Musicatlas
Music
Composed 1 symphony* (several others unfinished), Elegy for strings*, Suite in G major*, Fantasia for strings, Suite for strings, Prelude for winds and double-basses; 22 piano sonatas and other pieces (10 Sonatas issued on LP by Altarus or cassette by the British Music Society); 4 Violin Sonatas and 1 for solo violin*, Cello Sonata*, 3 Clarinet Sonatas, others for Oboe, Horn, Cor Anglais, and other instrumental pieces, Trio in A for flute, violin & viola*, 2 string quartets, &c. 2 dozen songs and part-songs, Kyrie for 10-part chorus unaccompanied. Completions of several Schubert piano pieces. Items marked (*) issued on CD by Marco Polo.
Truscott had several BBC broadcasts in the 1950s but the new Controller of Music in 1959 -- William Glock -- and Truscott did not get on. Apart from an isolated broadcast in 1969 of Piano Sonatas 7 (dedicated to Havergal Brian and described by the dedicatee as a real "tour de force") & 10 by John Ogdon, Truscott’s music languished unheard until the the 1980s when the Altarus label recorded 8 Sonatas (with Peter Jacobs), followed by Marco Polo in the early 1990s with several orchestral and chamber works.
Life
Truscott was a well-known writer on music, c. 1945--1990, publishing two books, on Beethoven’s Late Quartets (Dobson 1968) and Franz Schmidt’s Orchestral Music (Toccata Press 1984).
Also a teacher on music, finally retiring in 1979 as Principal Lecturer at Huddersfield College (now University).
Sources — links
- lists of his works by category, further details of his life and discussion of the manuscripts
- http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/horwood/truscott.htm: This contains biographical information, a full list of works, as well as links to correspondence from Havergal Brian to Truscott (alas, Truscott’s letters to rian do not survive).