It has taken an awfully long time to write this. But this evening as I sit in my Stuttgart apartment missing them both terribly and listening to Jane’s remarkable recording of Chants de terre et de ciel it finally felt like time.
At the end of March the contemporary music world lost a shining light - Jane Manning. At the end of April it lost another - Anthony Payne (Tony to anyone who knew him). Jane and Tony had a phenomenal impact on the British contemporary music scene, shaping it in the latter part of the 20th century. But there are others who were around before me who are much more qualified to write about that. The side of Jane and Tony that I saw in the last six years of knowing them was two generous souls who took countless musicians under their wings - myself included - supporting them in any way possible, whether with food, rehearsal space, coaching, a friendly pair of faces in the audience, or company. Jane always used to say the world was their family, and it was not until we lost her and the tributes started pouring in on Twitter that I understood that she really meant it.
Losing Tony just a month later was a rather more unexpected blow. But then, could one really imagine one without the other? My first experiences of Jane and Tony were coachings as a student at the Guildhall. And it really was Jane and Tony. Although the coaching was with Jane, Tony would always be there at the end of class to travel home with her. Gentle, smiling, patient.
The years passed and student/teacher became mentor/mentee, then friends and eventually family. What I will miss is two remarkably funny people, brilliant encyclopaedic minds, always at the end of the phone (or Zoom more recently). I still catch myself thinking ‘Oh I must tell Jane that’ from time to time, but it is a comfort to know that both will live on through their music. For Jane, through the countless works she commissioned, recorded and premiered. For Tony, through his own musical works. Even if they can’t pick up the phone any more, I can always find them there. And that is a wonderful thing.