Sidney Sutcliffe
Sidney Clement Sutcliffe (6 October 1918 – 1 July 2001) was a British oboist. He played in the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia and BBC Symphony orchestras, and was professor of oboe at the Royal College of Music in London.
Life and career
Sutcliffe, known informally as "Jock", was born in Edinburgh on 6 October 1918, the son of the cellist Stanley Sutcliffe and his wife Elsie, née Hall, a pianist. He was educated at George Watson's College.[1] He began his musical studies as a cellist, but joined the army in 1934 to earn a living as a bandsman and was assigned to the oboe. He won a Kneller Hall scholarship to the Royal College of Music (RCM) in London, where he studied for three years with Léon Goossens;[2] he also studied the cello.[3]
At the age of 17, while a student at the RCM, Sutcliffe made his professional debut, at the
At the LPO Sutcliffe spent what he called "four happy but strenuous years".[3] The LPO, lacking public or private subsidy, had to be exceptionally hard-working. In a typical post-war season the orchestra gave more than twice as many concerts as the London Symphony Orchestra and seven times as many as the Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic orchestras.[4] In 1948 Sutcliffe married Thelma Roberts, one of the orchestra's secretaries.[3]
In 1949 after turning him down once, Sutcliffe accepted Walter Legge's invitation to join the Philharmonia. The orchestra was gaining a reputation as the best in Britain except for its woodwind section, where Sir Thomas Beecham's celebrated "Royal Family" of wind players in the Royal Philharmonic was the most admired.[5][6] Legge aimed to rival it with what he called his "royal flush", comprising Sutcliffe, Bernard Walton (clarinet), Gareth Morris (flute) and (from 1951) Cecil James (bassoon].[7] In 1964 Sutcliffe moved to the BBC Symphony Orchestra, where he remained for seven years.[2][3]
Sutcliffe was a teacher at the RCM for 20 years and had ties with the
References and sources
References
- ^ Gaster, p. 707
- ^ a b "Sidney Sutcliffe: Oboist and teacher with a sweet tone and a sweet nature", The Times, 20 July 2001, p. 21
- ^ a b c d e f "Sidney Sutcliffe" Archived 2021-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 12 July 2001
- ^ Hill, pp. 49–50
- ^ Melville-Mason, Graham. "Gwydion Brooke – Bassoonist in Sir Thomas Beecham's 'Royal Family'" Archived 2015-09-30 at the Wayback Machine, The Independent, 5 April 2005
- ^ "Geoffrey Gilbert", The Times, 22 May 1989, p. 20
- ^ Schwarzkopf, p. 114
Sources
- Gaster, Adrian (1980). International Who's Who in Music, and Musicians' Directory. Cambridge: International Who's Who in Music. OCLC 1035669453.
- Hill, Ralph, ed. (1951). Music 1951. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books. OCLC 26147349.
- ISBN 978-0-57-111928-8.