DEREK COLLIER COLLECTION ON BL SOUNDS Last year a collection of recordings by British violinist Derek Collier (1927-2008) was donated to the British Library by his daughter. Collier’s career spanned …

[Jonathan Summers]

DEREK COLLIER COLLECTION ON BL SOUNDS

Last year a collection of recordings by British violinist Derek Collier (1927-2008) was donated to the British Library by his daughter. Collier’s career spanned the second half of the twentieth century, and this career is documented in broadcasts he gave for the BBC which he preserved. Recordings from the first two decades have now been uploaded to the BL Sounds website from lacquer discs, many in a poor state of deterioration.

Collier began to play the violin at the age of six. He then became a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London and later studied intensively with Alfredo Campoli (1906-1991). Collier was the leader of many of the great British orchestras including the Bournemouth Symphony, London Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic and Philharmonia.

Collier’s first surviving broadcast dates from 1949 when he was twenty-two and although the collection of recordings spans his entire career, only those without copyright restrictions have been posted on BL Sounds.

Derek Collier Collection