Maconchy

At one point, my research for the BBC documentary Unsung Heroines led to an all-female student quartet who had named themselves the Maconchy Quartet and were dedicating themselves to performing the composer’s music.

One of our most recent and most strikingly innovative British composers was Elizabeth Maconchy.

Undeterred, Maconchy continued composing; her favourite form was the string quartet, of which she wrote 13.

“This was pretty much an only-on-TV type of thing,” said Van Beckwith of the courtoom scene late last Wednesday as Moncrief’s David Maconchy admitted the document that purportedly showed a secret plan dating back a decade included a slide from a presentation in 2012.

A matinee prom will also feature work from the other key parts of Bennett's oeuvre: his Debussy-inspired Dream Dancing and Jazz Calendar, alongside pieces by two composers he knew and admired, Henri Dutilleux and Betty Maconchy.