Clive Lythgoe, 79, a ‘Liberace’ Who Quit for Charity
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Clive Lythgoe, who died September 4 at 79, was a top British classical pianist who specialized in American repertoire and was hailed as “Britain’s answer to Liberace.”
A protégé of Dame Myra Hess who was once her onstage page-turner, he performed with the leading British orchestras of the 1950s and 1960s, under the batons of such knights of the podium as Sir Adrian Boult, Sir John Barbirolli, and Sir Colin Davis, a childhood friend from Wimbledon. In 1967, his recording of George Gershwin tunes made the British top 10 alongside the Rolling Stones and garnered an Audio Record Review award.
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