Misunderstood/neglected/ignored conductors

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Didn't he go off to America after attacking the musical scene in the UK?

He did. He also said that the Americans were less corrupt, citing the fact that the Americans didn't allow President Nixon to get away with his misdemeanors.

[Beef Oven]

Ammy, you may not get a better offer than that today...

Stop it Cali!! That's not what I meant!!

[Hornspieler]

Ariosto. Did you coincide with Felix Kok's leadership? Or with Tim Reynish (horn), Arthur Doyle (tuba) and Beresford King Smith (concert manager)? And did you play under the baton of Nadia Boulanger in works by her sister, Lili ?

I did, for a while in 1969; replacing Tim Reynish (when he turned to conducting) on a temporary basis until the CBSO's new conductor, Louis Fremaux was available to audition for a replacement principal horn. I knew Felix Kok and Arthur Baker (General Manager) from my Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra days.
So what happened to the orchestra's then sub-leader (David Measham?)

Other conductors not yet mentioned: Christopher Ball, Alun Francis, Robert Philpott, Christopher Warren Greene (another gamekeeper turned poacher!) and Lawrence "Frankie" Leonard, (founder of the Morley College Rehearsal Orchestra - the famous Hoffnung Concert was their highlight) with whom I gave five performances of the Haydn 1st horn concerto on a BSO West Country tour in 1960.

I also toured with Raymond Leppard who did much to secure the reputation of the English Chamber Orchestra (formerly The Goldsborough Orchestra)

I'm sure that many British Conductors sought appointments overseas; following the old management services maxim: "...An expert is an average guy brought in from outside". It's very interesting to be reminded of them and to learn where they finally settled.

HS

[amateur51]

What about Raymond Leppard as another forgotten conductor? I seem to recall he annoyed some musicologists and critics with his productions of Monteverdi and Cavalli which were deemed not sufficiently authentic, but I enjoyed some of his recordings like the Mozart C minor Mass with the New Philharmonia and some Haydn symphonies. Didn't he go off to America after attacking the musical scene in the UK?

Raymond Leppard conducted a remarkable account of Mahler Das Lied von der Erde with the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra and soloists Janet Baker & John Mitchinson, recorded 'live' I think

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mahler-Das-Lied-Von-Erde/dp/B000026EZ5/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339317746&sr=8-1

[cloughie]

I did, for a while in 1969; replacing Tim Reynish (when he turned to conducting) on a temporary basis until the CBSO's new conductor, Louis Fremaux was available to audition for a replacement principal horn. I knew Felix Kok and Arthur Baker (General Manager) from my Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra days.
So what happened to the orchestra's then sub-leader (David Measham?)

Other conductors not yet mentioned: Christopher Ball, Alun Francis, Robert Philpott, Christopher Warren Greene (another gamekeeper turned poacher!) and Lawrence "Frankie" Leonard, (founder of the Morley College Rehearsal Orchestra - the famous Hoffnung Concert was their highlight) with whom I gave five performances of the Haydn 1st horn concerto on a BSO West Country tour in 1960.

I also toured with Raymond Leppard who did much to secure the reputation of the English Chamber Orchestra (formerly The Goldsborough Orchestra)

I'm sure that many British Conductors sought appointments overseas; following the old management services maxim: "...An expert is an average guy brought in from outside". It's very interesting to be reminded of them and to learn where they finally settled.

HS

Measham:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Measham

Leppard:
Did he not move from ECO where he had been doing mostly earlier stuff, Bach, Handel etc to talke on the BBCNSO in order to broaden his repertoire? A move which from a different end of the spectrum David Atherton did later?

[salymap]

I remember Laurence Leonard was a friend of Malcolm Arnold, so that would be the Hoffnung link in some way.

[Ariosto]

Ariosto. Did you coincide with Felix Kok's leadership? Or with Tim Reynish (horn), Arthur Doyle (tuba) and Beresford King Smith (concert manager)? And did you play under the baton of Nadia Boulanger in works by her sister, Lili ?

Hi ardcap - yes, I started there and soon Felix Kok took over as leader, JG having gone to the LSO. I knew Tim and B King Smith, who was concert manager. And yes again, Nadia Boulanger was on the podium one day. Quite memorable in fact.

[Ariosto]

I did, for a while in 1969; replacing Tim Reynish (when he turned to conducting) on a temporary basis until the CBSO's new conductor, Louis Fremaux was available to audition for a replacement principal horn. I knew Felix Kok and Arthur Baker (General Manager) from my Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra days.
So what happened to the orchestra's then sub-leader (David Measham?)

Other conductors not yet mentioned: Christopher Ball, Alun Francis, Robert Philpott, Christopher Warren Greene (another gamekeeper turned poacher!) and Lawrence "Frankie" Leonard, (founder of the Morley College Rehearsal Orchestra - the famous Hoffnung Concert was their highlight) with whom I gave five performances of the Haydn 1st horn concerto on a BSO West Country tour in 1960.

I also toured with Raymond Leppard who did much to secure the reputation of the English Chamber Orchestra (formerly The Goldsborough Orchestra)

I'm sure that many British Conductors sought appointments overseas; following the old management services maxim: "...An expert is an average guy brought in from outside". It's very interesting to be reminded of them and to learn where they finally settled.

HS

HS

I must have left the orchestra (CBSO) about two years before, in 1967.

David Measham went to the LSO with John G and subsequently to America after he took up conducting. Sadly he died some years ago now. I remember downing quite a few pints with him and John G.

[ardcarp]

And yes again, Nadia Boulanger was on the podium one day. Quite memorable in fact.

Well, Ariosto, our paths crossed in the past! I was there too as a very young tenor bumping up the University (or was it the BSM?) choir. NB was remarkable. A frail octogenarian who suddenly (IMO) got the CBSO playing better than I'd heard them before. Was that your impression too?

In a wider context, it would be of great interest to many of us, I suspect, to get an insight from you about life as a pro in a provincial orchestra in those days. You sounded a bit ambivalent about it in an earlier post!

[Roehre]

Other conductors not yet mentioned: ... Alun Francis...

I also toured with Raymond Leppard who did much to secure the reputation of the English Chamber Orchestra (formerly The Goldsborough Orchestra) ...

Alun Francis is a more than averagely employed conductor for less known repertoire as (i.a.) recorded by CPO and MDG.
An important series is his Pettersson cycle, e.g.

I still have a weak spot for Leppard, as it were his recordings with the ECO of baroque and early classical works which opened up that repertoire for me (together with ASMiF/Marriner, for that matter). IIRC the first complete recording of Handel's 3 Concerti a Due Cori is his - and much cherished more than 35 years after aquiring that LP.

[aeolium]

I still have a weak spot for Leppard, as it were his recordings with the ECO of baroque and early classical works which opened up that repertoire for me (together with ASMiF/Marriner, for that matter). IIRC the first complete recording of Handel's 3 Concerti a Due Cori is his - and much cherished more than 35 years after aquiring that LP.

And I have Leppard's recording of Handel's Ariodante with the ECO and Janet Baker, Edith Mathis, Norma Burrowes, James Bowman et al. It would be dismissed by HIPPers now (and perhaps was then) but I still love it.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Stanley Pope also conducted Brian and so for that matter did James Loughran!

Indeed he did (and recorded the Tenth Symphony with the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra) - and John McCabe's wonderful Chagall Windows* which I forgot to mention earlier. Loughran was chief conductor of the Bamburg SO before he went to Japan: I wonder if there are any recordings in their archives - I'd so like to hear a Bruckner Symphony directed by him again.

* = The rest of the McCabe programme on this "unavailable" CD was performed by the CBSO conducted by Fremaux: anyone here play on that?

[umslopogaas]

fhg #102, the McCabe works originally came out on two HMV LPs:

ASD 2904 (1973) Notturni Ed Alba and Symphony No. 2 with Jill Gomez (sop.), CBSO cond. Louis Fremaux

ASD 3096 (1975) The Chagall Windows and Variations On A Theme Of Hartmann, Halle cond. James Loughran

Apparently The Chagall Windows was featured in the Granada TV programme 'The Jerusalem Windows', whatever that was.

Those pieces seem to be out of print, they are not mentioned in the 2010 Penguin Guide, though several other McCabe works are listed.

[Simon B]

Originally Posted by Hornspieler
Other conductors not yet mentioned: ... Alun Francis...

IIRC Alun Francis spent many years working principally in Germany - including stints as chief of the Berlin SO and Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie...

He'd spent so much time there (and is fluent in German) that his accent had ended up as a memorably unlikely amalgam of fairly strong German and South Wales valleys. This, combined with piercing eyes, more than a passing resemblance to Solti and a capacity for arresting stares of disapproval at errant sections made him a slightly intimidating regular guest conductor of an amateur orchestra I played in in the 90s. How much of this was an affectation intended to get the best out of us is debatable - but it worked. Within minutes of the first rehearsal taken by him the orchestra would be a raised to a different level to that achieved at any other time...

The last I heard he was working somewhere in South America. The weather's certainly better there!

[Ariosto]

Well, Ariosto, our paths crossed in the past! I was there too as a very young tenor bumping up the University (or was it the BSM?) choir. NB was remarkable. A frail octogenarian who suddenly (IMO) got the CBSO playing better than I'd heard them before. Was that your impression too?

In a wider context, it would be of great interest to many of us, I suspect, to get an insight from you about life as a pro in a provincial orchestra in those days. You sounded a bit ambivalent about it in an earlier post!

OK, but I don't want to bore everyone to tears!!

I suppose I was reluctant because I wanted to stay in London but having made the mistake of auditioning before I left the RAM, I was made an offer. My then wife (less said about her the better) pressurised me to take a permanent job offer, rather than free lancing in the smoke. I was in the orchestra for 2+ years.

Yes, NB was good, without really doing much except treating everything like chamber music. The orchestra could be good when someone decent was on the box, but a lot of the time we had to put up with dire conductors. But then nothing anywhere changes that much, I've played in the LSO with less than desirable conductors. The job also involved a lot of touring or rather one night stands in places we would rather have not been. And as I had not been involved in too much orchestral playing prior to those days, I was sight reading just about everything for the first year or more.

I prefer chamber music ...