Press Cutting: Spandauer Volksblatt 16/9/69

Press Cutting: Berliner Zeitschrift 15/9/69

The famous, well-travelled Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra - an orchestra of schoolchildren under the direction of the internationally known composer Sir Michael Tippett - in the Philharmonie, played difficult pieces with such precision that we could only wonder at their technical boldness. Many second or third class orchestras of ours might envy the stark clarity of the brass as it was displayed in Hindemith's 'Metamorphoses' and Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue'. The trumpeter alone was worth the visit. Great applause from the young people of Berlin.

Press Cutting: Kolner Kulturspiegel 20/9/69

It is a great surprise to meet the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra, who played last night in the Gymnasium Kreuzgasse, under the direction of the composer Sir Michael Tippett. The members of the orchestra are boys and girls playing all the instruments of the classical orchestra. They have been selected by expert teachers from the schools in Leicestershire and meet every week for exhaustive study of music. The most extraordinary thing of all is that these young people are in no sense training to become professional musicians: the orchestra is not a place of apprenticeship for future instrumentalists and its members are allowed to play only so long as they are still at school.

It is then an orchestra of 14 to 18 year olds - but what maturity of interpretation, what brilliant technique, especially in the strings. It speaks for itself that they ventured to open the concert with Glinka's overture to 'Russlan and Ludmilla'. Technical limitations were occasionally perceptible and in particular Hindemith's 'Metamorphoses' seemed slightly beyond their powers but the performers nevertheless mastered with extraordinary majesty the intellectual world of this composer. A great deal of the brilliance of course was attributable to Tippett: but the whole performance showed that anything is possible musically if a firm mind guides available talent along the right lines. Naturally the composer / pianist Richard Rodney Bennett too had great success in Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue'. After an extremely successful piece by Ives the concert closed with a still incomplete suite by Tippett, involving choir (in this performance the Kolner Chor 61). Several important canons, knitted together quite simply, make up this piece which is also scored for orchestra.

Press Cutting: Ruhr - Nachrichten 18/9/69

Berlin, Hannover, Gelsenkirchen and Cologne are the stops on this year's tour of Germany by England's most famous schools orchestra, The Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra. Karl Riebe was the one who succeeded in bringing back to Gelsenkirchen, for its second visit, this orchestra which consists of some 100 young people between the ages of 14 and 18.

What is achieved by these school children from Leicestershire seems unimaginable to those astonished German audiences who hear it. It is with shame that we learn that 10% of all school children in Leicestershire learn to play a musical instrument and that they do so in school time. These refreshing young boys and girls perform a quite unconventional programme with a verve which is so lacking in our own routine subsidised professional orchestras and it must be realised this is only the top of a broad based pyramid of musical education: the schools of Leicestershire alone support four such symphony orchestras. No wonder the gap between school music and real music, which has hitherto been so cruelly and sadly apparent, seems not to exist in England. The best composers and conductors in the country see it as their business to work with school orchestras. Thus it is that this orchestra is conducted on its tour by no less than Sir Michael Tippett, England's least compromising musical personality and the solo part in Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' was played by Richard Rodney Bennett, one of the most prolific composers of the younger generation. The programme was well suited to the temperament of the youngsters. First there was Glinka's 'Russlan and Ludmilla' Overture played at a daredevil tempo. This was followed by an austere symphonic poem, heavily atmospheric, by the American Aaron Copland, his 'Quiet City'. Paul Hindemith's musical wit, as expressed in his 'Metamorphoses on a theme by Weber', seemed particularly suited to the mentality of Tippett and his young friends. The tightly packed ranks of the wind section were exciting and, visually most exciting of all, the girls beating cymbals and drums. After Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue', which of course was the most applauded item of all, came the musical high point. Charles Ives's really brilliant symphonic study 'Putnam's Camp', which incorporates various interwoven dance and march rhythms, is full of visionary and yet barbaric strength: written before 1910, this piece seems today to anticipate precisely the pluralistic techniques of Pop - Art. At the end we had Michael Tippett's 'Prologue, Interlude II and Epilogue'. Incorporated in a differentiated orchestral piece are choral quotations from Old English Music: in the juxtaposition of two levels of musical style Tippett here achieves an almost philosophical effect. The Jung Chor of Bochum and VHS Chor of Gelsenkirchen sang the choral parts of this piece with impressive confidence. Conductor and orchestra received tumultuous applause from the young people of Gelsenkirchen.

Press Cutting: Westfalische Botschaft 18/9/69

For the second time the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra appeared in Gelsenkirchen as guest performers at the Casino Concert Series. More than 100 young musicians between 14 and 18 years played last Tuesday in the Hans Sachs Haus; close on 1,000 listeners on the platform and in the body of the hall gave tumultuous applause which was richly deserved by the orchestra, by its own soloists, by the pianist Richard Rodney Bennett (soloist in Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue) and last but not least, by the conductor, composer Sir Michael Tippett. In this Schools Orchestra, emancipation and co-education are taken as a matter of course. In the front row of the first violins sit two young girls. Even the double bass is not too much for them. They perform expertly even in the percussion section. It seems that it is only in the predominantly male wind section that masculine strength has been deemed essential. If we wished to reduce the essence of this orchestra to a formula, we should have to speak of 'a stroke of genius in musical education'.

This orchestra is Britain's best cultural export.

The programme was constructed in an unconventional and refreshing way. Glinka's Overture to 'Russlan and Ludmilla', with its atmosphere of festive oriental fantasy, the magically elegaic 'Quiet City' by Copland and the symphonically demanding 'Metamorphoses' by Hindemith. After Gershwin's Rhapsody there was the polytonal and polymetric 'Putnam's Camp' by Charles Ives. Sir Michael Tippett's 'Prologue, Interlude II and Epilogue' formed the impressive conclusion. During the instrumental middle section of this the percussion work was admirable while the choral parts were sung with great majesty by the Jungen Chor of the town of Bochum and the choir of the Gelsenkirchen Volkschochschule (directed by Karl Riebe). The applause fitted the pleasing maturity of the orchestra and of the audience.

LEICESTER MERCURY, 1969

Ten young instrumentalists, all members of Leicestershire Schools' Orchestra, will provide the music for the last edition of ITV's "Roundhouse" series at 6.35 on Sunday evening next. The ensemble will comprise a wind quintet, four percussionists and solo trumpet, and will play at the beginning and the end of the programme. The producer of the series is Helen Standage, who worked with the County School of Music on their first television engagement and who, needing young musicians for the final "Roundhouse", remembered and dialled Birstall.

LEICESTER MERCURY, APRIL 1969

Next week will be a triumphant occasion in the remarkable history of Leicestershire County School of Music. For it so happens that the 1969 Leicestershire Schools' Festival, whose two main concerts take place at the De Montfort Hall, coincides with the 21st anniversary of the formation of the School of Music which now enjoys international fame. This enterprise has become one of the most famous and rewarding of all the activities of our County Council.

"If Eric Pinkett had not been a superman, the whole affair could well have been bogged down in mediocrity." These words, written by Colonel P. H. Lloyd (County Council chairman) effectively diagnose the basic secret of the immense success of the County School of Music and explain the source of its enthusiasm and energy. They appear, appropriately enough, in the preface of a book "Time to Remember" published as an anniversary tribute to the School of Music; the historical narrative is the wok of Eric Pinkett.

Contributors of "Interludes" include Sir Michael Tippett, the composer, whose willingness to associate himself actively with the Leicestershire experiment gave it a maturity and prestige which, under his influence, continues to grow. "It is exciting," he writes of the School of Music, "because it succeeds in releasing such hitherto untapped resources of musicality among our country's children; untapped because education authorities had in general never considered such activities as necessary or possible. If all the education authorities of the U.K. reached out to such achievements then there could be rejoicing indeed. At present, if you are an average musical child, in one area you are enriched, in another you are deprived."

Sir Michael will conduct the final concert of the 1969 Schools' Festival at the De Montfort Hall on Friday. It will include a work which he has written especially for the Leicestershire Schools' Symphony Orchestra. The piano soloist in Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and "Rio Grande," by Constant Lambert, will be Richard Rodney Bennett, who is one of the most gifted of Britain's young composers. Next Monday's concert will put on display a more comprehensive view of the activities of the County School of Music. There is, in addition to the senior orchestra, a full scale junior orchestra and an intermediate orchestra, each of which will have a share in the programme. There will be items also by an intermediate wind group and string orchestra, and by a madrigal group.

LEICESTER MERCURY, APRIL 1969

Phenomena such as the County School of Music owe their existence to individuals rather than committees and in the book "Time to Remember" it is confirmed that Leicestershire's present fame in the field of music education was due to the coming together of two men. One is Eric Pinkett, the County's Music Adviser and author of the book and the other, Stewart C. Mason, the County's Director of Education, whose postscript opens with the sentence: "I have always felt that an educational system which ignored the arts was like a man without one of his limbs." Their first encounter was a chance affair. Early in 1946 Mr. Pinkett joined the staff of Melton Mowbray Grammar School as music master with games as a second string. A large and formidable orchestra a brass band and a large choir were quickly formed and, just over a year later, this activity attracted the attention of an "inscrutable" young schools inspector, who visited Melton. Three months later, as Mr. Pinkett recalls, that very same H.M.I. became the Director of Education for Leicestershire. In as short a time, "E. P." (as he is generally known) was appointed Music Adviser. So, in May 1948, began the Saturday morning rehearsal routine "which has continued without a pause for these 21 years". Enthusiasts who work fast also work unorthodoxedly and E. P." came in for criticism about his "uncivilised" behaviour. But he argues convincingly that he would not have collected so large an assemblage of instruments at the necessary speed if his method had incorporated time – consuming committee work and order forms. Bargains in junk shops and attics had to be snapped up on the spot. "I became a plague and a nightmare in the lives of the "Treasury Boys" he declares, "and was constantly reprimanded and watched, reported to committees and almost drummed out of the regiment - except, of course, that as yet I had not managed to find a drum . . ." His enthusiastic desire to get things going made him impatient, too, of caution in the matter of orchestra building. The solemn advice from one source was: rehearse for five years before you attempt to give concerts. His reply was that if he waited that long he would have no orchestra. "I had the unshakeable belief that what I was about to do could only be achieved by enthusiasm and enthusiasm would only be created by doing and performing." Today, on the coming-of-age of the County School of Music, Eric Pinkett is a living testimony to the theory that everything comes to him who doesn't wait. His narrative bubbles alone in a racy and extremely readable style which is all the more acceptable for the way in which he reflects the "fun and games" which go hand in hand with rehearsals and foreign tours - and the things that go wrong. There is a lovely story about an ambassador's party in Belgium upon whose generous hospitality the members of the 1966 Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra descended travel-weary and with empty stomachs. "Footmen appeared as from nowhere and, immediately, they were relieved of their charged glasses by our parched youngsters. It was difficult, that night, to get them to sleep and, "We found one young lady standing in a bowl of ice - cold water sadly reciting a tale of her father's indulgence in a nightly pint of beer." Time to Remember, then, is a book to recommend to all those who enjoy a true adventure story with a pervading pioneer spirit, written by an enthusiast who knows and reveals his techniques for surmounting obstacles. R.A.P.

LEICESTER MERCURY, JUNE 1969

Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra will tomorrow become the first orchestra of its kind to play at the Bath Festival.

Their patron, Sir Michael Tippett - one of the festival's three new directors - will

conduct and the programme will include the first performance of his own "Interlude" which eventually will form part of a suite specially written for Leicestershire of which the prelude and epilogue are already in the orchestra's repertoire. Charles Ives's "Three Places In New England" will reflect Sir Michael's current interest in American music's father figure and his basic fondness for jazz accounts for his choice of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and Constant Lambert's "Rio Grande." Sir Michael has said that his present approach to composition embraces what he calls a re-exploration of the blues. The young composer Richard Rodney Bennett will be the piano soloist in both these works. But when it comes to rehearsal time, he, Sir Michael, the orchestra and the Leicestershire Schools choir who will sing in Rio Grande, will yield to another manifestation of Americana. The concert takes place in Bath's Forum Cinema which on Saturday afternoons is given over irrevocably to bingo. So the Leicestershire contingent travel today to be ready for tomorrow morning's run-through. The Schools Orchestra will soon be represented on another LP record. A chamber group of young musicians is to repeat for one side of the disc a performance (shown on ITV recently) of "Dead in Tune" - a music fantasy for young viewers, with a text written and spoken by Robin Ray and music by Bert Chappell. The reverse side will appeal similarly to the young. Bert Chappell is again the composer and the words are by John Kershaw of Thames TV, who was concerned with the very first television programme in which the County School of Music was featured. R.A.P.

LEICESTER MERCURY, MARCH 1969

LEICESTER MERCURY, MAY 1969

Twenty one years of history were represented in sight and sound at Leicester De Montfort Hall last night, when the Leicestershire Schools Festival opened with a concert to celebrate the coming-of-age of the County School of Music.

SOME 150 YOUNG INSTRUMENTALISTS PACKED THE STAGE AND THE TIERED ORCHESTRA SEATS -AN IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY OF THE CURRENT PLAYING STRENGTHS OF THE JUNIOR AND INTERMEDIATE ORCHESTRAS.

But of course the full picture of musical achievement will not be complete until Friday night when Sir Michael Tippet (patron of the School of Music) will conduct the final Festival concert given by the Senior ensemble, known and renowned as the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra. Almost all the items in last night's programme had links with the past. The Juniors first piece for instance was Folk Dance Rondo which launched the County School of Music upon its concert-giving career when its one and only orchestra consisted mainly of schoolchildren from Melton Mowbray. "Trombonerama", played by former members of the C.S.M. was testimony to the high percentage of excellent young trombonists that have emerged from Leicestershire during these last 21 years. A group of madrigals was sweetly interpreted by a choir of two dozen men and women, who met together after 20 years, to sing again under the direction of Philip Jenkins (now headmaster of Market Bosworth Grammar School) who was the C. S. M.'s first choral conductor. Of the three ex-members of the C.S.M. who appeared as soloists, the most celebrated is David Haslam (flute) whose virtuosity and wonderful tone control were displayed in the unaccompanied Density 21.5 by Edgar Varese and Syrinx by Debussy and in Matyas Seiber’s sparkling Burlesque with piano accompaniment. Part of the enjoyment of listening to the two orchestras lay in talent spotting: which of these young players would be likely to be county stars of the future? There were many gifted young individuals to b heard. But one admired, too, the high degree of corporate intelligence that each orchestra showed, and there was cause for much optimism in their extremely well disciplined string playing. I would say, indeed, that the further development of the County School of Music was guaranteed for years to come by the resolute bowing arms of the juniors if nothing else! They reflected fine teaching as well as their own confidence. Praise to their conductor Geoffrey Tomlinson and to James Haworth who directs the Intermediate orchestra. Birthdays mean cakes and presents and last night's anniversary was no exception. Twenty-one candles on a huge cake (it looked good enough to eat) were lit by the simple means of pressing a switch and, from the Friends of the County School of Music, there was their latest donation- a set of tubular bells. Finally, to the man who started it all-Eric Pinkett, the County's Music Adviser. From a lofty position above the stage he sat alone with a microphone and provided a commentary that was both nostalgic and forward looking. R.A.P.

LEICESTER MERCURY, MAY 1969

Within ten days of an Oxfordshire composer hearing the plea for an overture for Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra to play at tonight's Festival of Music at the De Montfort Hall, he had written the music and it had received its first rehearsal. Mr. Jack Richards, the Festival secretary, said the Festival Committee were informed that a work specially commissioned for the evening from another composer would not be ready in time. Three weeks ago Mr. Bryan Kelly, of Oxford, arrived home from America, where he has been lecturing in music at the American University, Washington, and wrote to Mr. Richards to say he was back. Mr. Kelly, who wrote for the orchestra's last Festival in 1967, was immediately contacted and began writing the five minute long overture - Sancho Panza - which the orchestra, conducted by Sir Michael Tippett, will perform for the first time tonight.

The soloists at tonight's festival will be Richard Rodney Bennett (piano) and Helen Attfield (contralto). At the De Montfort Hall on Monday the Junior and Intermediate orchestras of the County School of Music, with scholars from all over the county, gave their Festival of Music performance to an attendance of about 1,900. Former members of the School of Music came back for the evening to give performances. Four trombonists - namely Martin Slipp (Enderby), Roger Harvey (Wigston Fields), Stuart Wainwright (Belton) and John Turner (Hinckley) - gave a powerful selection of Trombonerama. Martin is at the Royal College of Music, Roger is at Oxford University and Stuart is music teacher at Ivanhoe High School, Ashby. Fifteen former members, who are either at the Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music or still members of the senior orchestra, gave a demonstration of how chamber music should be played. Solo artists were Jean Hammond, who sang from "The Magic Flute" and "Linda Di Chamounix" (accompanist Mrs. Margaret Silverwood); Marion Turner (violin), accompanist Andrew Smith, and David Hasiam (flute) who now lives at Newcastle and is associate conductor of the Northern Sinfonia. During the evening Mr. D. W. Mobbs of Wigston, chairman of the Friends of the School of Music, presented a set of chimes to the school.

LEICESTER MERCURY, MAY 1969

Marion Turner re-visited her home town last night to give a worthy performance of the Brahms violin concerto in the final musical event of Loughborough Arts Festival. The concert was held in Loughborough College of Art and Design's Great Hall (an enclosure which yields small acoustical sympathy) and the orchestra was the Leicestershire Schools Symphony, of which Miss Turner was at one time leader. Norman Del Mar conducted. The concerto's classic-romantic blend demands a musicianly compromise from the soloist, and this Miss Turner supplied in a reading which had flexibility and warmth of expression within a framework of dignified proportions. Initially one was sometimes aware of the work's considerable technical difficulties (especially its wide, athletic leaps) but there was much to admire in her control of the first movement's many changes of temperament and in her excellent shaping of the Joachim cadenza which led perfectly into a beautiful closing tranquillo. Norman Del Mar secured confident response from the orchestra, whose rhythmic liveliness in the last movement was basically the effect of a sensible tempo in accordance with Brahms's non troppo vivace marking. There was some occasionally insecurity in the wind's role in the Adagio, but the solo violin was serene, with no hint of emotionalism. The Allegro Giocoso moved with a satisfying sense of inevitability to the final impetus of the Presto. The orchestra opened the concert with an impressive account of Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla overture and following the interval, repeated two items from their recent festival programme - the Hindemith Metamorphoses on Weber themes and Iain Hamilton's Scottish Dances. A final tribute is owed to Loughborough College of Art and Design for the attractive programmes during the festival. R. A. P.

LEICESTER MERCURY, MAY 1969

Last night's final concert of the Leicestershire Schools' Festival at the De Montfort Hall was quite a gala occasion, with Lord and Lady Harewood, Miss Jennie Lee and Sir Robert Mayer in the audience and the Leicestershire Schools' Symphony Orchestra in fine form. The one disappointment was that Sir Michael Tippett after extensively rehearsing the orchestra over past weeks was prevented by illness from conducting. His place was taken by Eric Pinkett, County Music Adviser, who has played so big a part in the formation and growth of the County School of Music. The programme, in a week of C.S.M. 21st birthday celebrations, was suitably bright and breezy, jazz-flavoured and culminating in a reconstitution of the Paul Whiteman band sound with composer Richard Rodney Bennett (piano) joining the orchestra in a smoothly groovy performance of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. But nothing reflected the swagger and new found confidence of key-of-the-door-ness than Bryan Kelly's short overture "Sancho Panza"- a stop press affair written in just over a week for the Festival in answer to an emergency call. (A previous commission had failed to materialise). The composer himself conducted the first performance and effectively projected his work's rhythmic vitality, its strong melodic vein and its colourful and shrewdly calculated orchestration. "Sancho Panza" is easy on the ear yet the characterisation is so convincingly done that it bears no suspicion of banality. Iain Hamilton's "Scottish Dances" do not always avoid hints of the plebeian in its employment of familiar tunes, but there are many rewarding moments and the final Presto drew playing of admirable brio and panache from the orchestra.

How well Constant Lambert’s "Rio Grande" survives. Eric Pinkett quickly established its romantic and exotic atmosphere with the sympathetic co-operation of the strings and brass of the orchestra and a choir of county schoolchildren. Richard Rodney Bennett's responsive and easy-rhythmed piano playing enhanced the music's warmth and softness of texture and Helen Attfield's dark-hued voice was perfect for the contralto solo. The transition leading to "The noisy streets are empty" was beautifully done with leader Andrea Sharp's expressive playing being the focal point of excellent string tone. Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphoses on Weber themes is a tough, robust affair and an effective contrast to the Lambert. It turns a searching light on all instrumental departments and the Leicestershire Schools Orchestra equipped themselves well. The concert opened and closed with Sir Michael Tippett's Prologue and Epilogue which were written for the orchestra and which, eventually, will form the outer movements of a projected suite of five.

In the interval, Sir Robert Mayer was presented with a cufflink box (made at Loughborough College of Art) from the orchestra on the eve of his 90th birthday. He had done much for the Leicestershire venture and in his speech of thanks he said that Leicestershire's enterprise (now flattered by imitation in other parts of the country) was one reason for his optimism about the state of music in Britain. Sartorial note: How elegant the girls of the orchestra looked in their ankle-length evening dresses (again the creation of Loughborough College of Art). That Viennese music critic who criticised their mini skirts during the Austrian tour last autumn was right. R.A.P.

LEICESTER MERCURY, SEPTEMBER 1969

Once again, the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra has been asked to play in one of the most famous concert halls in the world. Last autumn it was the Musikvereinsal, the home of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, during a tour which was widely acclaimed by the Austrian Press. This time the Philharmonie, the home of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, will be the end of a journey which starts at dawn at St. Margaret's Bus Station on Friday.

At that time, the hundred seasoned travellers who make up the L.S.S.O. will be setting out on their annual concert tour of Europe, a tradition which dates from 1953. During their fortnight's travels they will also give public concerts in Cologne, Hanover and Gelsenkirchen. In charge of the tour is Mr. Eric Pinkett, the county music adviser, whose story of the County School of Music "Time to Remember" was published a short time ago. Accompanying the orchestra on its travels will be the Director of Education for Leicestershire, Mr. S. C. Mason and Mrs. Mason. As on numerous other occasions during the past four years Sir Michael Tippett, the patron of the Leicestershire Schools Festival of Music, will be working with the orchestra and conducting many of the performances, where the guest pianist will be Richard Rodney Bennett, generally regarded as the most promising composer of the younger generation. The orchestra, under the baton of Sir Michael and of Eric Pinkett, is to take part in an Anglo German Youth Festival and will give three concerts during its week's stay in Berlin, two in the Philharmonie and one in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. In addition to these concerts and their attendant rehearsals a visit to East Berlin has been planned, and the orchestra has also been invited to attend the opera, the theatre, other orchestral concerts and a British Council reception. This ambitious and exciting tour is the culminating point of a most eventful year for the L.S.S.O., a year which has included an appearance on B.B.C. 2 in "Music Now", a recording for Radio 3 and performances at the Royal Festival Hall, the Leicestershire Schools Festival of Music and the Bath Festival.

LEICESTER MERCURY, SEPTEMBER 1969

The 100 members of Leicestershire Schools Orchestra arrived back in Leicester early today after a 14-day successful concert tour of West Germany leaving behind them delighted audiences and a wonderful story which, I think, is the best tribute to date of the county's pioneer work for musical education. "In England," they are saying, "children are given instruments to play but in Germany they are given tickets for Karajan concerts at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall. " The orchestra gave a total of six concerts, all but one conducted by Sir Michael Tippett, and including two which gave the young Leicestershire musicians the enviable distinction of being the first youth ensemble to play in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall.

One of their pleasantest surprises was to receive a rehearsal visit from Sir John Barbirolli who was in Berlin to fulfil a series of conducting engagements with the Berlin Phil. He stayed to listen for a while, had a friendly word with Sir Michael Tippett and the orchestra and parted with the comment that he had been "most impressed" by their standard of playing. There was similar high praise, too, from Dr. Stresemann, the General Administrator of the Berlin Philharmonic, who thus echoed the enthusiastic acclaim of the audiences at all the concerts.

The Berlin concerts were part of the first German-British Youth Festival which was actually inspired by the County Orchestra's 1965 visit to the capital - another example of the Leicestershire influence upon Germany's attitude to music education. Members of the orchestra attended concerts by other contributors to the Festival (who included the choir of Lyme Regis Grammar School) and still found time to do some sight- seeing. One of their funniest situations was at Check Point Charlie where, on their incursion into East Berlin, they were halted briefly by the incredulity of a border guard who couldn't believe that a party of children made up of several very small ones comprised a symphony orchestra.

The final concert in Cologne was given with mixed feelings for this, for many of the older members of the orchestra, meant the end of their association with the County School of Music. When all was over, and by pre-arrangement, they surprised everyone (including about 100 members of the audience who still hadn't left) by playing, conductorless, Butterworth's "On the Banks of Green Willow". Even then they were ready to romp through "Sancho Panza," written for them by Bryan Kelly and this time directed by Eric Pinkett, who was Sir Michael's associate conductor.

R. A. P.

LEICESTER MERCURY, SEPTEMBER 1969

Anyone who has taken a despairing look at the news of the week with pot-happy hippies, belligerent barricades, gloom over Vietnam, worries about health problems, even a flutter of bad temper in the normally benign Ryder Cup, may feel like throwing up their hands with a dejected cry of "What next." But we prefer to end the week on a happy note. And what ranks higher as the happiest story of the week than the one we printed yesterday about the Leicestershire Schools Orchestra back from an idyllic concert tour of West Germany. The orchestra gets a lot of publicity, which can upset those which don't, but there is no fear that being ever-boosted will over-stimulate the size of their young heads. Unlike their adults, nature has its own corrective for the youngsters in school orchestras; end of school life returns them to the ranks of the mortals. But having said that we must share in the general delight that the people of Germany expressed as young Leicestershire invaded with distinction even that most august of musical Valhallas, the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, haunt of von Karajan and a host of musical gods. Even the Russian guards at Checkpoint Charlie came to know that in Leicestershire the music comes with the school satchels. As the orchestra was departing for home, having earned a word of praise from Sir John Barbirolli, who was there too the People of Berlin were saying: "In England, children are given instruments to play; but in Germany they are given tickets for Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic". That, we think, is the nicest thing that has happened this week and puts even the return of the sunshine into second place.

THE GUARDIAN, JUNE 1969

Accent on youth at the Bath Festival: Sir Michael Tippett on Saturday evening conducted the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in modern British and American music; and yesterday afternoon, Colin Davis, the other musician member of the Festival's directorate, conducted the BBC Training Orchestra in a more sophisticated programme of Mozart, Haydn, Ravel and Stravinsky. Tippett's programme might have been designed expressly to contradict everything that the Menuhin era at Bath has stood for. As at the opening concert a week earlier, the music of Charles Ives was prominent, shatteringly wild yet beautiful in "Putnam's Camp". This devotion to Ives provided a clear pointer to the new piece that Tippett himself had composed for the occasion, an Interlude to go with a Prologue and Epilogue written for the orchestra some four years ago when he first became associated with it. The canon " Great Tom is Cast " keeps coming in, Ives-like, bold with heavy brass piercing heavy clouds of notes. Though I failed to detect the promised part for electric guitar, it was a riot for everyone, not least for Sir Michael himself as conductor. He gives himself with such intensity in his music-making that these wonderfully responsive children almost unfailingly return the compliment. His is not the quick professionalism such as electrifies Britten's work at Aldeburgh. Where Britten moves mountains overnight, Tippett is slower. But Tippett, like Britten, can go true as an arrow to the emotional core of music quite alien from his own. So with Richard Rodney Bennett, another composer-interpreter, as a superb piano soloist Tippett directed a moving performance of Constant Lambert’s wickedly neglected Rio Grande.