NYT: Neville Marriner, Prolific Musician and Acclaimed Conductor, Dies at 92

[Frank Forman]

Neville Marriner, Prolific Musician and Acclaimed Conductor, Dies at 92
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/03/arts/music/neville-marriner-prolific-musician-and-acclaimed-conductor-dies-at-92.html

By LIAM STACK

Neville Marriner, a prolific British conductor responsible for some
of the best-selling classical recordings of all time, died on Sunday
at his home in London. He was 92.

His death was announced by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields,
one of the world's most acclaimed chamber orchestras, which Mr.
Marriner founded in 1958.

From humble beginnings, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields grew
over the years into a powerhouse. Its recording of Vivaldi's "The
Four Seasons" was a best seller in 1969, as was its soundtrack to
"Amadeus," the hit 1984 film about the life of Mozart, which sold
more than 6.5 million copies, reached No. 1 on the Billboard
classical albums chart and won a Grammy.

Born on April 15, 1924, in Lincoln, England, Mr. Marriner studied
violin, composition and piano at the Royal College of Music and the
Paris Conservatoire and was soon playing with the London Symphony
Orchestra, where he was principal second violin from 1956 to 1968.

He established the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields during his
time with the London Symphony. The ensemble began modestly, with a
group of 15 friends performing in his home, and gave its first
public performance in 1959 in the London church from which it took
its name.

It was with that small group of friends that Mr. Marriner began
conducting--or, as he said in a 1978 interview, "twitching
around."

"You know, the actual mechanics of conducting are not very
difficult," he said at the time. "It's getting the confidence. It's
like taking a driving test."

In a statement on Sunday, the Academy said its discography was one
of the largest of any chamber orchestra in the world and described
its partnership with Mr. Marriner as "the most recorded of any
orchestra and conductor."

"Sir Neville's artistic and recording legacy, not only with the
Academy but with orchestras and audiences worldwide, is immense,"
Paul Aylieff, the chairman of the Academy, said. "The Academy will
ensure it continues to be an excellent and fitting testament to Sir
Neville."

Mr. Marriner was not just a prolific musician. He also figured
prominently in debates over how music from the early modern period--such as
the work of Mozart, Bach and Handel--should be played
in the present day.

He advocated smaller, more agile groups for early music, and he
remained committed to playing that repertoire with modern
instruments, even as an insurgent movement urged a return to
instruments and styles that had been in use in the 17th and 18th
centuries.

Mr. Marriner dismissed the insurgents as "the open-toed-sandals and
brown-bread set," but their rebellion soon achieved a measure of
success and eventually became its own kind of establishment.

The New York Times music critic John Rockwell wrote in 1987 that Mr.
Marriner was "our most stylish conductor of what might be called the
centrist early-music movement."

Mr. Marriner began his career as a conductor after playing violin
with some of the most renowned conductors of the 20th century,
including Arturo Toscanini, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Pierre Monteux,
who was a mentor to him.

Apart from the Academy, as a conductor Mr. Marriner founded the Los
Angeles Chamber Orchestra and served as the music director and
principal conductor of both the Minnesota Orchestra and the
Southwest German Radio Orchestra in Stuttgart. He also conducted a
number of other orchestras in Europe, the United States and Japan.

His repertoire eventually expanded past the early moderns to
encompass Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and 20th-century British
composers like Britten and Elgar.

All the while, he worked to foster the growth of the Academy of St.
Martin in the Fields, which remained a constant in his life and
career. He served as its music director from 1958 until 2011 and
held the title of life president until his death.

He was honored three times for his service to music in Britain. He
was named a Commander of the British Empire in 1979, knighted in
1985 and made a Companion of Honor, an order that recognizes
achievements in the arts, science, politics, industry and religion,
by Queen Elizabeth II last year.

Mr. Marriner is survived by his wife, Molly; a son, Andrew, the
principal clarinetist of the London Symphony Orchestra; a daughter,
Susie; three grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

Joshua Bell, the star violinist who succeeded Mr. Marriner as music
director of the Academy in 2011, remembered him in a statement for
"his brilliance, his integrity and his humor, both on and off the
concert platform," and said he would "always be the heart and soul
of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields."

When asked once in a television interview why he had decided to
devote his life to classical music, Mr. Marriner cited the influence
of his parents, whom he described as "fanatical classical music
enthusiasts."

"I suppose I was born into it, really," he said. "I didn't know any
other sort of music, really."

He said becoming a conductor had allowed him to overcome his own
shortcomings as a violinist, which he likened to being "like an
actor with a speech impediment." Being a conductor, he explained,
allowed him to harness the talents of an entire orchestra.

"What I felt about music I couldn't express completely," he said.
"When you're a conductor, virtually, you exploit a lot of very
talented musicians. They're in front of you and you're taking from
them the best that they can offer. So the potential for having a
really satisfactory musical experience is greater."