What happened to Margaret Philpot of Gothic Voices?

[mercalia]

"“Amongst early-music aficionados the recording has acquired something close to mythical status...hearing it again from beginning to end, one is struck by the nearly flawless interventions of John Elwes...and by those of Margaret Philpot, whose career was so tragically cut short...If you've never heard a 15th-century song in your life, get this now.”

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Australian+Eloquence/ELQ4801819

so what happened to Margaret Philpot? I have tried to google her and nothing about her death just cds she is on.

 

[mercalia]

seems like no body knows ....

 

[nicetone]

I have some Gothic Voices CDs and was interested in your question. I found this :

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/the-spirits-of-england-and-france-volume-4

which simply says that her career was cut short through illness. No date for the article, but the disc reviewed was released in 2010

Nothing else thrown up from the usual searches. Maybe she is still with us, just unable to perform.

 

[nicetone]

Oh hang on. Clicking on the 'View record and artist details' link shows the 'Magazine review date' as 2/1997. So, if Margaret's career was ended through illness before then, who knows what has happened to her since.

When I said in my previous post that 2010 was the disc release date, I was looking on the Presto site, so that must have been the date of a re-release.

 

[mercalia]

Its all very strange that a respected singer can just vanish from the records, other than mention on various cds in the artist list? I have more google references than her and I am no one.

 

[Dane_Bramage]

Margaret Philpot is perhaps my favorite singer and I've been wondering about this for years. I've been a fan since about 2007 - my favorite CD is The Mirror Of Narcissus (Gothic Voices, 1987).

Unfortunately I have nothing to add, but I've registered on this site just in case anyone replies to this thread with more information. Margaret Philpot deserves more recognition!

 

[mandryka]

Also to be found singing in a very different way on some Musica Reservata recordings, I'm listening as I type this to her on their French Court Music of the 13th century. She also features on their Josquin -- which is special and I only have as a rip from youtube so if anyone has a decent transfer, please let me know how to get it!

You can also hear her with Medieval Ensemble of London, their Ockeghem for example, which is for me a magical and unsurpassed collection of his secular music.

Both of these ensembles had a much more fluid and sensual approach to the music than Christopher Page would tolerate. I respect Gothic Voices of course.

 

[mandryka]

This came up in a private forum, I thought it may be of interest here

In the pub after a class, John Beckett fell to talking about the Josquin Deploration. They had given a concert, he said, and at the end the audience wanted an encore. He asked Jantina Noorman to sing the Deploration again. As she sang he noticed that Margaret Philpott (I think) was in tears, and he was afraid that he had hurt her feelings by singling out Jantina. Afterwards he tried to apologise and she had to disabuse him. I was crying because it was so beautiful, she said.

This link should take you directly to the Deploration