Biography
British composer David Fanshawe wove a worldwide array of ethnic and traditional sources into the fabric of his symphonic output. His ethnomusicological fieldwork across Africa, Arabia, Alaska, and the Pacific Islands supplied the bedrock for those pieces. The composer’s most celebrated work, “African Sanctus,” formed the core of an award-winning BBC documentary. This 13-movement score fuses passages from the Latin Mass and Anglican liturgy with traditional African music drawn from recordings Fanshawe gathered during his early-1970s journey along the Nile. Born in Dover, England, Fanshawe trained first at St. George’s Choir School and later, on a full scholarship, at the Royal Conservatory of Music. The same travels produced more than 2,000 tapes, 1,000 boxes of slides, and 40 volumes of handwritten journals. Among his other compositions are “Fantasy on Dover Castle,” “Requiem for the Children of Aberfan,” “The Awakening,” and “Romanza Burlesque.”
Albums
