In Green Pastures

In Green Pastures: Darke takes a simple idea and develops it without fuss.

Harold Darke (1888 – 1976) Studied at the Royal College of Music (London) and had been much influenced by three important and colourful musicians, namely Sir Hubert Parry, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford and Sir Walter Parratt.

He arrived in the parish of St Michael’s, Cornhill in London in 1916 and stayed there for the next half century. He stamped his personality on the music of the church in its regular liturgies, in more than 1,800 lunchtime recitals and in his regular concerts, broadcasts, recordings and choral festivals.

Indeed, some idea of his national reputation can be deduced from the fact that in the 1920s, a special landline was laid under the streets of London to enable the BBC to broadcast his Monday recitals live each week.

At the time a Priory recording of Darke’s music at Cornhill was made (1991), the ancient sockets were still in situ in the vestry!

Darke was asked to become Acting Organist of King’s College, Cambridge during World War 11.

His music can be described as old fashioned, warm and reassuring. As a player, he was known for his generally expansive tempi and ‘breathing’ phrases, and a shaping of the musical line which allowed for natural rhythmic flexibility.

(This short bio is taken from notes forming part of the CD recorded at Cornhill by Priory Recordings in April 1991. The author and performer was Jonathan Rennert).