Geoffrey Parsons

Accompanist is a misleading -- even, demeaning -- term for a musician possessing the uncommon range of skills required to project great music in tandem. The first of these is an intuitive rapport making for hand-in-glove unanimity, allied with the unusual temperament to be, so to speak, second among equals. The stylistic awareness and technical resourcefulness demanded of any performing artist and a superb accompanist must be mercurially responsive. Possessed of these gifts in abundance, Geoffrey Parsons was, for nearly a half-century, a favorite keyboard partner to artists on a roster drawn from the 20th century's greatest. Early precocity sent him to the Sydney Conservatory at 12 for study with <a href="spotify:artist:7xH3VOMwOjnqGu7NERNUx1">Busoni</a> pupil Winifred Burston (1941-1948). By the time he completed his studies with Friedrich Wührer in Munich in 1956, he already had a considerable career behind him -- a tour of Australia with Essie Ackland in 1948, a Southampton appearance with <a href="spotify:artist:5oRycIEGSXEmkUM10YoSlH">Peter Dawson</a>, the Grand Old Man of English song (despite being Australian), in 1950, and an appearance with <a href="spotify:artist:6zp4xVjpNvgoZwD85Gh9kz">Gerhard Hüsch</a> in the <a href="spotify:artist:2p0UyoPfYfI76PCStuXfOP">Schubert</a> cycle, Die Winterreise, in London in 1955. His first recital with <a href="spotify:artist:0B94ekfBARqVS2gwrTnvJ6">Elisabeth Schwarzkopf</a> took place in London's Festival Hall in 1961 -- the beginning of a partnership later to blossom into the favored status of <a href="spotify:artist:0B94ekfBARqVS2gwrTnvJ6">Schwarzkopf</a>'s principal accompanist. <a href="spotify:artist:2mjYUXIj32wSpgoZqlc2lP">Victoria de Los Angeles</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0KLsfTW9toRLas36xEOdgC">Rita Streich</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4ThA3BeHNucwqI7wKyKS8h">Dame Janet Baker</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1CjvOazvrDCipu1gbgyjIh">Nicolai Gedda</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3GtU1O2V8snd7EP5ySYLqN">Hans Hotter</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4kBOv1h9n7eoOKDNiD3sKn">Hughes Cuénod</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0J3puhHvP15cLOzsqYeBj8">Norman Bailey</a> -- among many others -- gave memorable recitals with Parsons and left a considerable legacy of classic recordings, ranging from the restrained purity of <a href="spotify:artist:459INk8vcC0ebEef82WjIK">Satie</a>'s Socrate, with <a href="spotify:artist:4kBOv1h9n7eoOKDNiD3sKn">Cuénod</a>, to the jovial rumbustiousness and vernal poetry of <a href="spotify:artist:5HUhm1zKJGkJEg4qH88Xfd">Warlock</a>'s best songs, with <a href="spotify:artist:0J3puhHvP15cLOzsqYeBj8">Norman Bailey</a>, though the great lieder composers and mélodistes, <a href="spotify:artist:2p0UyoPfYfI76PCStuXfOP">Schubert</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2UqjDAXnDxejEyE0CzfUrZ">Schumann</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6MF58APd3YV72Ln2eVg710">Mendelssohn</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5wTAi7QkpP6kp8a54lmTOq">Brahms</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3JvFTHGx6J55BUnjL8l04T">Wolf</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6pAwHPeExeUbMd5w7Iny6D">Richard Strauss</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2ANtgfhQkKpsW6EYSDqldz">Mahler</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2gClsBep1tt1rv1CN210SO">Fauré</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4IAWVxo2fpTBPn6k7GZ3eY">Poulenc</a> were his mainstay. Instrumentalists such as <a href="spotify:artist:0KFS74u9OFu7tDyCajs9cF">Paul Tortelier</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4D6kPNGPEvgGRB6DFpKQoq">Ida Haendel</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:5X8DsciT6TRp5IlcdG5eT2">Nathan Milstein</a> often appeared with Parsons. He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1971. At the time of his death in 1995 he had become a genial godfather to a new generation of superstar vocalists, including <a href="spotify:artist:5JBjcnHu4vz2ENaF34qOTq">Olaf Bär</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6pxEWWaFpWFJGEZK6dOzsF">Thomas Hampson</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:24fwyM31DLDqYOPvQ0jFFr">Barbara Bonney</a>. He was also in demand as a teacher, and his master classes were avidly attended.