‘I just write what I have to write’. The artistic credo of George Lloyd (1913-1998) conveys the directness and emotional honesty of his music. He wrote in a traditional idiom enriched by a close study of selected models, Verdi and Berlioz chief among them. His music is not derivative, however. It is distinctive and written with integrity. There is a remarkable consistency to his output, most of which was created spontaneously and without the incentive of a commission. He was fortunate enough to discover his individual and versatile musical voice at an early age. The deceptively artless quality of his scores stems from a rigorous grounding in composition techniques.

Lloyd had found a champion of his music in conductor Edward Downes (1924-2009). Downes conducted the first performance of Lloyd’s Eighth Symphony (1961, orchestrated 1965) with the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra, broadcast on Radio 3 on 4 July 1977. Many listeners were stopped in their tracks by the work’s melodic strength and imaginative scoring. This turning point in the composer’s fortunes marked the beginning of the public’s demand for performances and recordings of his music. In the succeeding five years Downes tirelessly promoted and disseminated Lloyd’s works.