LEICESTER MERCURY, 1972

Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra, with their conductor, Eric Pinkett, are to have the distinction of making the first gramophone record of music by the 96-year-old British composer Havergal Brian. Rehearsals are already under way and the recording will be done at the De Montfort Hall, Leicester, next July. The chosen works are the 10th and 21st symphonies and the record issued by Unicorn records is, expected to be on sale by the following Autumn. Havergal Brian, born in Staffordshire and now living in Shoreham, Sussex, has become something of a legend in the musical world as a composer who is hardly ever performed but who nevertheless has worked quietly and contentedly over the years to amass an output that includes 32 symphonies (including the two hour long "Gothic") five operas, concertos for violin and cello and numerous choral works and songs. The fact that much of his music demands large forces is an economical reason for its rare appearances in concert halls and for the complete absence of recordings.

However, he does have determined champions - among them Dr. Robert Simpson (A member of the B.B.C.'s music staff) who was mainly responsible for some recent broadcasts of Brian's works, and Alan Watkins, Press Association's deputy news editor and a music enthusiast with early training as a timpanist and percussionist.

The recording project really all started from the time when Alan Walker listened to the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra's existing discs. He was greatly impressed by the standard of playing and was struck by the thought that here was the solution to the economical problems of giving permanence to some of Brian’s music. He wrote to the composer outlining the idea and obtained permission to explore possibilities. Within a short time, Mr. Walker arranged a meeting between John Goldsmith (director of Unicorn records), Eric Pinkett and Dr. Simpson. The outcome was a wholehearted and enthusiastic decision to go ahead and the chosen works on Dr. Simpson's recommendation were the 10th and 21st symphonies both of about 30 minutes duration and for which orchestral parts for the 100 instrumentalists were available. Dr. Simpson, who is the foremost authority on Havergal Brian's music, has since spent a day at the County School of Music at Birstall where he talked to the Schools Orchestra about the composer and the two symphonies and listened to them being rehearsed by Eric Pinkett. He was delighted with their progress and reported favourably to Havergal Brian.

There is already an important local link, incidentally, with Unicorn Records.

The company has earned considerable repute for its re-issues and projected new issues of music conducted by the late Wilhelm Furtwangler. A dynamic force behind this venture is Paul Minchin, chairman of the international Wilhelm Furtwangler Society who lives in Evington Lane, Leicester.

SUNDAY EXPRESS, 1972

Havergal Brian, Britain's most prolific but possibly least-performed classical composer, is to have his music recorded for the fist time at the age of 95. Paradoxically the disc will be cut by our top youth orchestra, the Leicestershire Schools' Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Brian, described by BBC music expert

Dr. Robert Simpson as a composer of the stature of Elgar is one of music’s great enigmas. He has written 32 symphonies, more than three times as many as Beethoven, five operas, 114 songs, not to mention choral works. Yet until now none of them has been recorded. Says the composer from his seaside home at Shoreham, Sussex: "I am absolutely delighted that these young people are to record two of my symphonies. It shows how good they are. They are not easy works to play."

LEICESTER MERCURY, 1972

Leicester Bach Choir joined forces with the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra at the Cathedral yesterday afternoon to give a performance of Haydn's "Nelson" Mass which, with Peter White conducting successfully, captured the vital and buoyant spirit of this eternally youthful music.

Parallel qualities are, of course, to be found in the composer's other masses, but the "Nelson" stands as an especially exuberant and optimistic manifestation of his famous declaration that, at the thought of God, his heart leapt for joy.

The impact of the Kyrie was immediate: here under Peter White's clear cut, vigorous, energy-inducing beat the choir and orchestra impressed with the confidence and spontaneity of their response right from the opening bars. Rhythms were sprightly and unforced, and the inbred cheerfulness of Haydn's delightful counterpoint was convincingly evoked. Added to this was Elizabeth Cox's fine singing of the glorious solo soprano line. She brought to it that radiance of sound which it calls for and which as could be seen stemmed directly from her obvious pleasure in singing. There was no flagging of concentration from this compelling start and choir, orchestra and soloist combined under their conductor's direction to build an interpretation whose stylistic evenness and integrity were among its attributes. The balance of the movements (the extrovert and the more subdued) was well judged; so, too, the tempi. I liked the alacrity and the deft accentuations of the overlapping entries in the Quonian to Solus, the effective metamorphosis in the Benedictus with its significant trumpet calls and the beautiful sequence near the close in the Agnus Dei where the choir's soft chords are answered by fragmented wisps of phrases from the strings. Details these from a performance (one should also mention the agreeable sound of the Cathedral's new chamber organ) which owed a great deal to the youthful zest of the orchestra. Think of their rhythmic momentum of the Ex Reserrexit. Under their own conductor Eric Pinkett, the Leicestershire Schools Orchestra opened the programme with a smooth and graciously phrased account of Vaughan William's "Greensleeves" arrangement and solos from two members of their woodwind section - Heather Williams in Albinoni's D major Allegro for oboe and Ann Bennett in an assured reading of Weber's Concertino for clarinet. R.A.P.

LEICESTER MERCURY, JULY 1972

"SSSHH . . . Not quite so loud, cellos. Let's have a real pianissimo here."

This, judging from his expression in the picture alongside, seems to be the message that James Loughran (the Halle Orchestra's conductor) is putting across during the preparation for the recording with the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra of Havergal Brian's 10th Symphony at the De Montfort Hall. The disc they were making with Brian's 21st Symphony on the reverse side (conductor, Eric Pinkett) will be issued in the Autumn - one of several involving the county's senior orchestra who now add Loughran’s name to the imposing list of famous conductors who have worked with them.

LEICESTER MERCURY, MAY 1972

Leicestershire’s "Year of the Choir" began auspiciously at the De Montfort Hall last night, with a performance of William Walton's "Belshazzar's Feast" that was, as it should be, exhilarating and spectacular. Laszlo Heltay conducted, Michael Rippon was the baritone soloist, the orchestra was the Leicestershire Schools Symphony and the County Chamber Choir was joined by the choirs of Guthlaxton School and Loughborough College School.

There will be a repeat performance at the forthcoming Bath Festival in the presence of the composer and it seems safe to say that he will be impressed.

The choice of "Belshazzar" was of course a tribute from Leicestershire to Walton in his 70th birthday year, but the confident and convincing involvement in the music of these almost exclusively school-going singers and instrumentalists was a striking testimony to the work's immediacy and relevance some 40 years after composition. Heltay's direction was clear-cut and commanding. The work's darkly prophetic opening was well caught and there was a real sense of excitement in such brilliantly-wrought passages as those in which the material gods are praised. Belshazzar is exhorted to immortality and the praises are sung for the triumph of God over the evils of Babylon. Most important was that the singing successfully reflected Walton's shrewdly achieved distinction between the sound and atmosphere of indulgent heathenism and righteous exultation. Michael Rippon's contribution was notable for its imaginative employment of fine vocal quality especially in his arresting delivery of the Babylonian inventory - its final phrase tellingly moulded and right on pitch.

The concert began with Walton's latest work, "Capriccio Burlesco" for orchestra. Conductor Eric Pinkett produced a deft performance in which the work's beautifully translucent scoring was well projected. The strings were not so successful in Elgar's very demanding Introduction and Allegro, nor, despite some evocative playing and some expressive singing from Guthlaxton School Choir, did Vaughan Williams's lovely "Serenade to Music" (the words from Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice") yield its full magic, although it came near. Heltay's balance was sometimes at fault, and the solo quartet, apart from soprano Kathryn Marcer, did not always quite catch the prevailing mood of performance. R.A.P.

LEICESTER MERCURY, SEPTEMBER 1972

Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra left in the early hours of this morning for their first visit to France. Their concert tour will last for nine days and will include stops at Evreux, Le Havre, Rouen and Dieppe.

The name of Leicestershire, however, is not strange to the area. In recent years many scholars from county schools have crossed the channel to brush up on their spoken French as the result of a close educational link.

The conducting at the orchestra's concerts will be shared between Eric Pinkett, Leicestershire's music advisor, and Laszlo Heltay, music director of Sussex University. The programmes will include solo items to feature Eleanor Cooke of Melton (the Mendelssohn violin concerto), Susan Phipps of Wigston (flute concerto by Chaminade) and Ann Bennett of Kirby Muxloe (Weber's Concertino for clarinet and orchestra).