His activity in promoting new music had a significant impact on British musical culture in the twentieth century. He travelled on the continent in his youth, studied in Paris (where he met Debussy and Ravel), and took conducting lessons with Oskar Fried in Berlin. In 1911–14 he was Arnold Schönberg’s pupil and a member of the Schönberg circle. On his return to England, he joined the BBC (1924) and became the music director of Newcastle radio station. He moved to London in 1927.
Jako współzałożyciel BBC Symphony Orchestra systematycznie włączał utwory współczesnych kompozytorów europejskich do programów koncertowych. W radiu konsekwentnie prezentował twórczość czołowych modernistów, takich jak Strawiński, Bartók i Hindemith, a także muzykę Drugiej Szkoły Wiedeńskiej. Jednocześnie promował młodych brytyjskich kompozytorów, takich jak Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frank Bridge i Bernard Van Dieren.
its secretary and later president (1936–1952). It was on this international ground that he came in contact with Koffler, whose modernist aspirations he supported on two fronts: by advocating the inclusion of Koffler’s works in ISCM festival programmes, and by promoting them in the UK. It was most likely thanks to Clark’s efforts that Boyd Neel Orchestra gave the British premiere of Fifteen Variations, Op. 9a on BBC radio (on 14 January 1936). Koffler’s dedication of his Variations on the Theme of a Waltz by Johann Strauss, Op. 23 for piano to Clark (‘À mon ami Edward Clark’) suggests that they were on close terms.