Dennis Brain: A Life in Music

Chapter 3: The Brain Quintet and Ensemble

35 The Brain Quintet and Ensemble C H A P T E R 3 Brain formed the Dennis Brain Wind Quintet in 1946, while still in the RAF. It later expanded and was named the Dennis Brain Wind Ensemble. Wind Quintet Brain’s participation in new chamber music ensembles created during wartime may have given him the idea of starting his own ensemble before he was released from RAF duties. Still in uniform, he established the Dennis Brain Wind Quintet, which after demobilization in September 1946 became very busy, giving concerts in the British Isles and occasionally for broadcast. Brain returned from his month’s tour with the RAF Symphony Orchestra in Germany at the beginning of May 1946. He was too late to take part in the Quintet’s first concert at the Chelsea Town Hall on April 30, 1946, with Denis Matthews at the piano. As his horn colleague Norman Del Mar remembered , he played in Brain’s place and flutist Gareth Morris (Pl. 1) also took part. Morris’s diary usually indicated “Q” for Quintet engagements, which invariably included works for other combinations. The diary is the source of many details of the Quintet’s schedule.1 The Quintet gave their first broadcast on September 26, 1946, playing Hindemith’s Kleine Kammermusik, Op. 24, No. 2. Brain wrote to the BBC on September 1 to confirm availability but pointing out that two of the members were on holiday. At this stage of program building, he did not know what they would be expected to play. The BBC was dictating to the musicians. Later, with Brain’s increasing fame and experience, the letters show that they listened to suggestions from him concerning suitable works for broadcasting.2 36 Dennis Brain: A Life in Music While Brain was in Germany, Heinrich Jacoby (1909–1990), a pupil of Paul Hindemith (from 1927–1930), wrote his Quintet Op. 19 for flute, oboe, clarinet in B-flat, horn in F, and bassoon. The original score and parts give the date of composition as “20 April to 1 May 1946.” Although there is no evidence that the Quintet performed this work, it is certainly a piece that was intended to be played by them and is part of a collection of manuscript and published music scores that they used for their engagements.3 The winter of 1946–47 was busy with concerts across the country. In addition to Brain, the original personnel (Pl. 2) were Morris, Leonard Brain, clarinetist Stephen Waters, and bassoonist Thomas Wightman. In this early photograph, the group is augmented by George Malcolm on the piano. Wightman emigrated to Australia in May 1950 and was for a time replaced by John Alexandra. Alexandra continued to substitute for a number of years, but eventually their regular bassoonist became Cecil James, who was also principal bassoon with both the London Baroque Ensemble and later the Philharmonia Orchestra.4 The following list of repertoire (1947) for the “Brain Ensemble” is from a letter dated February 2, 1947, addressed to E Lockspeiser, Esq from their first agent, Joan Ingpen (Ingpen & Williams). In the letter, the personnel noted (in addition to Brain) are Morris, Leonard Brain, Stephen Waters, Tom Wightman, with pianists Denis Matthews and Kathleen Long. Mozart: Quintet for piano and winds in E-flat major K.452 Beethoven: Quintet for piano and winds in E-flat major Op. 16 Poulenc: Sextet for piano and winds Roussel: Divertissement for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, and piano Op. 6 Janáček: Mládi (Youth) Suite Hindemith: Kleine Kammermusik, Op. 24, No. 2 Ibert: Trois Pièces Brèves Matthews: Quintet (Partita) for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn Nielsen: Quintet for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn, Op. 43 Arrangements of Mozart and Haydn for wind quintet5 The ensemble repertoire was extended to include many more works, some especially written for them. One not listed above was Malcolm Arnold’s lost quintet, which was rediscovered by Jonathan Wortley, executor for Stephen Waters, the Quintet’s regular clarinetist. The manuscript was missing the horn part. In his article about the lost Arnold Quintet, Paul Harris describes its history and surmises that Brain had taken his part. The quintet was written for The Brain Quintet and Ensemble 37 the wind principals of the London Philharmonic Orchestra: Richard Adeney (flute), Michael Dobson (oboe), Stephen Waters (clarinet), John Alexandra (bassoon), and Charles Gregory (horn). The manuscript is...