Ivor McMahon
Encyclopedia
Ivor McMahon was an English
violin
ist. He played with notable orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra
and the English Chamber Orchestra
and is best known for playing second violin in the Melos Ensemble.
to assist a gifted young violinist each year. He played with the Philharmonia Orchestra
from 1952, conducted by Arturo Toscanini
. In 1955 he took part in the orchestra's tour of the United States, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
. Ivor McMahon played second violin in the Melos Ensemble and participated with the group in the premiere of the War Requiem
by Benjamin Britten
, conducted by the composer. As a member of the English Chamber Orchestra
he took part in Britten's chamber operas Albert Herring
and Noye's Fludde
. With violinist Emanuel Hurwitz
and harpsichord
ist Charles Spinks he recorded concertos of Charles Avison
.
and William Bennett
(flute), Gervase de Peyer
(clarinet), Peter Graeme
(oboe), Neill Sanders
and James Buck (horn), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Emanuel Hurwitz
, Kenneth Sillito and Iona Brown
(violin), Cecil Aronowitz
and Kenneth Essex (viola), Terence Weil
and Keith Harvey (cello), Adrian Beers (double bass), Osian Ellis
and Hilary Wilson (harp) and Lamar Crowson
(piano).
This included works for a large ensemble of both woodwind
s and strings
, for which the Melos Ensemble was founded.
In Françaix's Divertissement for bassoon
and string quintet
(1942), played with bassoonist William Waterhouse, to whom the piece is dedicated. McMahon also recorded chamber music for smaller formations, such as the clarinet quintet
s of Mozart, Brahms, Weber, Reger and Bliss, with clarinettist Gervase de Peyer.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist. He played with notable orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
and the English Chamber Orchestra
English Chamber Orchestra
The English Chamber Orchestra is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and the ECO Ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall...
and is best known for playing second violin in the Melos Ensemble.
Professional career
In 1947 McMahon was the first recipient of the Eda Kersey Memorial Exhibition, established after the death of Eda KerseyEda Kersey
Eda Kersey was a British violinist who was renowned for her brilliant playing. She premiered a number of important works but her career was cut short by her early death....
to assist a gifted young violinist each year. He played with the Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
from 1952, conducted by Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
. In 1955 he took part in the orchestra's tour of the United States, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
. Ivor McMahon played second violin in the Melos Ensemble and participated with the group in the premiere of the War Requiem
War Requiem
The War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems...
by Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
, conducted by the composer. As a member of the English Chamber Orchestra
English Chamber Orchestra
The English Chamber Orchestra is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and the ECO Ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall...
he took part in Britten's chamber operas Albert Herring
Albert Herring
Albert Herring, Op. 39, is a chamber opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten.Composed in the winter of 1946 and the spring of 1947, this comic opera was a successor to his serious opera The Rape of Lucretia...
and Noye's Fludde
Noye's Fludde
Noye's Fludde is an early 15th century mystery play from the Chester Mystery Cycle. It was set to music by Benjamin Britten in 1957 based on an edition by Alfred W. Pollard...
. With violinist Emanuel Hurwitz
Emanuel Hurwitz
Emanuel Hurwitz CBE was a British violinist. He was born in London with parents of Russian-Jewish ancestry....
and harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
ist Charles Spinks he recorded concertos of Charles Avison
Charles Avison
Charles Avison – 10 May 1770) was an English composer during the Baroque and Classical periods. He was a church organist at St John The Baptist Church in Newcastle and at St. Nicholas's Church...
.
Recordings with the Melos Ensemble
McMahon recorded chamber music with the Melos Ensemble, its principal players Richard AdeneyRichard Adeney
Richard Gilford Adeney was a British flautist who played principal flute with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra, was a soloist and a founding member of the Melos Ensemble.-Biography:...
and William Bennett
William Bennett (flautist)
William Bennett, OBE is a British flute player, who has played with most of the major British orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and was a frequent guest artist in the Melos Ensemble. He also has a career as a soloist...
(flute), Gervase de Peyer
Gervase de Peyer
Gervase Alan de Peyer is an English clarinetist and conductor.-Professional career:Gervase de Peyer was born in London and attended Bedales School. He was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he studied clarinet with Frederick Thurston and piano with Arthur Alexander...
(clarinet), Peter Graeme
Peter Graeme
Peter Graeme is an English oboist and academic teacher. He is best known as the principal oboist of the Melos Ensemble.-Professional career:Peter Graeme studied the oboe with Léon Goossens...
(oboe), Neill Sanders
Neill Sanders
Neill Sanders was a British horn player, principal hornist of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Melos Ensemble for 29 years. He was a professor in Kalamazoo, Michigan and founded a chamber ensemble and a festival there.-Biography:Neill Sanders...
and James Buck (horn), William Waterhouse (bassoon), Emanuel Hurwitz
Emanuel Hurwitz
Emanuel Hurwitz CBE was a British violinist. He was born in London with parents of Russian-Jewish ancestry....
, Kenneth Sillito and Iona Brown
Iona Brown
Iona Brown, OBE was a British violinist and conductor.Elizabeth Iona Brown was born in Salisbury. Her parents Antony and Fiona were both musicians...
(violin), Cecil Aronowitz
Cecil Aronowitz
Cecil Aronowitz was a British viola player, a founding member of the Melos Ensemble, a leading chamber musician and an influential teacher at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music.-Biography:...
and Kenneth Essex (viola), Terence Weil
Terence Weil
Terence Weil was a British cellist, principal cellist of the English Chamber Orchestra, a founding member of the Melos Ensemble, a leading chamber musician and an influential teacher at the Royal Northern College of Music.-Biography:Terence Weil was trained as a cellist under Herbert Walenn at the...
and Keith Harvey (cello), Adrian Beers (double bass), Osian Ellis
Osian Ellis
Osian Gwynn Ellis CBE is a Welsh harpist and composer.-Career:Osian Ellis was born in Ffynnongroyw, Flintshire in 1928. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Gwendolen Mason, whom he later succeeded as Professor of Harp from 1959 to 1989. He joined the London Symphony Orchestra in 1961...
and Hilary Wilson (harp) and Lamar Crowson
Lamar Crowson
John Lamar Crowson was an American concert pianist and a chamber musician....
(piano).
This included works for a large ensemble of both woodwind
Woodwind instrument
A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed, causing the air within its resonator to vibrate...
s and strings
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
, for which the Melos Ensemble was founded.
- Beethoven: Sextet for two horns and string quartet, Op. 81b
- Mendelssohn: OctetOctet (Mendelssohn)Felix Mendelssohn's Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 was composed in the autumn of 1825 , when the composer was aged 16. He wrote it as a birthday gift for his friend and violin teacher Eduard Rietz ; it was slightly revised in 1832 before the first public performance on 30 January 1836 at the...
- Schubert: OctetOctet (Schubert)The Octet in F major, D. 803 was composed by Franz Schubert in March 1824. It was commissioned by the renowned clarinetist Ferdinand Troyer and came from the same period as two of Schubert's other major chamber works, the Rosamunde and the Death and the Maiden string quartets.-Structure:Consisting...
- Louis SpohrLouis SpohrLouis Spohr was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Born Ludewig Spohr, he is usually known by the French form of his name. Described by Dorothy Mayer as "The Forgotten Master", Spohr was once as famous as Beethoven. As a violinist, his virtuoso playing was admired by Queen Victoria...
: Double Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 65 - Janáček: ConcertinoConcertino (Janácek)Concertino for piano, two violins, viola, clarinet, french horn and bassoon is a composition by Czech composer Leoš Janáček.- Background :The composition was written in first months of 1925, but Janáček decided on its inception in the end of 1924. He was impressed by the skills of pianist Jan...
- Ravel: Introduction and AllegroIntroduction and Allegro (Ravel)Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet was written by Maurice Ravel in 1905...
- Jean FrançaixJean FrançaixJean René Désiré Françaix was a French neoclassical composer, pianist, and orchestrator, known for his prolific output and vibrant style.-Life:...
: Divertissement - Nikolaos SkalkottasNikolaos SkalkottasNikos Skalkottas was one of the most important Greek composers of 20th-century music. A member of the Second Viennese School, he drew his influences from both the classical repertoire and the Greek tradition....
: Octet - Sergei ProkofievSergei ProkofievSergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
: Overture on Hebrew Themes - Harrison BirtwistleHarrison BirtwistleSir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH is a British contemporary composer.-Life:Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a mill town in Lancashire some 20 miles north of Manchester. His interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who bought him a clarinet when he was seven, and arranged for him to have...
: Tragoedia
In Françaix's Divertissement for bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
and string quintet
String quintet
A string quintet is a musical composition for a standard string quartet supplemented by a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola or a second cello , but occasionally a double bass. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who favoured addition of a viola, is considered a pioneer of the form...
(1942), played with bassoonist William Waterhouse, to whom the piece is dedicated. McMahon also recorded chamber music for smaller formations, such as the clarinet quintet
Clarinet quintet
A clarinet quintet is a chamber musical ensemble made up of one clarinet, plus the standard string quartet of two violins, one viola, and one cello. The term is also used to refer to a piece written for this ensemble....
s of Mozart, Brahms, Weber, Reger and Bliss, with clarinettist Gervase de Peyer.
- Mozart: Clarinet QuintetClarinet Quintet (Mozart)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, K. 581, was written in 1789 for the clarinetist Anton Stadler. A clarinet quintet is a work for one clarinet and a string quartet . Although originally written for basset clarinet, it is almost always played on a clarinet in A or B-flat...
- Brahms: Clarinet QuintetClarinet Quintet (Brahms)Johannes Brahms's Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115 was written in 1891 for the clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld. It is widely regarded as Brahms's supreme achievement in chamber music.The piece is known for its autumnal mood...
- Carl Maria von WeberCarl Maria von WeberCarl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
: Clarinet Quintet - Max RegerMax RegerJohann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
: Clarinet Quintet - Arthur BlissArthur BlissSir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO was an English composer and conductor.Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army...
: Quintet for Oboe and Strings, Quintet for Clarinet and Strings
External links
- [ Entries to Ivor McMahon in Allmusic]