My other extra mural activity at this time was certainly of more general interest. Boosey and Hawkes numbered among their staff three distinguished refuges, music editors and publishers who had left Austria after the Anschluss: Alfred Kalmus, Ernst Roth and Erwin Stein. They started a series of Boosey and Hawkes concerts; Erwin Stein had been a pupil of Schoenberg and the first concert, in the Aeolian Hall in 1942, consisted of Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire" (the first performance in England for a very long time) and Walton's "Façade". I was one of the players approached by Alfred Kalmus, who was managing the concerts, and we rehearsed for nine whole months. Every time I was in London I had to go to Regent Street for interminable instructions from Irwin Stein who was to conduct the Schoenberg. This involved advice on the way to play more or less every note. Such intensive coaching was totally alien to the British players' approach; we were by tradition brilliant and professional sight-readers, last-minute men who were expected not only to tackle everything put before us but also to give a performance.... Different methods suit different national temperaments and the hyper-meticulous preparation of Irwin Stein, much thought [sic] I liked him, was entirely irksome to a British instrumentalist. Our last rehearsal was in the British Museum as the violinist Dea Gombrich, was the wife of the Director. I was by then in sullen and unco-operative [sic] mood after nine months of rehearsal I played one movement of "Pierrot Lunaire" a semitone out on the A clarinet instead of the B flat, just to see if anyone would notice. Nobody did but Erwin Stein was very, very upset when I confessed although much laughter was heard in many other quarters in London... Walton conducted "Façade" from behind a replica of the screen used at the first performance in the twenties while the verse was excellently spoken by Constant Lambert; when we recorded it later it was divided between Dame Edith Sitwell and Peter Pears. The cellist was a serious refugee lady who was extremely good at the Schoenberg but did not manage too well sight-reading the Walton. Willy said that what he really wanted was "a good hack cellist" and I thoughtlessly suggested George Walton as he could play anything. He was duly engaged but somehow the dreadful phrase "hack cellist" got back to him - there are always people waiting about to repeat what should never be repeated - and neither he nor any member of this family would speak to me afterwards for having thought of him in such a connection. However, the concert was a tremendous success and there was a bit party afterwards at which Willy at the piano was doing some very naughty impersonations, notably of Peter Pears singing Britten songs. I don't think Walton and Britten ever got on very well, they were so utterly different. << less