262:. Among his principal players were Kell and Brain. The following year Kell announced his forthcoming resignation, and Brain suggested to Beecham that Brymer would be a suitable replacement. Brymer had returned to his teaching post after being demobilised from the RAF, and was incredulous at receiving a telephone call from Beecham inviting him to audition. Brymer's first reaction was to think it was a practical joke, with one of his musical friends impersonating Beecham's familiar lordly drawl. Having realised that it was indeed Beecham calling, Brymer accepted the invitation to audition. Having heard him play, Beecham appointed him to succeed Kell. His first appearance with the RPO was a week of broadcasting with them in Berlioz's opera "The Trojans". Subsequently he had the good fortune to appear in Strauss' "Don Quixote" with the composer present. Brymer recalled "an old man in a raincoat leaning over my shoulder advising me of how to play the delicate clarinet solo which comes immediately after Don Quixote has died". – Richard Strauss in the last year of his life". Many years later Brymer crossed swords with the conductor,
409:
272:, Del Mar had the temerity to admonish Brymer for playing a phrase too loudly: 'Just a memory, Jack, just a memory,' Del Mar called out. 'Why are you playing it mezzo-forte?' 'Because Strauss told me to,' Brymer retorted. 'And I'm surprised that you don't remember, Norman, because you were playing second horn at the time.'"
313:
The
Clarinet Concerto has never been recorded better. Jack Brymer has the purest, most beautiful tone you will ever hear from a clarinet – never boxy, reedy, woody. Phrase after phrase you will marvel at the sheer beauty of his playing and his sound. He and Sir Thomas set a wonderful leisurely tempo
187:
wrote of him, "Struggling with an inadequate instrument (a sharp-pitch A clarinet with a bit sawn off in the school woodwork room) and playing in local bands and amateur orchestras with people much older than himself, he learned his craft in the most practical way." While still a boy he encountered,
278:
said of Brymer in this period, "After his appointment to the RPO in 1947, the balding, affable Brymer was certainly Great
Britain's pre-eminent clarinettist, … whose mellifluous playing style and unruffled platform manner charmed even those usually impervious to classical music." In the RPO, Brymer
455:
Brymer's last public concert was on 18 July 1997 at the
Wigmore Hall in London where he performed Mozart's Clarinet Quintet with the Gabrieli Quartet. Before the performance, Brymer told the audience that the Quintet held a special importance for him and he thought it appropriate that this music
225:
unwittingly betrayed their methods to me, but I also decided that I wanted to play in certain ways that they had never done. The ability to play the clarinet is the ability to overcome the imperfections of the instrument. There's no such thing as a perfect clarinet, never was and never will be."
368:
In the classical chamber repertory, Brymer was associated with several groups. At various times in his career he was a founder-member of the
Wigmore Ensemble, the Prometheus Ensemble and the London Baroque Ensemble. He was director of the London Wind Soloists, and a member of the Tuckwell Wind
608:
435:
The LSO paid Brymer the unusual tribute of mounting a special concert to mark his 70th birthday, and another to mark his 75th. By the time of the latter he had retired from full-time orchestral playing, but he continued to perform, and played at a concert given by the
214:, and in his spare time played in amateur musical ensembles. Among his fellow students at the college, and later his colleague in the amateur groups, was a string player, Joan Richardson. They married in 1939 when they were both 24. There was one son of the marriage.
761:
732:
706:
672:
241:
on the north west coast of
England as a physical training instructor. When not on RAF duty he frequently played in the Morecambe Central Pier dance band dressed in his corporal's uniform. Among those he met in the Air Force was the horn player,
180:
Dixon. Brymer senior played the clarinet, and his son started to attempt to play the instrument at the age of four. He had no formal instruction as a clarinettist, but discovered music and worked out an instrumental technique for himself.
369:
Quartet and the Robles
Ensemble. Throughout his career Brymer enjoyed an interest in mainstream jazz. He performed as a soloist with many of the leading British and American jazz players of the post-war decades. When the RPO was in
432:. Brymer was also a well-known broadcaster. His biographer, Raymond Holden, writes, "his easy manner before the microphone meant that the radio programmes that he presented for the BBC, such as 'At Home', were popular favourites".
295:, wrote that the sound produced by Brymer and his colleagues was "expressive and instantly recognisable, even in just one solo note." With Beecham and the RPO, Brymer made the first of his three recordings of
146:
Orchestras. He was also associated with several chamber music ensembles, and maintained a lifelong pleasure in playing jazz. He held professorships during most of the period from 1950 to 1993, first at the
201:
put it, "The virtual collapse of the orchestral profession when sound entered the cinema, and musicians were thrown out of work by the hundred turned his thoughts elsewhere." From 1933 Brymer trained at
159:. He was a regular broadcaster, as a player and presenter and made recordings of solo works and with orchestras and smaller ensembles. He published two volumes of memoirs and a book about the clarinet.
339:
became chief conductor of the BBC SO in 1971, the sound he sought from his players, "avant garde, harsher, more cutting in its edge", did not appeal to Brymer. He accepted an invitation to join the
1345:
188:
and appreciated, a wide range of musical styles from jazz and light music to brass-bands and circuses. He later insisted that all these genres had been of great value to him professionally.
1330:
127:
called him "the leading clarinettist of his generation, perhaps of the century". He was largely self-taught as a player and he performed as an amateur before being invited by
401:, who like many players of the generation after Brymer was less attracted by the rich sound developed by Brymer, favouring instead more radical techniques propounded by
1305:
1325:
230:
and Haydn Draper. Brymer wrote of his predecessors, "They would have been astounded at the things they taught me, without a penny piece changing hands."
110:
1340:
1160:
314:
for , so it just unfolds, one gorgeous line at a time. They are luxuriating in some of the most beautiful music ever written; they refuse to drive it.
420:
During his career Brymer made gramophone recordings of all Mozart's works for wind solo and ensemble. Several works were written for him, including
217:
Although he had no formal tuition as a clarinettist, Brymer maintained that nobody was entirely self-taught: "I learnt from everyone I heard play.
1320:
1335:
1269:
323:
After
Beecham's death in 1961 Brymer and other members of the RPO including MacDonagh became unhappy about the management of the RPO. The
394:
156:
948:
904:
673:"Obituary of Jack Brymer: Doyen of clarinettists who was dragged from teaching by Beecham and was as happy with jazz as the baroque"
530:
512:
493:
291:(bassoon); collectively they became known to colleagues and audiences as "the Royal Family". A clarinettist of a later generation,
920:
335:. Brymer was the orchestra's co-principal clarinettist from 1963 to 1971. He also began to play more often in chamber music. When
1310:
449:
33:
390:
152:
1315:
352:
1135:
259:
132:
1236:
300:
1246:
1241:
862:, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007, accessed 12 February 2012]
578:
441:
437:
340:
227:
143:
176:, County Durham, in the North East of England, the son of John Alexander Brymer, a builder, and his wife, Mary,
1155:
1125:
1110:
1097:
1067:
296:
941:
386:
332:
148:
139:
1031:
361:
305:
268:
197:
1175:
1041:
365:
praised Brymer's "distinctively refined tone-colour … breathtakingly expressive" in the slow movement.
1300:
1295:
1016:
445:
1130:
1072:
1021:
677:
348:
1190:
1180:
655:, Oxford University Press, January 2007; online edition, January 2011, accessed 12 February 2012
463:
at the age of 88. His ashes were interred a short distance away in the churchyard of St Peter's,
218:
203:
1145:
855:
408:
1211:
1185:
1150:
934:
900:
551:
526:
508:
489:
280:
207:
778:
1226:
1221:
1140:
995:
402:
344:
733:"Jack Brymer – Principal clarinettist in Sir Thomas Beecham's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra"
266:
over interpreting
Strauss. A historian of the London Symphony Orchestra wrote, "Rehearsing
1216:
1036:
984:
973:
965:
737:
460:
425:
234:
87:
874:
604:
356:
1206:
1165:
1120:
1115:
1082:
429:
374:
288:
284:
263:
255:
192:
128:
246:, who admired Brymer's playing, and who later had a decisive influence on his career.
1289:
1264:
1231:
1087:
1077:
1062:
1011:
1006:
405:, and playing styles harking back to an earlier, less mellifluous, style of playing.
336:
328:
222:
173:
135:
in 1947. He remained with the orchestra until 1963, two years after
Beecham's death.
70:
347:. An example of Brymer's sound in his LSO years can be heard in a 1972 recording of
1274:
803:
583:
243:
183:
1170:
1105:
1046:
398:
370:
292:
648:
464:
413:
806:
440:
to mark his 80th birthday, at which he played Mozart's
Clarinet Concerto and
210:
as a generalist teacher. He joined the teaching staff of Heath Clark School,
1026:
555:
238:
191:
Brymer was educated at Westoe Secondary School, South Shields, excelling at
123:
118:
226:
Other clarinettists whose technique Brymer observed and learned from were
957:
114:
373:
on an American tour, Brymer improvised with local jazz stars, including
32:
211:
237:. After his basic training he was promoted to corporal and posted to
113:(27 January 1915 – 16 September 2003) was an English
407:
303:
in 1958. When the recording was reissued on compact disc in 2001,
930:
324:
835:
Greenfield, Edward. "Rachmaninov. Symphony No 2 in E minor",
926:
428:; Roundelay by Alan Richardson; and a Clarinet Concerto by
195:. He hankered after a musical career, but as a profile in
897:
Orchestra – The LSO: A Century of Triumph and Turbulence
397:(1981–93). Among his pupils at the Royal Academy was
1257:
1199:
1096:
1055:
964:
94:
77:
57:
47:
42:
23:
1346:Presidents of the Independent Society of Musicians
456:should mark his farewell to the concert platform.
381:Teaching, recording, broadcasting and later years
279:joined Beecham's starry line-up of wind players,
233:During the Second World War Brymer served in the
921:An interview with Jack Brymer recorded in 1992
311:
500:(also published in French and German editions)
331:, invited Brymer and MacDonagh to move to the
942:
8:
412:Jack Brymer's grave at St Peter's Church in
1331:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
949:
935:
927:
385:As a teacher, Brymer was professor at the
20:
1306:Academics of the Royal Academy of Music
757:
755:
753:
751:
749:
747:
653:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
569:
851:
849:
847:
845:
727:
725:
723:
721:
719:
643:
641:
488:. London: Macdonald and Jane's. 1976.
649:"Brymer, John Alexander (1915–2003)"
639:
637:
635:
633:
631:
629:
627:
625:
623:
621:
7:
1270:Category:Clarinetists by nationality
701:
699:
697:
695:
693:
691:
689:
687:
668:
666:
664:
923:- a British Library sound recording
577:Emerson, June (18 September 2003).
393:at Kneller Hall (1969–73), and the
813:, Volume 65, Issue 1, January 2002
14:
1326:London Symphony Orchestra players
467:, close to the grave of Beecham.
1341:20th-century classical musicians
550:. London: Novello and Co. 1990.
319:BBC, LSO, chamber music and jazz
31:
1321:British classical clarinetists
391:Royal Military School of Music
153:Royal Military School of Music
1:
609:"Jack B nimble, Jack B quick"
485:(Yehudi Menuhin Music Guides)
1336:Musicians from South Shields
525:. London: Hutchinson. 1987.
260:Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
133:Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
899:. London: Faber and Faber.
1362:
895:Morrison, Richard (2004).
424:and a Clarinet Quintet by
615:, 27 January 1995, p. 32.
507:. London: Cassell. 1979.
438:English Chamber Orchestra
395:Guildhall School of Music
341:London Symphony Orchestra
306:The American Record Guide
157:Guildhall School of Music
30:
1156:Jupiter Band Instruments
762:"Jack Brymer – Obituary"
327:'s controller of music,
73:, County Durham, England
1126:Johann Christoph Denner
1111:Backun Musical Services
864:(subscription required)
826:, 2 October 2003, p. 41
657:(subscription required)
1311:BBC Symphony Orchestra
1176:Schwenk & Seggelke
450:Clarinet Concerto No 1
417:
387:Royal Academy of Music
333:BBC Symphony Orchestra
316:
149:Royal Academy of Music
43:Background information
1237:Clarinet-violin-piano
1032:Quarter tone clarinet
875:St Peter’s Churchyard
811:American Record Guide
426:Cecil Armstrong Gibbs
411:
343:as co-principal with
138:Brymer played in the
108:John Alexander Brymer
53:John Alexander Brymer
1316:British clarinetists
1247:Clarinet-cello-piano
1242:Clarinet-viola-piano
1022:Contrabass clarinets
1017:Contra-alto clarinet
839:, April 1973, p. 121
822:"Lives Remembered",
16:English clarinettist
1146:Leitner & Kraus
1131:Benedikt Eppelsheim
768:, 17 September 2003
741:, 20 September 2003
713:, 18 September 2003
681:, 17 September 2003
678:The Daily Telegraph
172:Brymer was born in
155:and finally at the
37:Brymer in the 1950s
1191:Yamaha Corporation
1042:Clarinette d'amour
879:The Limpsfield Net
418:
256:Sir Thomas Beecham
250:Royal Philharmonic
219:Frederick Thurston
204:Goldsmiths College
129:Sir Thomas Beecham
1283:
1282:
1212:Clarinet concerto
1186:Herbert Wurlitzer
1151:Howarth of London
1056:Fingering systems
785:, May 1968, p. 33
647:Holden, Raymond.
548:Play the Clarinet
301:Clarinet Concerto
281:Terence MacDonagh
208:London University
102:
101:
81:16 September 2003
1353:
1227:Clarinet quartet
1222:Clarinet quintet
1141:Heinrich Grenser
1001:
1000:
990:
989:
979:
978:
951:
944:
937:
928:
910:
882:
872:
866:
865:
853:
840:
833:
827:
820:
814:
804:Vroon, Donald R.
801:
795:
794:Morrison, p. 117
792:
786:
779:"Here and There"
777:Wimbush, Roger.
775:
769:
759:
742:
731:Bullamore, Tim.
729:
714:
703:
682:
670:
659:
658:
645:
616:
602:
596:
595:
593:
591:
574:
559:
536:
523:In the Orchestra
518:
505:From Where I Sit
499:
442:Clarinet Quintet
403:Bruno Bartolozzi
345:Gervase de Peyer
84:
67:
65:
50:
35:
21:
1361:
1360:
1356:
1355:
1354:
1352:
1351:
1350:
1286:
1285:
1284:
1279:
1253:
1217:Clarinet sonata
1195:
1098:Clarinet makers
1092:
1051:
1037:Basset clarinet
998:
997:
987:
986:
976:
975:
966:Clarinet family
960:
955:
917:
907:
894:
891:
886:
885:
873:
869:
863:
854:
843:
834:
830:
821:
817:
802:
798:
793:
789:
776:
772:
760:
745:
738:The Independent
730:
717:
705:Emerson, June.
704:
685:
671:
662:
656:
646:
619:
603:
599:
589:
587:
576:
575:
571:
566:
546:
543:
533:
521:
515:
503:
496:
481:
478:
473:
461:Redhill, Surrey
459:Brymer died in
389:(1950–58), the
383:
355:, conducted by
321:
252:
235:Royal Air Force
170:
165:
144:London Symphony
105:
88:Redhill, Surrey
86:
82:
69:
68:27 January 1915
63:
61:
48:
38:
26:
17:
12:
11:
5:
1359:
1357:
1349:
1348:
1343:
1338:
1333:
1328:
1323:
1318:
1313:
1308:
1303:
1298:
1288:
1287:
1281:
1280:
1278:
1277:
1272:
1267:
1261:
1259:
1255:
1254:
1252:
1251:
1250:
1249:
1244:
1239:
1229:
1224:
1219:
1214:
1209:
1207:Clarinet choir
1203:
1201:
1197:
1196:
1194:
1193:
1188:
1183:
1178:
1173:
1168:
1163:
1158:
1153:
1148:
1143:
1138:
1133:
1128:
1123:
1121:Buffet Crampon
1118:
1116:E. K. Blessing
1113:
1108:
1102:
1100:
1094:
1093:
1091:
1090:
1085:
1080:
1075:
1070:
1065:
1059:
1057:
1053:
1052:
1050:
1049:
1044:
1039:
1034:
1029:
1024:
1019:
1014:
1009:
1004:
993:
982:
970:
968:
962:
961:
956:
954:
953:
946:
939:
931:
925:
924:
916:
915:External links
913:
912:
911:
905:
890:
887:
884:
883:
881:, 4 March 2006
867:
856:"Brymer, Jack"
841:
837:The Gramophone
828:
815:
796:
787:
783:The Gramophone
770:
743:
715:
683:
660:
617:
597:
568:
567:
565:
562:
561:
560:
542:
539:
538:
537:
531:
519:
513:
501:
494:
477:
474:
472:
469:
430:Guy Woolfenden
382:
379:
375:Alphonse Picou
362:The Gramophone
320:
317:
289:Gwydion Brooke
285:Gerald Jackson
264:Norman Del Mar
251:
248:
228:Charles Draper
198:The Gramophone
193:rugby football
169:
166:
164:
161:
151:, then at the
104:Musical artist
103:
100:
99:
96:
92:
91:
85:(aged 88)
79:
75:
74:
59:
55:
54:
51:
45:
44:
40:
39:
36:
28:
27:
24:
15:
13:
10:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
1358:
1347:
1344:
1342:
1339:
1337:
1334:
1332:
1329:
1327:
1324:
1322:
1319:
1317:
1314:
1312:
1309:
1307:
1304:
1302:
1299:
1297:
1294:
1293:
1291:
1276:
1273:
1271:
1268:
1266:
1265:Benny Goodman
1263:
1262:
1260:
1256:
1248:
1245:
1243:
1240:
1238:
1235:
1234:
1233:
1232:Clarinet trio
1230:
1228:
1225:
1223:
1220:
1218:
1215:
1213:
1210:
1208:
1205:
1204:
1202:
1198:
1192:
1189:
1187:
1184:
1182:
1179:
1177:
1174:
1172:
1169:
1167:
1164:
1162:
1159:
1157:
1154:
1152:
1149:
1147:
1144:
1142:
1139:
1137:
1134:
1132:
1129:
1127:
1124:
1122:
1119:
1117:
1114:
1112:
1109:
1107:
1104:
1103:
1101:
1099:
1095:
1089:
1086:
1084:
1081:
1079:
1076:
1074:
1071:
1069:
1066:
1064:
1061:
1060:
1058:
1054:
1048:
1045:
1043:
1040:
1038:
1035:
1033:
1030:
1028:
1025:
1023:
1020:
1018:
1015:
1013:
1012:Bass clarinet
1010:
1008:
1007:Alto clarinet
1005:
1003:
994:
992:
983:
981:
972:
971:
969:
967:
963:
959:
952:
947:
945:
940:
938:
933:
932:
929:
922:
919:
918:
914:
908:
906:0-571-21584-X
902:
898:
893:
892:
888:
880:
876:
871:
868:
861:
857:
852:
850:
848:
846:
842:
838:
832:
829:
825:
819:
816:
812:
808:
805:
800:
797:
791:
788:
784:
780:
774:
771:
767:
763:
758:
756:
754:
752:
750:
748:
744:
740:
739:
734:
728:
726:
724:
722:
720:
716:
712:
708:
707:"Jack Brymer"
702:
700:
698:
696:
694:
692:
690:
688:
684:
680:
679:
674:
669:
667:
665:
661:
654:
650:
644:
642:
640:
638:
636:
634:
632:
630:
628:
626:
624:
622:
618:
614:
610:
606:
605:Goodwin, Noël
601:
598:
586:
585:
580:
579:"Jack Brymer"
573:
570:
563:
557:
553:
549:
545:
544:
540:
534:
532:0-09-168450-1
528:
524:
520:
516:
514:0-304-30313-5
510:
506:
502:
497:
495:0-356-08414-0
491:
487:
484:
480:
479:
475:
470:
468:
466:
462:
457:
453:
451:
447:
443:
439:
433:
431:
427:
423:
415:
410:
406:
404:
400:
396:
392:
388:
380:
378:
376:
372:
366:
364:
363:
358:
354:
353:Symphony No 2
350:
346:
342:
338:
337:Pierre Boulez
334:
330:
329:William Glock
326:
318:
315:
310:
308:
307:
302:
298:
294:
290:
286:
282:
277:
273:
271:
270:
265:
261:
257:
249:
247:
245:
240:
236:
231:
229:
224:
223:Reginald Kell
220:
215:
213:
209:
205:
200:
199:
194:
189:
186:
185:
179:
175:
174:South Shields
167:
162:
160:
158:
154:
150:
145:
141:
136:
134:
130:
126:
125:
120:
116:
112:
109:
97:
93:
89:
80:
76:
72:
71:South Shields
60:
56:
52:
46:
41:
34:
29:
22:
19:
1275:Mezz Mezzrow
1258:Clarinetists
1073:Reform Boehm
896:
878:
870:
859:
836:
831:
823:
818:
810:
799:
790:
782:
773:
765:
736:
711:The Guardian
710:
676:
652:
612:
600:
588:. Retrieved
584:The Guardian
582:
572:
547:
522:
504:
486:
482:
471:Publications
458:
454:
434:
422:Three Pieces
421:
419:
384:
367:
360:
357:André Previn
349:Rachmaninoff
322:
312:
304:
287:(flute) and
275:
274:
267:
258:founded the
253:
244:Dennis Brain
232:
216:
196:
190:
184:The Guardian
182:
177:
171:
140:BBC Symphony
137:
131:to join the
122:
115:clarinettist
107:
106:
83:(2003-09-16)
18:
1301:2003 deaths
1296:1915 births
1171:Adolphe Sax
1166:Iwan Müller
1136:Stephen Fox
1106:Amati-Denak
1047:Basset horn
860:Who Was Who
399:Alan Hacker
371:New Orleans
293:Alan Hacker
269:Don Quixote
168:Early years
119:saxophonist
25:Jack Brymer
1290:Categories
1002:) clarinet
996:Soprano (B
889:References
465:Limpsfield
414:Limpsfield
95:Occupation
64:1915-01-27
49:Birth name
1027:Saxonette
824:The Times
766:The Times
613:The Times
483:Clarinet
416:, Surrey.
276:The Times
254:In 1946,
239:Morecambe
163:Biography
124:The Times
90:, England
999:♭
991:clarinet
988:♭
980:clarinet
977:♭
958:Clarinet
807:"Review"
556:25931787
283:(oboe),
98:Musician
1200:Related
1161:Leblanc
590:3 March
212:Croydon
1181:Selmer
1088:Oehler
1083:Müller
1078:Mazzeo
1063:Albert
903:
554:
529:
511:
492:
444:, and
309:said,
297:Mozart
1068:Boehm
564:Notes
541:Video
476:Books
446:Weber
901:ISBN
592:2024
552:OCLC
527:ISBN
509:ISBN
490:ISBN
221:and
142:and
117:and
78:Died
58:Born
448:'s
351:'s
325:BBC
299:'s
178:née
111:OBE
1292::
877:,
858:,
844:^
809:,
781:,
764:,
746:^
735:,
718:^
709:,
686:^
675:,
663:^
651:,
620:^
611:,
607:.
581:.
452:.
377:.
359:.
206:,
121:.
985:E
974:A
950:e
943:t
936:v
909:.
594:.
558:.
535:.
517:.
498:.
66:)
62:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
