Peter Mountain R.I.P.

[Hornspieler]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/9825142/Peter-Mountain.html

I first met Peter, together with his wife Angela, on a trip to play in Guernsey in 1950.

Our paths crossed several times subsequently and when I was appointed Manager of The BBC Training Orchestra (laughably re-titled "The Academy of the BBC") Peter had already been appointed as Leader.

Good with young players he contributed much but the orchestra was already doomed and it was no surprise (but considerably extra problems for me) when he elected to take a position with the Royal Scottish Academy.

So Peter and his wife(the pianist Angela Dale) headed across the border and we awaited someone to emulate Hamish McGunn and write "The Land of the Mountains and the Dales" but nothing emerged and I lost contact.

An easy person to work with, but I always felt that he should have been destined for more recognition as a soloist/chamber music player.

HS

[Dave2002]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obit...-Mountain.html

I first met Peter, together with his wife Angela, on a trip to play in Guernsey in 1950.

Our paths crossed several times subsequently and when I was appointed Manager of The BBC Training Orchestra (laughably re-titled "The Academy of the BBC") Peter had already been appointed as Leader.

Good with young players he contributed much but the orchestra was already doomed and it was no surprise (but considerably extra problems for me) when he elected to take a position with the Royal Scottish Academy.

So Peter and his wife(the pianist Angela Dale) headed across the border and we awaited someone to emulate Hamish McGunn and write "The Land of the Mountains and the Dales" but nothing emerged and I lost contact.

An easy person to work with, but I always felt that he should have been destined for more recognition as a soloist/chamber music player.

HS

I always enjoyed PM's playing as leader of the RLPO, and in fact I knew his son, who also played violin IIRC. PM was a fine player.

[jean]

Thanks for this - I hadn't heard.

A name from my childhood.

[Richard Tarleton]

I remember those announcements on the Third in the late 60's - "Concertmaster Peter Mountain".

[Mary Chambers]

I remember those announcements on the Third in the late 60's - "Concertmaster Peter Mountain".

Wouldn't they have said 'leader' in the 1960s? I'm sure they did. 'Concertmaster' still sounds wrong to me, though it makes perfect sense. Now people often talk of conductors leading the orchestra. I thought they conducted it.

Such a very familiar name.

[Richard Tarleton]

Wouldn't they have said 'leader' in the 1960s? I'm sure they did. 'Concertmaster' still sounds wrong to me, though it makes perfect sense. Now people often talk of conductors leading the orchestra. I thought they conducted it.

Such a very familiar name.

I definitely remember "Concertmaster", because it was the only connection in which I ever heard it. Perhaps HS can elaborate - was it a term in use with the Training Orchestra? I don't think I'm making it up, though of course it's possible

[Gordon]

I remember PM as leader for Charles Groves at Liverpool when as a student there in the mid 60s I frequented the Philharmonic Hall [not to mention the pub opposite].

PM was also among the middle desks of the Philharmonia firsts in the late autumn of 1952 when Toscanini conducted them in Brahms for that one and only post war visit [see Pristine Audio site for their recently refurbished FLAC/MP3 files]. He had the company of the likes of Neville Marriner, Hugh Maguire and Felix Kok [later leader at Birmingham] in the back desks of the seconds. What an "elite" [dare we use that word here?!? the accessibility police might be watching] orchestra that was - Dennis Brain's horn section - but then it was hand picked by Walter Legge and trained by Karajan. No security of tenure then so you were only as good as your last concert. Legge was mortified and crucified the trombones after their fluffs in the lead in to the final movement of Brahms 1[listen to hear what happened] but Toscanini apparently made no issue of it.

PM has published some memoires: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scraping-Liv.../dp/1425983901 and http://www.amazon.co.uk/Further-Scra.../dp/1434381110

[Hornspieler]

I definitely remember "Concertmaster", because it was the only connection in which I ever heard it. Perhaps HS can elaborate - was it a term in use with the Training Orchestra? I don't think I'm making it up, though of course it's possible

Certainly the term might have been appropriate in the early 1970s when Peter Mountain was appointed to lead (and guide) the semi-students* of the BBC Training Orchestra, which by then, had been reduced to chamber orchestra size anf renamed "The Academy of the BBC**, but in the 60s, a Leader was a leader and the term "conzertmeister" was an import from Europe when orchestras such as the Leipzig Gewandhaus came over the Channel to give short tours in the British Isles.

** ...but speaking as their Manager at that time, I don't recall the title ever being used by our announcer, the late, great Douglas Vaughan

NB

The following screed may be of no interest or apparent relevance to this thread, but it explains why Peter Mountain left the "Academy of the BBC" in 1975 and why I left the BBC when the orchestra was abandoned in 1978.
So don't bother to read it unless you are interested.

Have a good weekend anyway.
Hornspieler



* The BBC Training Orchestra was created by the BBC as a sop to the Musicians Union's demands regarding the so-called "needle time" agreement (Keep Music Live!) to balance the amount of live music employment by the Corporation.
Originally formed as a full symphony orchestra, it was composed of post-graduate music students who had failed to secure contracted employment. Age limit for entry was 23 and the maximum tenure was for three years.
The agreement was that the players would give a maximum of one studio broadcast per week and a maximum of twelve public concerts per annum. Salaries were barely above subsistence level and the orchestra was to be based in BRISTOL where there was no BBC studio large enough to accomodate the orchestra the only Concert Hall was the Colston Hall , which was rarely available and for which a large hire fee was charged.
Sheer madness! The conductorship was given to Leonard Hirsch - a distinguished chamber music quartet violinist and, other tutors were engaged from time to time for the wind and brass players. So what else went wrong?

The wind players complained that Hirsch totally ignored them during rehearsalsessions. The cost of travelling expenses and fees for the "tutors" and hire of halls such as WD HO Wills Cigarette Factory (over the other side of the River Avon) and similar buildings and salaries(sic) was crippling the BBC Bristol's budget; but the most important factors were that:

a) The BBCs stated intention was to prepare young players to join their BBC orchestras
b) The advent of Radio One had placed an intolerable drain on the needle time allowance and the balance had to be redressed by "employing" extra musicians.

So the decision was taken to reduce to a chamber orchestra size. The BBC's Christchurch studio in Clifton was noe suitable, but only available at weekends as the Talks and Drama departments refused to work Saturdays and Sundays and insisted on recording their radio drama there; although a bathroom sized studio would have been quite large enough!

The whole scheme was flawed from the start. If a player has completed a full course at a Music College and reached an age as high as 23, he/she is unlikely to become good enough to join a professional orchestra and certainly not a BBC orchestra - and in fact only about three or four over the entire period achieved that goal.


.

BTW Peter's son, Paul was a member of the training orchestra/Academy of the BBC but I have no idea what happened to him. He was one of the players who I believe would have done very well in the profession.

[Once Was 4]

Paul Mountain has been, for many years, a violin teacher and string tutor for Education Leeds Artforms.

[french frank]

Paul Mountain has been, for many years, a violin teacher and string tutor for Education Leeds Artforms.

Many thanks for the info, Once Was 4,- and welcome to the forum :-)