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Tommy (Thomas Rundle) Reilly.
Harmoniciste, compositeur, professeur (Guelph (Ont.), 21 août 1919 - Surry,
en Angleterre, 25 septembre 2000). Son père, le capitaine James Reilly
(1886-1956), trompettiste et violoniste, dirige à Guelph l'un des premiers
orchestres de jazz au Canada (1920-1925). À huit ans, le jeune Reilly étudie
le violon et commence, à 11 ans, à jouer de l'harmonica dans l'Elmdale
Harmonica Band de son père. L'ensemble gagne plusieurs concours de l'Exposition
nationale canadienne et Reilly décroche plusieurs médailles comme
soliste dans des festivals du sud de l'Ontario. En 1935, la famille se fixe
à Londres. Même s'il joue en Angleterre (1935-1937) et en Europe
continentale (1937-1939), ce n'est qu'après son arrestation (alors qu'il
étudie au Conservatoire de Leipzig) et son internement dans des camps de
prisonniers de guerre (1939-1945) que Reilly développe sa virtuosité à
l'harmonica en s'inspirant, pour son interprétation et son phrasé, du style
de Jascha Heifetz.
À son retour à Londres en 1945, bien déterminé à établir l'harmonica comme instrument de grande valeur artistique, Reilly commence des carrières parallèles comme soliste de concert, interprète de récital, interprète populaire à la radio et à la télévision de la BBC et musicien-compositeur de studio. Il se produit en récital et avec la plupart des grands orchestres européens, fait des tournées européennes avec l'Académie de Saint Martin-in-the-Fields à plusieurs reprises, participe à d'importants festivals, dont le Festival of the Sound, en 1982, et joue en Amérique du Nord, en Australie et en Afrique. Il demeure au Royaume-Uni, mais, depuis son premier retour au Canada en 1982, il se produit en concert avec des orchestres, entres autres, à Toronto, Winnipeg, Québec (1991) et Calgary ainsi qu'au Festival du printemps de Guelph, en 1993. Plus de 30 œuvres de concert sont composées pour Reilly, notamment le Concerto de Michael Spivakovsky (1951), Prelude and Dance pour harmonica et orchestre de Robert Farnon, plusieurs œuvres avec orchestre et d'autres avec quatuor à cordes ou cordes et vents de l'accompagnateur de Reilly, James Moody, Old Scottish Air pour harmonica, cordes et harpe de Matyas Seiber et Suite pour harmonica et piano de Richard Rodney Bennett. Vu l'absence d'un répertoire de concert pour cet instrument, Reilly transcrit des œuvres de Bach, Chopin, Mozart, Smetana, Sarasate et autres. Reilly écrit lui-même des pièces brèves pour harmonica, des séquences de musique d'ambiance pour les bibliothèques de Chappell et d'autres compagnies et des indicatifs pour la télévision et la radio de la BBC. Son premier enregistrement, chez Parlophone, est produit par George Martin, en 1951. Il interprète aussi la musique pour la trame sonore de nombreux films en Europe et aux États-Unis et de plusieurs séries télévisées américaines. Parmi les compositeurs qui écrivent des trames sonores spécialement pour Reilly figurent Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstein et Dimitri Tiomkin. Reilly donne des cours de perfectionnement à la Stradtische Musikschule à Trossingen, Allemagne (1966-1968), à Fanfare 84, à Toronto, et chaque année, en Norvège, à partir de 1985. Il enseigne au Tommy Reilly International Club à Surrey (1967-1971), attirant des élèves du monde entier. Il rédige plusieurs manuels pour l'harmonica et continue de susciter un intérêt de plus en plus répandu pour cet instrument à travers des récitals-causeries, des cours de maître, des émissions radiophoniques et son enseignement à la GSM. En 1967, il conçoit un harmonica de concert, fabriqué plus tard par Hohner et vendu sous le nom de Silver Concerto Chromonica. En 1992, Reilly devient le premier harmoniciste membre de l'Order of British Empire. Ses autres distinctions incluent la médaille d'or de la Deutscher Harmonika-Verband et un Golden Badge de la British Association of Composers, Authors and Songwriters. Sir Neville Marriner et Stravinsky sont du nombre de ceux qui admirent sa virtuosité. Écrits Play Like the Stars (Londres, 1952). Discographie Singles and EPs - 78rpm and 45 rpm
LPs - CDs
Bibliographie Clyde GILMOUR, « Tommy Reilly : Britain's Heifetz of the harmonica », Michael SCHULMAN, « Interview », Pauline DURICHEN, « Mouth-organ never sounded like this », Robert WHITE, « Harmonica player performed the classics », Auteur Betty Nygaard King |
He won a place on the concert platform for the humble harmonica
by Robert White
The Free-Reed Journal
Articles and Essays Featuring Classical Free-Reed Instruments and Performers
Thursday September 28, 2000
The range of "classical" instruments is much the same now as it was 200 years ago; while the instruments of Beethoven's orchestra have continued to evolve, few others have joined them on the concert platform. Tommy Reilly, who has died aged 81, was fascinated by the potential of the harmonica, and became one of the handful of musicians to secure a place in the concert mainstream for an instrument from outside the existing club.
Igor Stravinsky commented, "After hearing your interpretation of my Chanson Russe, I would be happy to let you play anything of mine": many composers wanted to write for Reilly, and he enjoyed an outstanding career as a performer and composer for film, television and radio.
Born in Guelph, Ontario, Tommy Reilly was the son of Captain James Reilly, to whom, as with military bandmasters down the years, "crossover" came as second nature - he conducted symphony orchestras, and founded not only one of Canada's earliest jazz bands, but also the Elmdale Harmonica Band, a prizewinner at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto in the early 1930s. The military musical environment is exceptional in that wind players often learn string instruments too: Tommy Reilly started learning the violin at the age of eight.
In 1935, the family moved to England, where Reilly made his professional debut as a harmonica player a year later. While keeping up his violin studies, he toured the variety theatres of the continent. At the outbreak of the second world war in 1939, he was a student at the Leipzig Conservatoire. The Gestapo arrested him, and he spent the whole period of the war in prison camps in Germany, Poland and France.
The discipline of classical string-playing and the time made available by enforced leisure gave Reilly both the framework and the space to unlock the full expressive range of the harmonica. As Richard Morrison wrote in the Times after the first performance of Paul Patterson's Harmonica Concerto in 1987, "Reilly's determination to establish the 'highbrow' credentials of his solid silver instrument has been matched by his skill at coaxing lyrical, musicianly sounds from this most intractable of sources."
In 1945, Reilly returned to Britain, where regular radio broadcasts in the late 1940s made him a household name, and work followed right across the musical spectrum. The first of 30 major concert works written for him was the concerto by Michael Spivakovsky, broadcast as part of the Festival of Britain in 1951. Others followed from composers such as Gordon Jacob, Vilem Tausky, George Martin, Robert Farnon and James Moody. Martin produced Reilly's first recordings, 78rpm discs on the Parlophone label, in 1951, and Farnon also wrote for Reilly in his film scores, as did Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstein, Maurice Jarre, Jerry Goldsmith, Dimitri Tiomkin and Ron Goodwin (Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines).
Reilly's own contribution to music for film came with the 1959 movie version of The Navy Lark, and he also supplied the jaunty interludes to the long-running radio series. His many television credits included Dixon Of Dock Green, The Last Of The Summer Wine and The Singing Detective.
Later recordings covered arrangements of virtually anything tuneful, from British folksongs and popular classics - works by Mendelssohn, Fauré, Walton, Grainger, Smetana and Borodin - to the main theme from John Barry's score for Midnight Cowboy (1969). He also consolidated his achievement as a concert artist with recordings of Vaughan Williams's Romance for harmonica, strings and piano, and the harmonica concertos by Heitor Villa-Lobos and Malcolm Arnold.
In 1967, Reilly had the first silver concert harmonica made to his specification, and he wrote many tutors and studies for the instrument. An OBE for services to music in 1992 was followed by awards from fellow musicians - those of the Deutscher Harmonika-Verband and the British Association of Composers, Authors and Songwriters. Reilly's worldwide reputation as a teacher and the new artistic stature he had brought to his instrument were both recognised when he was asked to conduct a harmonica masterclass at the internationally renowned Dartington summer school in 1998.
Tommy Reilly leaves his wife Eva, son David and two grandchildren.
Larry Adler wrote: "Tommy Reilly was a player for whom I had deep respect. He had a style of his own, immediately recognisable. I always wanted to play the Bach Double Violin Concerto with Tommy, but the opportunity never arose. There are many good mouth organists, most of them imitating either Tommy or me, but Tommy never needed to imitate anyone. He was unique, in a class by himself. I will miss his wonderful playing: he didn't even have a close second."
Thomas (Tommy) Rundle Reilly, harmonica player, born August 21 1919; died September 25 2000
CHANDOS Records
CHAN 8617
Tommy Reilly and The Academy
of St. Martin-in-the Fields
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Romance, Vilem
Tausky: Concertino, James Moody: Little Suite, Gordon Jacob: Five Pieces
CHAN 8486
"Serenade", Tommy Reilly and
The Academy of
St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Chamber Ensemble
Works and Arrangements by Moody, Fauré, Grieg,
Martin, David Reilly, Händel, Debussy, Mendelssohn
CHAN 6568
"Serenade, vol. 2, Tommy Reilly
& Skaila Kanga
Arrangements for Harmonica and Harp
CHAN 9248
Tommy Reilly plays Harmonica
Concertos
by Spivakovsky,
Arnold, Villa-Lobos and Virtuoso Works by Moody and Farnon
CHAN 8802
Tommy Reilly, Skaila Kanga,
Hindar Quartet
Gordon Jacob: Divertimento for Harmonica and String Quartet
James Moody: Suite dans le style francais
James Moody:
Quintet for Harmonica and String Quartet
CHAN 8559
Tommy Reilly and Skaila Kanga
play British Folk-Songs arranged for Harmonica and Harp
CHAN 8645
"Thanks for the Memory"
Tommy
Reilly and James Moody, Piano, play Old Thirties
Classical Music for Harmonica
Chandos CHAN 8617
Tausky
Concertino
STERNDALE Records
STE 3461
"Harmonica Parisien"
Tommy Reily plays famous songs in the
French style