BIOGRAPHY:Charles: The Life and World of Charles Acton 1914-1999 By Richard Pine The Lilliput Press, 367pp. €30

A NEW PUBLICATION by Richard Pine always holds out the promise of a fine narrative, enlightened insights and meticulous research. His biography of Charles Acton, "the most influential and respected music critic in the history of The Irish Times", does not disappoint.

Before unfolding Acton’s life and world, Pine painstakingly traces the family genealogy over four centuries at Kilmacurragh, in Co Wicklow, simultaneously outlining the social history of an Anglo-Irish family in Ireland.

Charles, born to Reginald Acton and Isabel Richmond in 1914, lost his father to the Great War in 1916 and, according to Pine, subsequently became “the exclusive focus of his mother’s emotions”. He was sent to boarding school at Boxgrove in England at the early age of eight, and thence began a rich correspondence between son and mother that was to continue throughout her long life. Boarding school (he subsequently attended Rugby) afforded the young Charles opportunities he would never have had in Ireland.

Neither an academic nor a sportsman, Charles regarded himself more as a creative artist. His early interests included drama (particularly as stage manager), fine arts, carpentry and music. He played piano, clarinet and, finally, bassoon, an instrument that allowed him to participate in performances of large-scale orchestral and choral works.

His student days, during which he wrote his earliest reviews, were followed by a period of travel in Europe and Palestine, affording him many opportunities of attending performances by the greatest artists and conductors of his day.

Back in Ireland during the 1940s, Charles struggled to find a sense of his own “Irishness” and his place in the new, emerging Ireland, as he immersed himself in cultural activities, regularly attending the RÉ Subscription Concerts at the Gaiety Theatre and the Mansion House, assisting his long-time friend Brian Boydell in the organisation of the Dublin Orchestral Players, and becoming a founder member of the Music Association of Ireland in 1948 and a governor of the Royal Irish Academy of Music in 1954.

In his quest for gainful employment Acton occupied a number of positions, from salesman to business manager, before being appointed music critic of The Irish Timesin 1955, a position he was to hold for 33 years.

Acton believed that criticism was subjective. “All criticism,” he said, “is a matter of opinion and it is for opinion that a writer is paid.” Pine depicts him as “a tireless and persistent champion of Irish performers, particularly of young, emerging artists”. Though generous and kindly to the student performer, he was uncompromising in his criticisms of the young artist once he or she had “crossed the threshold onto the professional stage”.

Acton had a singular ability to discriminate between the average or good performer and the artist with that special quality who was destined to have an international career. As Pine’s book reveals, it was often with these that he dealt most ruthlessly. He could be scathing in his criticism, but when he felt he had written a particularly harsh review to a genuinely talented musician he would write a personal letter to the performer in question, explaining his intent.

He was undaunted by international artists performing in Dublin. Of Elizabeth Schwarzkopf he remarked: “There is one task which any critic dreads and seeks ways to avoid. That is having to write that a voice is no longer what it was.” And when the young Pavarotti sang in the Dublin Grand Opera Society production of Rigoletto in 1963, Acton observed: “He seemed to have a hard, unsympathetic voice of very little variety . . . uninspiring.”

Pine details Acton's diverse interests and his meticulous research of any area in which he was involved. Very few readers will be aware of Acton's farming activities. Many will remember the restaurant reviews he and his wife, Carol, penned together under the title Table for Two. Others may recall the lecture recitals he gave for the Dublin Gramophone Society, Foras Éireann and the Italian Cultural Institute.

But this volume is not simply the memoirs of a music critic. Pine superbly traces a cultural history of Ireland in the 20th century and highlights Acton's formidable presence in the formation of cultural policy for the new State, not only in his reviews but also in the many lengthy articles he contributed to The Irish Timesand to other periodicals. He describes Acton's engagement with all the agencies that had responsibility for the arts in Ireland, displaying neither fear nor mercy as he campaigned vigorously for improvements in music education, adequate performance opportunities, higher musical standards and a new concert hall for Dublin.

Acton closely followed the development of the RTÉ orchestras and was acutely aware of the cultural responsibility that RTÉ had in directing the musical mind and the musical life of Ireland. He was passionate in his support for Irish composers, working tirelessly on their behalf by writing letters of recommendation and distributing their scores abroad. As early as 1947 he voiced his hopes that they would develop “not only a great Irish music, but an advance in the European stream”.

Charles Acton emerges as a towering intellect, an iconic figure whose very arrival at a concert inspired fear and trepidation, yet a kindly and caring man who was primarily concerned with doing “justice to a valued member of the music community while at the same maintaining his integrity as a critic”.

The general reader, the musicologist and the concertgoer, who for decades waited for the publication of Acton’s review before making a comment on a concert, will enjoy this biography. Musicians whose work was reviewed by Acton will be motivated to revisit his critiques with new insight and a deeper understanding of the man who sought to help them cross the stepping stones towards a greater fulfilment of musical potential.

Ite O’Donovan is director of the Lassus Scholars and Piccolo Lasso