British Library

Blogging on George Martin

I recently wrote a blog post for the British Library as part of an Edison Fellowship. Thanks to Jonathan Summers, curator of classical recordings, whose help in navigating the archive was invaluable, as well as the in-house transfer engineers who made the excerpts on the blog.

Sir George

George Martin's career spanned an incredible diversity of musical genres from baroque, light classical, comedy, children's and novelty records, to pop, rock, psychedelia, trad jazz, jazz fusion and numerous other crossover styles. It's easy to forget this when remembering his role as the 'fifth Beatle'. His pre-1962 work at EMI's Parlophone is the subject of a part-time Edison Fellowship I will be taking up at the British Library in September. There are unexplored musical connections that take root during Martin's training at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and continue into his work producing the English Baroque Orchestra, Bernard Cribbins and others. More to follow...

George Martin Peter Sellers Sophia Loren Abbey Road Studios EMI Parlophone