Royal Birmingham Conservatoire:

Inspiring Musicians Since 1886 Christopher Morley

Elliott & Thompson ISBN 9781783963195 224 pp (hb) £30 rrp Profusely illustrated throughout, this timely celebration of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s vibrant 131-year history is as much a pleasure to gaze at as it is to read. The first century of what started out as the Birmingham School of Music (BSM) was not the smoothest of rides. Despite the early involvement of Granville Bantock and Edward Elgar, the oftenstrained relations between the

BSM and its parent organisations tended at times to deflect attention away from its purely musical achievements.

That all changed with the arrival of Simon Rattle as principal conductor of the CBSO, since when the BSM has gone from strength to strength, changing its name in 1987 to the Birmingham Conservatoire and then in September last year, moving to a new, state-of-the-art facility under Julian Lloyd Webber’s leadership. In pointing up the extraordinary changes that have occurred over the past 20 years in particular, Christopher Morley’s expert narrative tantalisingly suggests that the best may yet be to come. Julian Haylock ★★★★