Margaret Campbell

The name of Reginald Leopold is known to millions through his broadcasts and recordings; "Among Your Souvenirs" and "Melodies for You" and to BBC Third programme listeners in the delightful "Homeward Bound", which goes out every weekday evening. Light music is a very specialized form of entertainment that needs a high standard of performance and first rate musicianship. "Reg" Leopold has not only received his training at the hands of experts in their field, but he has had the experience of working in almost every form of ensemble playing during more years than he cares to remember.

He was born in North London into a family where everyone played an instrument, mother, father and their seven children.There were several pianists, a cellist, a violinist and a clarinettist in this ready-made orchestra which was a going concern before Reg, the youngest, arrived on the scene. "I was Opus Eight! " He was presented with a half size violin on his fifth birthday and given his first lesson by his eldest brother. "That started something . . I wanted to be a cellist because my most talented brother was a cellist". Reg considers his musical mentality was pitched down in the cello register, but he had not the finger stretch to cope with the range. "I never had a three-quarter, but when I changed later to a full size I didn't like it at all ... I've always missed that nice little instrument . . . nothing was quite the same afterwards".

However, Reg's progress was rapid and soon he was playing little virtuoso pieces making his first appearance at a school concert on Empire Day. Greatly impressed by the boy's playing, the Headmaster suggested he should try for a scholarship to Trinity College. Reg applied, successfully, and, as a result, at- the age of fourteen entered the Junior School under Louis Pecskai who had been a child prodigy at the Russian Court before the Revolution and later studied with Hubay at the Conservatoire in Budapest.

A further strong influence in those early days came from Ludwig Lebel, Head of ensemble playing at the college, himself a pupil of David Popper, the great German-Bohemian cellist. "As soon as I went into Lebel's class, Chamber music and Ensemble playing became a priority and I knew I could develop under his teaching". Reg has sound ideas about self-knowledge and stresses the importance of the recognition and assessment of one's strength as well as one's limitations. At this time, we had people like Heifitz in his prime . . . marvellous playing ... I had enough sense to realize I couldn't compete with that! . . . But I loved string quartet playing and Lebel was a fantastic teacher . . . There was nothing like it in London at the time".

Reg is convinced that this thorough training at the right age has laid a foundation that has served him well in every kind of music . . . "It is the basis for everything. I happen to have specialized in ensemble work but it doesn't matter what you do in music, you must have a solid foundation . . . you can then build on it whatever way you choose . . . and the way it suits you!

One other early experience is worth recording. In his student days, Reg became acquainted with a keen German born amateur musician who ran a highly successful bakery in Muswell Hill. "He made the best bread in the district". Every Sunday morning he would invite musicians to his house to play string quartets and Reg was a frequent visitor. He recalled a piece of the baker's advice. "If I were going into a business like you are going into the music profession, I would try in the first place to learn a bit about every branch of the business ... I wouldn't think of specialization until I knew what it was all about".

This advice has certainly been put to good use throughout Reg's career, and he now knows a great deal about most branches of the profession. This infinite variety started when Reg was only 18 and, armed with his LTCL which also included the "Art of Teaching", he began to look for work. One of his fellow students at Trinity asked him if he would like some pupils. Reg was delighted with the idea and rushed out to get cards printed to the effect that he was qualified to teach. However, although he reaped an ultimate benefit by the exercise at the time, due to his own lack of experience combined with the reluctance of his pupils, Reg admits that it was not an unqualified success. In most cases, it was "mother" who wanted them to learn the violin and Reg recalled one boy about 16 who when it came to his lesson verged on the hostile. His mother confessed that she had organized the lessons to keep him off the streets and she was happy that for at least one evening she could count on him being at home. About six months later the general experiment was abandoned when Reg and the mother finally gave up the unequal struggle.

These days Reg has little time for teaching because he is one of our busiest musicians, but he laughingly admits that should the situation arise he would be rather better equipped to take on pupils than he was in his initial experience. Reg certainly learned the hard way; his first professional engagement did not fare much better than his teaching experiment. A friend asked him if he could deputise for a Sunday evening solo job at a church in Cheshunt. Cock-a-hoop with the idea, Reg thought up a splendid solo recital programme that would impress his audience. At the afternoon rehearsal, Reg brought out his opening piece which was Bach's Air on the so-called G string and was accompanied on the piano. So far, so good. In the evening, he drew his bow to sustain that first long note that seems to go on for ever and waited for some signs of life from his accompanist. But no sound came. Then somewhere in the distance, Reg heard the organ for which he was totally unprepared. This was not all. The organist had decided to play at half the speed of the afternoon rehearsal and Reg was left with his arm suspended in space waiting for the next note to release him. "I felt myself panic ... I suffered my first attack of what is known in the profession as "the pearls" . . . every violinist's nightmare". What happens is that the bowing arm trembles with nerves so as to make a cantabile impossible. Needless to say, Reg also had his first hard lesson in programme planning. His advice to the young when faced with a similar situation, is, "Play something fast and lively to begin with ... it gives you a chance to assess the acoustic of a building . . . never choose a difficult slow-moving piece in an unfamiliar place".

Then followed a period in which Reg undertook a variety of engagements covering almost every kind of violin-playing including playing in a cinema accompanying silent pictures in the era immediately before the "talkies". Although it was not easy to find work, Reg was determined not to go into one of the large symphony orchestras. "My training with Lebel had made me an ensemble player and I couldn't face the thought of being one of 40 violinists all bowing identically". Shortly after this Reg came into contact with the Colombo Organization, a firm who supplied orchestras to restaurants and cafes all over London. His first engagement was to deputize for a musician who was on holiday from the orchestra at the Berkeley Hotel. "I went along full of excitement and thought it all very grand . . . Mantovani was playing there and I really thought I had arrived". But the real break did not come until some months later when he applied for the job of leader at the Trocadero for their Grill Room Orchestra. At this time the "Troc" was not only famous for its orchestra but also renowned for serving the best hors d'oeuvres in London.

Although he was earning a steady income, Reg did not abandon his free-lance work which now included jazz. Although frowned upon publicly by many serious musicians, it was attracting a great deal of their private attention. Today, Jazz is recognized as an art form in its own right, but not at this time. Reg and many of his friends from Trinity and the Royal Academy were buying records of all the famous American artists. Subsequently they met and played together and inevitably found themselves involved in the "Session" business. "Today, arrangers write for musicians who know nothing about the way we used extemporization then. They didn't have to write especially for us ... we could phrase within the rhythm of the band . . . you see we had this precision idea from quartet work and standards were very high . . . our enthusiasm was terrific".

From the "Troc" Reg went on to the Savoy where he played for many years in the famous Savoy Orpheans under Carroll Gibbons. Alongside him in the string section were names to conjure with: George Melachrino, Hugo Rignold and Eugene Pini. Reg is convinced that from such an experience one learns to absorb the effects of rhythm. "Every night from 9.30 until two in the morning, we heard a drum beating in our ears . . . after a while you no longer notice it ... but it does something for your sense of rhythm". Reg cannot emphasize enough the importance of rhythm for a musician. "People criticize jazz-playing for the serious musician and say its effects are bad ... I don't agree . . . On the contrary, it makes one feel a rhythm in a way that some musicians lose sight of ... You can't approach modern music if you haven't a sense of rhythm".

In 1934 Reg met Fred Hartley, "The man who brought light music right up to date". Hartley had been at the Academy with Hugo Rignold and when he started his famous "Fred Hartley Sextet", he appointed Rignold his first leader, who in turn brought Reg into the group. "Hartley had a way of rehearsing that was absolute perfection . . . his precision was something you couldn't better in the finest string quartet in the world. There were a lot of famous musicians in that small group but whenever a photographer arrived, they vanished pretty speedily . . . there were some professors from the Royal Academy in the group and it was more than their job was worth to be seen playing light music".

Reg considers that he learned a tremendous amount from Fred Hartley and thinks that any similar experience is a vital part of an ensemble player's training. "This idea that light music is something that is not very important is a lot of rubbish ... it takes a very talented musician to play light music properly . . . I've noticed that when Heifitz plays lighter music, he seems to try harder ... it is different in the case of the great composers . . . they speak for themselves".

Just before the war Reg became leader of the Queen's Hall Light Orchestra under Charles Williams, and later, Sydney Torch. When war broke out, the London Studio Players was formed for the purpose of sending out programmes after midnight on the BBC Overseas programme, and Reg was appointed Leader. Many off-shoots sprang from this very talented group; one which later achieved considerable fame was the Michael Kxein Saxophone Quartet.

When hostilities ceased. Grand Hotel started up again at the BBC with Albert Sandler as its Leader. Sandler had been on the programme from Eastbourne for many years before the war. Reg Leopold's chance to lead this small orchestra came after a series of famous musicians had either died in harness or had considered it too much of a strain to appear in a programme which went out live every Sunday evening. With its potted palms much in evidence Grand Hotel was broadcast before an invited studio audience and full dress was de rigueur for the instrumentalists. Reg survived this programme for some 18 years and saw it become one of the most popular in the country. In retrospect, Reg agrees that it was both a strain and a responsibility, but he admits that his task was made easier because he had a first rate bunch of musicians, all drawn from the London Studio Players with whom he was working constantly. "I could rely upon them for co-operation . . . We rehearsed on the Sunday afternoon with a stop-watch . . . accompanied the singer and got the two violin solos out of the way… and in the evening it all seemed to fall into place ... I didn't use a stick of course . . .just nodded and played". Occasional hazards were inevitable. In the studio audience there were regulars who much to the amusement of the players would take it upon themselves to conduct. Reg did not object to the harmless fun these people obtained for themselves but took good care to fix his own desk so that he didn't see the operation himself. "It could have been very off-putting". He recalls one occasion when they had been rehearsing a piece with particular care since it was full of modulations and changes of tempi. At one point it made an abrupt change from 4/4 to 5/4 and Reg liked to make sure he had all his players attention so that he could nod them in to a clean entry. The rehearsal went well, but in the evening when they reached the vital point, to his dismay everyone had their gaze transfixed on something in the audience. Reg was becoming very uneasy when he suddenly realized they were watching the self-appointed conductor to see what he would do with the 5/4 time change. "The man actually continued for quite a few bars in 4/4 before he realized that at the downbeat, something wasn't quite right. "But it was harmless fun . . . and if he enjoyed it why worry? . . . I'm told that he frequently missed a change into waltz time and would happily conduct a non-existent march for bars and bars".

Grand Hotel seems to have been the scene for several little dramas. Reg recalled the occasion on which the singer arrived from another engagement with all his dress clothes packed for him by a friend. When he opened the case he found he had been supplied with two left shoes. He was a tall, well built man with large feet so there wasn't a hope of finding any others at such short notice: he was therefore forced to put on the ill-matched pair. Since there were plants and flowers decorating the front of the platform, the audience were quite unaware of what was happening, but the orchestra knew and they had the greatest difficulty in keeping straight faces when this poor man made his entrance walking sideways. "When he left the platform he looked even funnier . . . like a crab sliding over to the left all the time. I can also remember a singer who is a very big name indeed today . . . He arrived without his braces for his dress suit, so I had to lend him a belt ... it was brown . . . not the most elegant colour with evening dress".

Reg Leopold is probably one of the busiest musicians in London, as Leader of the London Studio Strings and active in three regular programmes put out by the BBC. He still plays in "sessions" when they come along. "Yes, that includes "Pop" groups ... I don't know what sessions are booked until I get there . . .". But Reg enjoys it all because he is a man who loves people and he loves music . . . and above all he loves his own beautiful violin, a superb Maggini c.1600, light in weight with the exquisite double purfling characteristic of this great maker. "People write to me and say how beautifully I play . . . it isn't me at all ... it's this lovely little instrument ... it has stood up to all those years of Grand Hotel and all the other programmes and never seems to get tired".

Reg has owned quite a few fiddles in his time. "When I was young I bought a Gagliano for about £125 and then I had one by an Italian maker, Giovanni Gaida who settled in London . . . the varnish was still wet when I took it home. I've had a Fagnola, a Gabrielli and a Vuillaume and now my Maggini". Reg's advice to the young is that they should try to get as good an instrument as is possible. It is not onlv so much easier to play on a good instrument but it is an excellent investment. "You benefit from it during your professional life ... it increases in value and when you retire you can sell it and live on the proceeds . . . That way you are taken care of throughout your life". Reg is particularly emphatic about this piece of advice, because he didn't take it himself when he once had the chance of buying a superb instrument at a bargain price. "I have always been to Beares and one day during the early days of the war old Arthur Beare called me in to see a beautiful Joseph Guarnerius del Gesu that had just arrived in their shop. It had apparently been used by an amateur player in string quartets and when he died it had found its way into the market. Arthur had said, "My boy, you should buy this . . . you'll have an investment for the rest of your life . . . you can have it for £1,500". We all know what violin prices are like today. However, he did not take advantage of the offer. "It was the beginning of the "phoney" war . . . nobody knew what would happen ... I thought of all the possibilities ... I might have been called up and my wife would need money in this time ... we might be bombed and then the violin would be blown to bits ... I have had nightmares ever since when I think of what a fool I was not to take Arthur Beare's advice. But one thing I can tell you is that since then I've always bought every instrument I've ever owned from that firm".

Reg's final piece of advice to young aspiring violinists is to pass on his own philosophy which is simply to learn as much about every branch of your profession and then, "somewhere along the line you become aware of what you can do well, and then, as you develop, you must know when to play your strong suit".

Reg Leopold is a quiet-voiced man with a nice dry sense of humour. He has a beautiful modern Georgian house just outside London and much enjoys his wife's superb cooking. She is an elegant Mona-gasque from a long line of restauranteurs in Monte Carlo; whose father was a close friend of the great Escoffier. However Reg keeps his weight within bounds by hard work and walking his two magnificent dogs three times a day. He is extremely fond of these two prize-winning Chow-chows, "Chouki" and "Choukette¹.. "Whatever time I arrive home at night I take them out and you will always find me walking in the woods with them at 7 in the morning, rain or shine".

Reg's other passion is racing cars. This interest goes back to the days of the old Brooklands Course when he once owned the Alfa Romeo that won a number of races by R. E. Featherstonhaugh. At one time he also owned a Bugatti when his main hobby was skidding up and down the country in fast cars. Today, Reg drives what he calls "an armchair with powered steering and automatic gear change, a Rover 3.5 coupe . . . There's no sound or vibration and its chief function seems to be to drink up a lot of petrol, but ... it does it beautifully".

Even if Reg has more inclination to comfort than speed on the road, there is no slowing of tempo in his professional work. Besides his BBC programmes, he is busy making LPs and a new one, "Among Your Souvenirs" is coming out shortly. His two recordings of "Evenings in the Palm Court" and the "Palm Court Trio" in the HMV series, Music for Pleasure are still selling. Reg finds that through today's increasing interest in the old ballads, he is taking on a great deal more accompanying. "I enjoy this very much . . . and the singers we get on these programmes seem to like my accompanying . . . which is nice". Reg thinks that this is a very special branch of music. "You must feel what is coming. I think I have the sense of what is going to happen before it happens".

Reg Leopold's catholic taste in music echoes his own versatility. "I like music for the mood I am in ... Mozart today . . . Delius tomorrow". Perhaps the most lasting impression one has about this very talented but unassuming man is that he has a respect for his profession and for his fellow musicians. In a long career in which he has tackled a great variety of music of every kind he can approach a violin concerto or a light classic with the same enthusiasm and vitality. His secret would appear to be a simple one. He is a perfectionist. To Reg it is all music, and music is both his art and his craft: and in every case, only the best will do.