Characterful wind players - English Chamber Orchestra -1970s

[richardfinegold]

I think that the flautist on those recordings was William Bennett; the others were probably the same wind soloists who recorded the Mozart Piano & Wind Quintet with Perahia: Neil Black (Oboe), Thea King (Clarinet), Graham Sheen (Bassoon) and Anthony Halstead (Horn). (Tony might be able to correct this, and add details of the "seconds" at the time.) The orchestra's leader at the time was Jose Luis Garcia, and other leaders of the Strings included Josef Frolich and Olga Hegedus. Some useful details and photos here:

http://www.englishchamberorchestra.co.uk/about/archive

And you are absolutely spot on about the beauty of Mozart's orchestration; there's never been a better orchestrator - with just a couple of dozen players, he conjures up so many different timbres. And the winds are different between the works - only the c minor uses everyone; for the others, some use a pair of oboes but no clarinets, others clarinets but no oboes. Always a pair of Horns, rarely Trumpets (and rarely Timps - and not always with Trumpets). There's usually only one flute at most - but that's always given some of the most ravishing counter-melodies in all Music. For all that Mozart disliked as a young man (at least) hearing a flute as a solo instrument (in a Concerto or Sonata), he knew exactly how to get the best out of it when used sparingly, as a member of the orchestra.

Terrific post, Ferney. And of course, the way he mutes the strings in the slow movement of K. 467, or the scordatura viola in the Sinfonia Concertante, and so many other examples.
Those Perahia/ECO recordings were pretty good. I have long listened to to Casadesus/Szell in the PCs but they didn’t record all of them, and the Sonics are just a bit antiquated. I bought several of Brautigan’s discs on BIS. Beautifully recorded, I do play them, but the screechy string tone and period winds—just the opposite what Dave was lauding about the players in the OP—become tiresome, and while Brautigan is excellent the fortepiano just isn’t my preferred instrument.
I had just ordered the Serkin recordings and hope that they are on my doorstep when I return.

[Dave2002]

Pity to hear about the Brautigam discs - Richard - I was hoping they'd become "go to" versions. I recall you're not fond of Richard Goode - but I have enjoyed some of his recordings. Stephen B-Kovacevich with Colin Davis is good in the later ones, while Alfred Brendel is good for some of the early ones. Perhaps you don't like Malcolm Bilsom either, if you're not fond of various period performances. Some individual performances are good - for example Horowitz in 23, but some famous names are, IMO (perhaps depending on conductor and day of the week), pretty awful in some recordings.

[Tony Halstead]

Pity to hear about the Brautigam discs - Richard - I was hoping they'd become "go to" versions. I recall you're not fond of Richard Goode - but I have enjoyed some of his recordings. Stephen B-Kovacevich with Colin Davis is good in the later ones, while Alfred Brendel is good for some of the early ones. Perhaps you don't like Malcolm Bilsom either, if you're not fond of various period performances. Some individual performances are good - for example Horowitz in 23, but some famous names are, IMO (perhaps depending on conductor and day of the week), pretty awful in some recordings.

My view is that Malcolm Bilson's recorded performances set an incredibly high standard that all subsequent 'HIP' versions should have aspired to. Some did, and others didn't.
'Period' (as our friends across the pond would say!).

[Alison]

The wind playing on the Ashkenazy set of Mozart Piano concertos is highly impressive imv (Philharmonia).

They had some really fine principals in those days.

[richardfinegold]

Pity to hear about the Brautigam discs - Richard - I was hoping they'd become "go to" versions. I recall you're not fond of Richard Goode - but I have enjoyed some of his recordings. Stephen B-Kovacevich with Colin Davis is good in the later ones, while Alfred Brendel is good for some of the early ones. Perhaps you don't like Malcolm Bilsom either, if you're not fond of various period performances. Some individual performances are good - for example Horowitz in 23, but some famous names are, IMO (perhaps depending on conductor and day of the week), pretty awful in some recordings.

Actually I do like the Richard Goode performances and was just playing K.466 recently. I have a friend in the Orpheus CO and when they and Goode toured with these works my I met them at the airport, brought Him to my house and then my family and I had a few anxious moments slugging through Chicago traffic as we drove to Orchestra Hall to get him there in time for the rehearsal. After the Concert the wife took the kids back home and I was invited back stage and ate with them and Goode then took the late train back home slept about two hours and hope that I didn’t kill anyone at work the next day.
My problem now is separating out that lovely memory from objectively evaluating the recording, which inevitably sounds dull compared to my recollection of the concert. I think the recording of K.466 spotlight the soloist and kept the winds somewhat hidden in the mix, because in concert the Orpheus players are truly outstanding. However, these objections are of the picky nit picking variety—these discs are vey enjoyable.
I have the big Brendel Phillips reissue box and have spun a few of the Mozart PCs, and nothing to complain of there either.
I think Mariner was at his best in Mozart

[Mal]

A review of Flute by Richard Adeney, by John Amis in Musical Opinion Jan/Feb 2010, suggests it was Richard Adeney playing:

"If the performance is routine, perhaps I with a duff conductor, sometimes a solo by one of the players will lift things onto another plane, the orchestra suddenly slips from the routine to the sublime, the spirits soar, and life climbs up a notch.

In World War Two I worked in a humble capacity for the London Philharmonic Orchestra and went to many of their concerts in and around London. There were two players in the LPO at that time who regularly were able to lift the orchestra up by its boot straps and lodge us in heaven, maybe for the rest of the evening. One was the first trumpeter, Malcolm Arnold, before he became known as a composer; the other was the first flute, Richard Adeney...

... the sound Adeney made, the nuances he effected, the quality of his musicianship was magical; he could put a spell on us all.

Richard played a decade with the LPO, went freelance for a decade, playing often with the Melos Ensemble. His recording with the group of the Debussy Sonata for flute, viola and harp is still deeply satisfying - with two great players: Cecil Aronowitz and the harpist Osian Ellis. Then came the years with the English Chamber Orchestra, complete Mozart piano concertos - first with Daniel Barenboim and later with Murray Perahia..."

https://www.questia.com/article/1P3-1938482301/flute-by-richard-adeney

[Dave2002]

I may have seen/heard Richard Adeney in orchestras over the years. I only heard him once close up as a soloist with a chamber group - his playing was indeed lovely. By then I was becoming more enamoured of period style performers, and I wasn't sure that I'd enjoy RA's style, but actually it really was very good indeed, just as written in that article. I didn't realise exactly how old he was - he was actually older than my father, but lived longer. I'd also be interested to see some of his photographs, and I read the part about him selling his flutes for cameras with interest. That book about him looks like one I might have to buy.

[Dave2002]

The wind playing on the Ashkenazy set of Mozart Piano concertos is highly impressive imv (Philharmonia).

They had some really fine principals in those days.

Was that after Gareth Morris left? Not according to this - though - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gareth_Morris

Looking further afield, I thought Karlheinz Zöller (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karlheinz_Z%C3%B6ller) was rather distinguished, and then there were other soloists, but maybe they didn't play in orchestras so much - e.g. Rampal, Lukas Graf etc.

[Tony Halstead]

I may have seen/heard Richard Adeney in orchestras over the years. I only heard him once close up as a soloist with a chamber group - his playing was indeed lovely. By then I was becoming more enamoured of period style performers, and I wasn't sure that I'd enjoy RA's style, but actually it really was very good indeed, just as written in that article. I didn't realise exactly how old he was - he was actually older than my father, but lived longer. I'd also be interested to see some of his photographs, and I read the part about him selling his flutes for cameras with interest. That book about him looks like one I might have to buy.

"That book about him" is by Richard Adeney himself... it's an autobiography and a very good read!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

"That book about him" is by Richard Adeney himself... it's an autobiography and a very good read!

Some ... err ... "extra-Musical" details included, I understand?

[Dave2002]

Some ... err ... "extra-Musical" details included, I understand?

Oh dear - I thought we weren't supposed to comment these days, but this review is "entertaining" - http://www.musicweb-international.co...ute_Adeney.htm

Double

Doesn't matter to me - I thought he was brilliant.

[MrGongGong]

Doesn't matter to me - I thought he was brilliant.

At the flute or the John Fowles style fantasy life ?

[Dave2002]

Not sure about JF. We stayed in his former house for a few days last year, very pleasant. RA was a very fine flute player. I've only just started to appraise him as a writer.

June Emerson wrote this about him in in the Guardian in 2011 - https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...deney-obituary
I wondered which of his three ambitions he felt he had succeeded at.

[Mal]

The Guardian obit. is a bit sloppy, e.g.:

"In 1970, due to the constant high level of sound in the orchestra, he began to go deaf. So he left the LPO and returned to playing in "quieter music". After a year, his hearing returned to normal, but on a London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) tour to South America with Claudio Abbado in 1972, he began to lose confidence in his playing. He stopped at the age of 70."

He was 70 in 1990, so what happened between 1972 and 1990?! (For instance, did he play on Perahia's Mozart PC 22 in 1979?) The Telegraph is no more enlightening on this period, but is a lot more fun:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8319543/Richard-Adeney.html

Is there anything in his book about this period? Any comments on Perahia or the ECO between 1972-90? Maybe the newspapers are afraid to reproduce anything about living performers :)

Perahia's set was recorded over a long period, between 1976 and 1991, so were two (or more) flautists involved?

Many details of Adeney's performances here:

https://richardadeney.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/richard-adeney-special-issue-of-flute-magazine-2011.pdf

... but nothing on the Perahia set.