JAVS Summer 1997

68

by Malcolm Ingram

founded the London String Trio and London Piano Quartet. From 1954 on he was profes sor of chamber music and viola at the Royal Academy and in 1964 became of head of music for BBC Scotland. Some of his many recordings have been reissued, and he is of course well known worldwide for his innu merable arrangements and editions of viola musiC. As an amateur viola player, playing a Luff instrument formerly belonging to Forbes, I was privileged to sit down recently with a group of his friends and play the Elgar piano quintet in his memory.

"'\ ,Tiolists will be saddened to hear of the V death of Watson Forbes on June 25, at the age of 87. He was well known as a viola player, teacher, arranger, and producer. He was born in St. Andrews, Scotland, trained at the Royal Academy of Music, and later stud ied with Sevtik in Czechoslovakia and with Albert Sammons. He joined the Stratton Quartet in the early 1930s and with them made the first recording of the Elgar Piano Quintet at the composer's request, later recording the string quartet for HMV as a present for Elgar. He played in Beecham's London Philharmonic in the 1930s and in the RAF Orchestra during the war. After the war he continued with quartet playing, in the Aeolian Quartet, and A rranged, edited and transcribed by Watson Forbes" is how many colleagues worldwide will remember the Scottish-born violist. I first met Watson Forbes in my teens when he was the adjudicator at the Hudders field Competitive Festival; I was taken with his constructive and encouraging comments. After the competition I tentatively approached him about having some lessons with him later in the year. From my first lesson he became a major influence on my life and career, and I shall be forever grateful for all his help and inspiration. Watson Forbes was born in St. Andrews on 16 November 1909. His first teacher was his father, an amateur violinist. He later studied in Dundee before becoming a violin student of Marjorie Hayward at the Royal Academy of Music. During his time there he was encouraged to play the viola by his cham ber music coach, Herbert Withers, and had lessons with Raymond Jeremy. Further studies followed with Sev6k in Czechoslovakia. In 1932 Forbes was a founding member

Malcolm Ingram Glasgow, Scotland

of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, but he was best known as a fine chamber music player. In 1933 the Stratton Quartet, which he had recently joined, was invited by Sir Edward Elgar to record the composer's String Quartet and Piano Quintet with the pianist Harriet Cohen. These recordings, recently re-issued on CD, were a great solace to Elgar in the last few months of his life. When George Stratton left the quartet it was decided to change the name to the Aeolian Quartet, and it soon became one of the country's most popular ensembles, giving numerous first performances and fre quently heard on the BBC. Forbes was also a member of the London String Trio and the London Piano Quartet. In the 1930s he made a number of solo recordings, including sonatas by Bach, Schubert, Walthew, and Bliss, and commis sioned many composers to write new works for him. When William Primrose made his Japanese debut in the early 1970s, he was sur prised to find that his fellow Scot, Watson Forbes, was better known through his numer ous arrangements and transcriptions!