ABSTRACT
In 1961, by the time that John McCabe had decided against teaching, it was apparent that his best career path lay as a performer; if not purely as a soloist, then certainly as a chamber musician, accompanist and opera repetiteur, with time at the weekends to compose. At the College, McCabe had resumed composition studies under Thomas Pitfield, a highly regarded teacher from whom McCabe learned much, but to this day a woefully underestimated composer. One of the main reasons for McCabe's departure from Cardiff was that he was finding it increasingly difficult to fit all his musical projects into the available time. Barbirolli was so impressed that he insisted the BBC broadcast the work, although the subsequent recording on the Pye label was eventually conducted by John Snashall. In the meantime, McCabe was extending his range of activities further, with two monographs, one on Bartók, the second on Rachmaninov.
