04/08/2026
https://youtu.be/Wa98Tov_T0o?si=SQFbOuaitP8AOEJn
"I would like to see his music played as much as possible."
—Edmund Rubbra
John Barton Armstrong was a child prodigy at playing by ear and improvising.
After a promising early start, the War intervened and Armstrong joined the Navy; the Admiralty sent him to Cambridge to study electronic engineering, which, besides music, was another passionate interest.
After the war, Armstrong read Law and was called to the Bar, but in 1951 went to work for Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd on aeronautical design (eventually ending up in the project design team of Concorde). However, he left Vickers-Armstrongs in 1964 to pursue a music degree at Durham University, from which point he stuck primarily to a musical career. Armstrong also took a great interest in politics, however, being chairman of the Yateley Young Conservatives in 1947 and putting up as a candidate for the House of Commons (but coming second) in the mid-1970s.
Armstrong was a remarkable polymath who wrote huge amounts of music throughout a life that encompassed several varied careers in a variety of fields. He wrote a great deal of piano music in particular.
John Barton Armstrong was a composer of international reputation, with a wide range of achievement. The 24 Preludes for pianio form a cornerstone of his oeuvre.
https://www.fandincwessex.com/products/fm147/"I would like to see...
