Tony Cunnane's Early Years 1935-53

Although I say it myself, from the age of about 9 or 10 years I had steadily been acquiring an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history and theory of classical music by self study, by reading whatever I could find, and by listening to concerts on the wireless. I had continued to listen to music regularly on the wireless whilst we were living in Leeds but I had not played my violin very often. I had found it difficult to concentrate on the instrument when I had no teacher and when none of my friends were interested. Until I joined Salford Grammar School at the age of 14, I'd had virtually no formal music tuition of any kind because my previous schools in Wakefield and Leeds did not 'do music' other than community song singing. However SGS did 'do music'. My first Form Master, Mr 'Tink' Taylor, was also the Music Teacher and his report at the end of my first term at SGS said, 'An excellent start – he has talent'. The Head Master, Mr E G Simm, in his comments noted 'Much credit is due to this boy who has had various changes of school recently. Special mention must be made of his languages (English, French and Latin) and music' – his underlining not mine. Things had improved even more by the end of my second term at SGS and by then I was top of the form in music – a position I retained for the rest of my school days.

On 4 April 1951 I got an invitation by post to attend a radio concert being given by the BBC Northern Orchestra in their first-floor studio in the Milton Hall, Deansgate, Manchester. I don't recall who arranged for this invitation but I found out that Peter Ferrer, a school friend one year ahead of me, also had one so we went together. For me this was the first of many visits. Soon I started going on my own without Peter - neither my memory nor my diary explains why! The Milton Hall doormen, members of the orchestra, and the announcers soon got used to me and eventually I was allowed into the studio unescorted – a rare privilege. Frequently I was an audience of one and on those occasions I sat in a straight back chair immediately behind the announcer who sat at a small table a few feet behind the Conductor facing the orchestra. The announcer was often Roger Moffatt, who had only just started what was to become a distinguished career with the BBC. These were not public concerts and, because they were invariably broadcast live, I had to remain absolutely silent with no coughs, no squeaking chair, and certainly no applause until after the red light on the announcer's table had gone out. There is a web page dedicated to Roger Moffatt here. He seems to have had a chequered career!

It amazed me that many of the concerts were being broadcast live on the BBC General Overseas Service and I used to imagine that listeners in far-flung parts of the globe could hear my breathing in the quieter passages of music. Charles Groves, later Sir Charles, slim and clean-shaven in those days, was the resident conductor of the orchestra but he was always rather aloof and never spoke to me – somehow I found that rather fitting for such a well-known maestro. Reginald Stead was the Leader of the orchestra and he often had a few words to say to me after the studio had gone off the air. I felt very privileged and I enjoyed those free concerts immensely.

One day, before the red light came on, Charles Groves reminded the orchestra that they were to play the Minuet and Trio of Haydn's 95th Symphony without the first time repeats. Afterwards I asked Reginald Stead what was meant by that. He took the time to show me his score and explain to me about the conventional repeats in classical minuets and trios.

'We were rather short of time this morning,' said Mr Stead, 'and so we had to omit the first time repeats otherwise we would have been faded out before the end of the concert. Nothing, and no one, is allowed to keep the news waiting - not even Charles Groves.'

There was always something new for me to learn and I lapped it all up.

Above:

My first report from Salford Grammar School - Summer 1950 - I was in Form 3A again!

Below:

The full score of the second half of the Minuet from Haydn's Symphony No 95 in C Minor. (Click on the image to pop up a larger version)

Above:

The Trio, in C Major, of this symphony is a delightful cello solo accompanied by the remainder of the strings playing pizzicato.

I checked recently from several different CDs and found that leaving out the first time repeats of the that minuet would have saved only about 90 seconds, therefore that says something about the BBC's insistence on timing accuracy, to say nothing of Charles Grove's precise tempi, and it left Roger Moffatt with no scope for stumbles over any of his announcements.