This archive presents a wealth of material relating to George Hurst’s teaching, particularly at the Canford Summer School of Music (now Sherborne) and in masterclasses at the Royal Academy of Music in London. It should be noted that the footage spans many years and that picture and sound quality varies hugely.
The archive is intended as a point of reference for students of conducting (and other interested musicians), and as a pedagogical resource for teachers of conducting. The material provides a broad outline of Hurst’s general musical approach and his primary concerns as an interpreter. It should be noted that he would often exaggerate certain elements in order to emphasise a point to students, particularly in relation to the use of tempo rubato. The performance footage, and the radio broadcasts we hope to include as part of the sound archive, will serve to demonstrate his approach in its proper context.
The videos have been transferred from standard PAL videotape, Mini-DV camcorder tapes and direct digital recordings on Micro–SD — the resulting picture quality is therefore often unstable and fuzzy, and some may be better viewed in a small window, rather than full-screen, for clarity. Furthermore, much of this footage was not taken specifically with a focus on George himself, but is taken from individual student conducting tapes, recorded for their own benefit.
In 2003, James Montgomery (a former South West Television producer), recorded George’s teaching closely over the course of an entire week — this also included use of a proper lapel radio microphone for Maestro Hurst. Later, in 2009 and 2010, Alastair Dixon (of Signum Records) oversaw the professional filming of ‘workshop’ performances of the Beethoven and Brahms Violin Concerti, given at the summer school. We are extremely fortunate to have this material. In almost all other cases, it can sometimes be difficult to hear what is being said during the teaching, and we plan to add subtitles to this archive as the project develops.
It should be noted that, in most orchestral footage, the (mostly) amateur players are drawn from other courses at the Canford Summer School on a voluntary basis. These orchestras are usually sight-reading the repertoire, or have received only minimal rehearsal. Often, the camera is unfortunately positioned in such a way that sound quality is poor and does not reflect true orchestral balance.
It is sometimes unclear as to who the pianists are in some of the footage. The following pianists played at Hurst’s classes during the years covered by the archive: Jeremy Silver, Tim Lole, Toby Purser, Anna Tilbrook, Llyr Williams, Francois Salignat, John Longstaff, Jane Lole and Robin Green.