Starting from his ability as a pianist, singer and
bassoonist, Munrow began to acquire copies of medieval and renaissance instruments, together with folk instruments such as the Chinese shawm 'suona' and Spanish bagpipes 'gaita'. Whilst still an undergraduate he began to give lecture recitals, initially assisted by
Mary Remnant. Later, he formed a trio with
Christopher Hogwood and his future wife, Gillian Reid, and toured music clubs and music societies giving recitals featuring predominantly medieval and renaissance music, some of which was featured in the Oryx LP 'The Mediaeval Sound'. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company Windband as a bassoonist but soon played instruments of
Shakespeare's time under the encouragement of music director
Guy Wolfenden. Although he displayed talent on a wide variety of instruments, he had a particularly lasting influence as a
recorder player. His English style of discreet and controlled expression contrasts with the greater tonal flexibility of the Continental style espoused by the Dutch recorder player
Frans Brüggen and others. By 1967 he was appointed a part-time lecturer in early music history at the
University of Leicester, having married Gillian Veronica Reid the previous year. He also taught early woodwind instruments at King's College London, where his mentor, Thurston Dart, had recently been appointed head of the new music department. With
Christopher Hogwood he formed the
Early Music Consort of London, whose core members were experts on their particular instruments. Sometimes other professional musicians were employed when necessary, such as
Nigel North and Robert Spencer, both highly regarded
lutenists. From 1968, he toured the world, unearthing obscure instruments in every country he visited. He commissioned reconstructions of instruments related to the
cornett and
rackett from, amongst others, Christopher Monk and Otto Steinkopf. Two television programmes made him a household name:
The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970) and
Elizabeth R (1971). He also scored the feature film adaptation of the former,
Henry VIII and His Six Wives, in 1972. The early music revival was born following Munrow's success with his soundtrack for
The Six Wives of Henry VIII, which contained authentic music played on original instruments, and generated worldwide enthusiasm for music and instruments from the renaissance period. Subsequently, demand for such historical instruments increased dramatically, resulting in Munrow's encouragement for the formation of a business specialising in this area, which is still trading as
The Early Music Shop, established in 1968 and now based in
Saltaire, West Yorkshire. Munrow was a loyal and enthusiastic customer of the Early Music Shop, having helped the founder, Richard Wood, create the business's name, and travelling immediately to the music store to be re-equipped with a variety of historical instruments after losing his entire collection in a theft. •
Zardoz (1974), written and directed by
John Boorman. This included arrangements of
Beethoven's
Symphony No. 7 for early music instruments. During his relatively short life, Munrow released over 50 records, some of which are now available on CD. In addition to his recordings with The Early Music Consort of London, he recorded with
Michael Morrow's
Musica Reservata,
Alfred Deller and
the King's Singers. He recorded
Bach and
Monteverdi many times, but his widest influence was in the Medieval and
Renaissance periods. His three-record set with The Early Music Consort of London,
The Art of the Netherlands, issued in 1976 (EMI SLS5049), was particularly influential in popularising the genre. On
BBC Radio 3 he presented 655 editions of
Pied Piper, a multi-ethnic and centuries-spanning spread of music from
Monteverdi to the
Electric Light Orchestra rock group. Munrow also had dealings notably with
Pentangle,
the Young Tradition and
Shirley and
Dolly Collins. Apart from his regular radio slot and other programmes, he appeared on television, most notably on
BBC 2 in a series entitled
Ancestral Voices in a London studio, and on
ITV's Early Musical Instruments, filmed on location at
Ordsall Hall in
Salford. He also wrote one book entitled
Instruments of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This originally accompanied a record set of the same name. == Personal life ==