Financial Times – BEST BOOKS OF 2023
PRESTO MUSIC – BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023
‘This superb account of how that glorious institution came into being will give you deep and abiding pleasure’ Stephen Fry
When harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood and record producer Peter Wadland founded the Academy of Ancient Music in 1973, their mission was to create Britain’s first orchestra devoted to recording baroque and classical music on period instruments. They went on to change the musical world. Their success brought the AAM global fame – bringing historically informed performance into the mainstream and putting Vivaldi into the pop charts. But then the orchestra faced a new challenge: reinventing itself to survive and thrive in the world its own success had created.
For the first time, Richard Bratby tells the story of this trailblazing orchestra and the people who shaped it: fifty years of innovation, exploration and musical adventure, from the pioneering days of the early 1970s to new directions – and new triumphs – in the 21st century.
‘An uplifting, anecdote-packed account of the Academy of Ancient Music […]’ Lucie Skeaping
‘The refiner’s fire of AAM still burns brightly: this book tells us why. From the Marquis of Granby to the Hollywood Bowl; an illuminating account of a musical revolution.’ Catherine Bott
‘Using a mass of archival material and many interviews, Refiner’s Fire is a lively account of the orchestra’s history, of Christopher Hogwood himself and of the other essential players (literal and figurative).’ Emma Kirkby
Publisher: Elliott & Thompson Limited
ISBN: 9781783967605
Number of pages: 256
Dimensions: 234 x 156 mm
‘Born in the heat of the period performance revolution, UK ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Bratby charts the history not just of an orchestra, but of a movement that led to a permanent upheaval in the art and business of making classical music.’ Financial Times "If like me you have derived deep and abiding pleasure from the Academy of Ancient Music, then this superb account of how that glorious institution came into being will give you deep and abiding pleasure too. Impossible to read without leaping for your collection or streaming platform and reminding yourself of just how magnificent the AAM was, is, and - we have good reason to believe - will continue to be." Stephen Fry “An uplifting, anecdote-packed account of the Academy of Ancient Music to mark the orchestra's 50th anniversary including everything from the achievements (and occasional disputes) that ran through the years of the ‘early music revival’ to the detailed life and work of that much-admired, multi-talented father of the AAM Christopher Hogwood.” Lucie Skeaping "Richard Bratby’s story of a musical revolution is frank and full of insight, with illuminating comments from AAM members past and present. The refiner’s fire of AAM still burns brightly: this book tells us why. From the Marquis of Granby to the Hollywood Bowl; an illuminating account of a musical revolution." Catherine Bott "To do justice in a single volume to the first fifty years of AAM was a huge challenge, and Richard Bratby has really pulled it off. Using a mass of archival material and many interviews, Refiner’s Fire is a lively account of the orchestra’s history, of Christopher Hogwood himself and of the other essential players (literal and figurative). AAM has come a long way; for those of us who were part of the journey there is much in this story to savour, some to surprise, even to shock, but what we can clearly recognise is the enduring vigour and imagination that should take the orchestra-and-choir through the decades to come." Emma Kirkby ‘[…] this measured, well-researched, cogently plotted and readable history does affectionate justice to the outsize achievements of a pioneering, influential and still relevant ensemble.’ Lindsay Kemp, Gramophone magazine
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