Geoffrey wrote Goldberg’s Dreams for Bob Cohan’s London Contemporary Dance Theatre in 1975. Geoffrey woke up from a dream where he heard Bach’s Goldberg Variations being played in the other room. He had been studying Jung and experimenting with his art combining dreams with reality. It was after this dream that he began this work.
It has a playfulness about it and the humor is in the fact that Bach wrote Goldberg Variations for the Russian ambassador to the electoral court of Saxony, Count Kaiserling, who often stopped in Leipzig and brought there with him the aforementioned Goldberg, in order to have him given musical instruction by Bach. The Count was often ill and had sleepless nights. At such times, Goldberg, who lived in his house, had to spend the night in an antechamber, so as to play for him during his insomnia. …This is one of my favorite dance works by Geoffrey and we found it in the archive on an old cassette.

So here from the dream state of Mr. Burgon, please enjoy Goldberg’s Dream.

One of my favourite modern English composers, Geoffrey Burgon. Burgon composed The Assumption in 2001 it’s a deceptively simple piece of music in which each of the eminently singable four voice lines combine to produce a piece of music that greatly exceeds the sum of its parts. As well as being a lovely piece of music it shows Burgon’s abiding interest in and affinity with early English texts. Pre-reformation England was famous for its devotion to the Virgin Mary. This devotion was notable from the earliest times and long predated even Abbot Ælfric of Eynsham‘s sermons and the Blickling Homilies. The text ‘Come my swete, come my flower’ is early medieval and consists of a dialogue between Christ and his mother in which Christ calls her up to heaven and she responds with eagerness and love. It’s a charming setting of a charming text sung beautifully by the Wells Cathedral Choir conducted by Matthew Owens. Enjoy :-).

by markfromireland

Geoffrey Burgon would have been 75 today.  A new album is being produced of his works that will be part of many new releases in the future by this prolific and dynamic composer.  Keep in touch to hear the news and music you have never heard before.

During the archiving of Geoffrey’s recordings and manuscripts, we have found hundreds of books that he studied for his music, especially books of poetry.  Emily Dickinson was one of his favourite poets and he used her poems in many of his pieces.  He often remarked how her work was mystical. We found this book of her poems that is earmarked in several locations, a book well used by Geoffrey.  We will post a couple of these recordings for you to hear in the following weeks.

Geoffrey and Martyn Goddard would go on escapades with the Bristol of the moment.  They both had a fantastic time together on these photo journalistic  journeys.  Martyn photographed Geoffrey for most of his career and most of the photographs we upload on this site are by Martyn.

We are delighted to announce the release by La La Land Records of the  Film Music,  Dogs of War.  This is one brilliant film directed by John Irvin, who became good friends with Geoffrey.  Their collaborations had a magic that captured audiences around the world.  Their work together, remains timeless and has a powerful, riveting sophistication,  that is rarely achieved in cinema.  John always chooses the best actors and composers. On Dogs of War you will be able to see a very young Christopher Walken with a youthful buoyant score by Geoffrey.

We wanted to let you know how honoured we are to have released Geoffrey’s magnificent score! It is a wonderful piece of work and we are so excited to have produced this CD.

Warm Regards

MV Gerhard

Matt Verboys

The Burgon family sends their deepest condolences to Bobby Kok’s family. Bobby played on Brideshead Revisited as well as many of Geoffrey’s television compositions. You can also find him on some of the Beatles’, Stones’ and many famous film recordings.
Bobby was one of the founding members of the legendary Philharmonia Orchestra and the Principal Cellist for the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
He was a great friend to Geoffrey and the Burgons and will be greatly missed

Geoffrey had a passion for cars, especially Bristols.  He saw his first Bristol when he was a boy and he made his mind up there and then, this was his car.  Geoffrey would drive for hours to think alone about his music.  His love of the English Countryside, the Bristol engine hum and those solitary moments, inspired him and more often than not, brought light to his compositions.

This is a photo of Geoffrey at Pewley Grammar School, he is third from the left. At this time, Geoffrey was being introduced to Jazz by Nigel Jones, listening to records and learning the tunes. Nigel needed a trumpet player for his jazz band and this is when Geoffrey became the trumpet player. We don’t know who the other students are in this photo, maybe you could let us know! Is that Nigel on the right