George Thalben-Ball in conversation with Barry Rose 1972

This is thought to be the only informal, extended interview George Thalben-Ball ever gave. In the early 1970s, Barry Rose and Nick Ware were asked to give a lecture to the Guildford Recorded Music Society and approached GTB to ask if he would agree to talk to them about how the famous Ernest Lough “Hear my Prayer” recording (one of the very first HMV electrical recordings to be made on location with a mobile recording van) came about. As Nick Ware relates: “He readily agreed and, sitting in the choir stalls of the Temple Church, he relaxed, much to our delight, into a lengthy and friendly chat. Barry Rose had just recently been appointed as the Music Adviser to the Head of BBC Religious Broadcasting, a post previously held only by Henry Walford Davies and George Thalben-Ball himself. Barry and ‘GTB’ obviously had a great deal in common, and it soon became very clear that this was going to be fascinating, so I kept the tape rolling. What you hear now is half an hour of pure musical history.”

As you can deduce from the above, thanks to Nick Ware’s generosity we have a second recorded conversation in the Archive, which we may upload in due course.

We have added the following recordings as musical illustrations:

1. Gloria (Chant: Thomas Attwood) 1958
2. I waited for the Lord (Felix Mendelssohn) 1927
3. Hear my prayer (Felix Mendelssohn) 1927 – original recording
4. Hear ye, Israel (“Elijah”) (Felix Mendelssohn) 1927
5. Gloria from “Jubilate” (Henry Walford Davies) 1958

Видео George Thalben-Ball in conversation with Barry Rose 1972 канала Archive of Recorded Church Music