Description:
Born in York, England, Reginald Clifford Kell was the first prominent player to apply vibrato consciously and consistently to his tone, in which respect he modelled himself on his colleague the oboist Léon Goossens. (Jack Brymer was another pioneer of vibrato, but came to prominence later than Kell.) Inspired by the great singers with whom he came in contact, notably Kirsten Flagstad, Kell sought to emulate their warm expressive sounds on the clarinet.[1]Kell was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1929. After graduation he was Sir Thomas Beecham's choice as first clarinet for the London Philharmonic before the Second World War and the Royal Philharmonic after it. He was succeeded in the LPO by Bernard Walton and in the RPO by Jack Brymer. He was Arturo Toscanini's principal clarinettist in the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, and was invited, but declined, to take the same position in Toscanini's NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1939. [2]
His solo repertoire extended from… Read More