[msb-alumni] Conductor Neville Marriner Dies at 92
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2016 16:15:56 -0400
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Conductor Neville Marriner Dies, Founded London Orchestra
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Conductor Neville Marriner, who led the Academy of St Martin in the
Fields to become one of the world's most-recorded classical music groups,
has died, the academy said Sunday. He was 92.
Marriner, a violinist in the London Symphony Orchestra, joined with several
other musicians in 1959 to form a chamber group, which was intended to perform
without a leader. The group's mouthful of a name, the Academy of St Martin in
the Fields, was inspired by the church in central London where they performed.
"The name was chosen without much thinking because, when we started, we never
thought we would even get off the ground," Marriner once said. "And then
we were stuck with it."
The academy built its reputation with stylish performances of baroque and
classical repertoire: Bach, Handel, Mozart and Haydn. From its beginnings, with
18 players, it grew to a full-size orchestra with an affiliated chorus, and it
has made more than 500 recordings.
The group's soundtrack for Milos Forman's 1984 Oscar-winning "Amadeus,"
composed
mainly of Mozart pieces, sold millions, becoming one of the best-selling
classical recordings of all time.
"We are greatly saddened by today's news. Sir Neville's artistic and recording
legacy, not only with the academy but with orchestras and audiences worldwide,
is immense," said Paul Aylieff, academy chairman. "He will be greatly missed by
all who knew and worked with him, and the academy will ensure it continues
to be an excellent and fitting testament to Sir Neville."
Born in Lincoln, England, to a musical family, Marriner began playing violin at
an early age, and won a place at the Royal College of Music. A key influence
on his career was his association with the musicologist Thurston Dart, a
seminal
figure in the early music revival.
Dart and Marriner, who met when both were convalescing from war-time service,
teamed up to play duos and worked in a group called the Jacobean Ensemble.
"When you played with him, whatever you did felt right, authentic," Marriner
said. "There was nothing awkward about his playing and it rubbed off on me."
Marriner was principal second violin in the London Symphony Orchestra when he
was one of the founders of the academy.
"I don't think I was unhappy, but one of the worst things is if a musician
feels
underemployed, that he has lost his identity and his contribution is
negligible,"
Marriner said in a 1979 interview with The Associated Press.
"Certainly, one of the reasons the academy was formed was that we felt we did
not have enough influence," he said. "When we started, the ideal was that
everyone's opinion was equally valid," Marriner said.
"What happened in practice was that we spent so much time talking about it that
sometimes we didn't do anything."
Thus, Marriner gravitated into conducting and that became his life's work.
He became music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra from 1968-77. He
then became music director of the Minnesota Orchestra 1979-1986, and directed
the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stuttgart, Germany from 1984-89.
Marriner married Mary Elizabeth Sims in 1955. He had a son and a daughter from
his first marriage.
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