Gerald Larner

{{Short description|British music critic}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Gerald Larner (9 March 1936 – 18 December 2018) was a British music critic.

He began his career writing for The Guardian, joining as assistant music critic in 1962 and as chief Northern music critic (1965–93). He wrote for The Times from the 1990s. He composed a libretto for a John McCabe opera and wrote a biography of Maurice Ravel.{{cite web|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100052127|title=Gerald Larner|work=Oxford Reference}}{{cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/gerald-larner-obituary-ddhl7p27v|title=Gerald Larner obituary|date=7 January 2019|access-date=8 January 2019|website=The Times}}{{cite web|url=http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_news.php?id=6713|title=Gerald Larner dies aged 82|website=Classicalsource.com|access-date=8 January 2019}}

The Ravel biography was well received in France as well as Britain, and Larner was appointed Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication in 2001.Certificate{{cn|date=January 2025}}

He married Celia White in 1959, with whom he had two daughters; the marriage ended in 1987.{{cite news|author=Shenton, Kenneth

|title=Gerald Larner obituary|newspaper=The Guardian |date=25 February 2019}} His second marriage was to Lynne Walker.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lynne-walker-music-and-theatre-critic-for-the-independent-2221670.html|title=Lynne Walker: Music and theatre critic for The Independent|date=22 February 2011|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=8 January 2019}}