Accompanist Likes Cream

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30769, 5 June 1965, Page 1

Accompanist Likes Cream

Most people order cream by the half-pint, but not Mr Geoffrey Parsons, the accompanist to the visiting Spanish soprano, Victoria de los Angeles. He is the milkman's dream, a cook who thinks nothing of ordering two gallons of cream to make soup. Mr Parsons, who loves Io cook for his guests, but not for himself, said he confounded his milkman when he ordered that amount of cream for the cucumber soup which formed part of the dinner he gave for 35 persons just before he left London recently. One of his favourite dishes also includes cream. It is scallops cooked in cream; but

he hates the flavouring agent, mono-sodium glutinate, used extensively in Chinese-type cooking. “It makes everything taste the same,” he said. “I think it really only stimulates the taste buds when the food doesn’t have any taste." At the moment, Mr Parsons’ main interest is the “1880 and rather seedy Victorian house” at Hampstead Heath which he bought about nine months ago. He has spent his spare time renovating and refurnishing it in Victorian furniture. Not surprisingly, the kitchen has been stripped of any lingering remnant of the Victorian era, and modernised by Mr Parsons. He is proud of the fact that he has himself panelled the walls with pine and built the cupboards. As a concession to his career he was particularly careful when handling sharp tools. “I seem to have an instinct about taking care of my hands. I did bang my fingers with

hammers a little but that was all,” he said. Mr Parsons, who is 36, has been accompanying singers for 19 years. He has played for such artists as Kim Borg, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Rita Streich, and many others. He considers that a successful accompanist is like a chamelon, but with a basic unchanging colour. “An accompanist must not be a piece of blotting paper, he must contribute to the performance and not be a pale shadow in the background,” said Mr Parsons. He considers the main problem in his profession is not having enough time for rehearsals with singers, “I must have a complete awareness of an artist’s musical wishes and hopes. In the course of discussion and rehearsals one gets a combination and unification of the musical ideals of both,” he said.