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One of the finest, kindest and most modest UK record producers, editors and post-production geniuses died on 9 August. Over some 40 years, Ben worked on thousands of recordings for Hyperion, ASV, Gimell, most of the majors, Linn, and many others (writes Robert King). Ben produced at least 80 of TKC’s recordings for Hyperion, including our Handel oratorios, our Complete Purcell Odes, Sacred Music and Secular Songs series, our Complete Vivaldi Sacred Music, our Monteverdi Sacred series, our Bach’s Contemporaries series, and much, much more.

Across those twenty or so years for which Ben was TKC’s recording producer on those 80 albums, I spent months, perhaps years, of my life sitting next to him editing at Finesplice, and worked alongside him for more than 300 days in all sorts of recording locations. When we were in St Jude’s Hampstead Garden Suburb, where we were very often, in those hour-long scrambles between sessions, we always knew what to order for him at the local pizza house, as Ben always had the same pizza. Musicians on sessions loved working with him: not just because of his supreme musical, analytical skills, and the trust that we knew we could rest in him, but because he was also a good friend to many of us. There were little gestures too: at the start of a session the entire orchestra would often find a Percy Pig, a Fizzy Fish or maybe a chocolate on every music stand.

Ben was a truly wonderful, supportive producer, had amazing ears and an incredible technical skill as an editor. He loved music, especially the early and mid-baroque repertoire: with Bach, Purcell and – especially – Monteverdi he was in heaven. At his funeral a week ago, his final music was the “Sonata sopra Sancta Maria”.

I have so many stories of Ben, but here’s just one. In one of TKC’s earlier Purcell Sacred discs, when I went to hear the first edit, there was a mess with a violin link in one of the movements which, over a sustained bass line, in those days meant an edit was well-nigh impossible. We listened to every take, but not one had those two semiquavers together in the violins. I was despondent. A fortnight later, I went back to Harmondsworth to listen to the second edit. As that movement and that bar came up, I prepared for the worst. But now that link was perfect. I pressed “stop” on the editing system, and looked to my left, questioningly, at Ben. He simply gave me a whimsical smile. I know most of the editing tricks, but to this day I still have no idea what he did, but it was the work of a quiet genius.

Ben, thank you so, so much. Requiescat in pace.