathan Summers report of interview with Kendall Taylor in the Piano Journal Spring 2000,
  9. ^ "Liverpool 'Phil' at Royal Hall". Harrogate Herald. 1 January 1947.
  10. ^ "Kendall Taylor". The Musical Times. 141 (1870): 18. Spring 2000.
  11. ^ "Kendall Taylor BBC Proms Archive". BBC Proms. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  12. ^ "Liverpool 'Phil' at Royal Hall". Harrogate Herald. 1 January 1947.
  13. ISBN 9781107163386
    .
  14. ^ "Portrait of the Frederick Grinke trio". Royal Academy of Music Archive. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  15. ^ Kendall Taylor 1953 on first of two popular tours of Southern Africa
  16. ^ Reports of these concerts in Oesterreichische Zeitung, Wiener Kurier and Arbeiter Zeitung. 1947
  17. ^ Sir David Willcocks in Journal of the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe, Autumn 2000
  18. ^ "Obituary of Mirjana Kendall Taylor". The Independent. 31 August 2007.
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