SYMPOSIUM RECORDS CD 1269
The Great Violinists – Volume 11
“I am now taking you over to The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne”
TOM JENKINS
with DOROTHY BOND and JACK BYFIELD
Tom Jenkins was born in Leeds in 1910. His father, from Wakefield, but of a
Welsh family, was a colliery engineman. His mother was a contralto and pianist, and both
his grandfathers were musicians. Tom had a miniature violin at three, began to study the
instrument at eight, made his concert début at ten, and his wireless début at fourteen.
Under his first teacher, A. Inman, his progress was such that he was awarded third
prize in the Leeds Musical Competitive Festival of 1923 for violinists of his age, and was
praised by Arthur Catterall for his taste and intonation. Prizes and commendations in Hull
and Keighley followed.
He was soon playing in many local venues, public and private, and frequent favourable
notices indicate the pride taken in him by the locality.
The award of a County Minor Scholarship enabled him to go to Morley Grammar
School, in itself an unusual achievement in a mining family, where the music master spoke
highly of him.
His violin teacher was now Edward Maude, leader of the Leeds Symphony
Orchestra, (Can we imagine today a town the size of Leeds having a symphony
orchestra?) and at Hull in 1924 the Festival adjudicator, a Dr. Adrian Boult, spoke highly
of his playing and expressed his hope of hearing more of him.
His first broadcast, in 1925, he took part in a lecture recital, included "Air and
Gavotte in D" by Bach, "Romance in G" by Beethoven, and "Canzonetta" by
Tchaikovsky, presumably the slow movement of the violin concerto.
The year is significant. It was the mid-point of the decade in which Jenkins
developed from school boy prodigy to mature musician, and in which wireless grew from
a few crystal sets, the listeners huddled round with earphones, straining to hear the local
station, to multi-valve receivers with loudspeakers, if not high fidelity, in millions of
homes.
Here is not the place to discuss precisely when cracks began to appear in the class
system (or whether we are equally class ridden today albeit along different lines of
division), what is undeniable is that that area of music termed "Light" music crossed
perhaps more boundaries and entered more homes than any other form of entertainment.
And, speaking of divisions, here is the place to re-iterate the firm assertion of no less than
both Kreisler and Henry Wood that the division was not between serious and light music,
but between good and bad music. This attitude is typified in Jenkins during the later
1920s; developing taste, gaining experience, and earning his bread in very straightened
times, together contributed to appearances in concert halls playing Bach's violin concerti,
and in cinemas playing whatever was required. Jenkins later remarked that whenever he
met a first class sight-reader it was ten to one that he had played in a cinema.
In 1930 the conductor Julius Harrison, on the strength of hearing Jenkins at a
competition three years before, invited him to Hastings. The invitation was as an
orchestral player, but when he played the Brahms concerto at a centenary celebration in
1933 the fact that a member of the orchestra could perform such a work, and extremely
well, was noted. The press also praised the Paganini-like brilliance of his "Carnival de
Venise" by Ernst, and the intellect and emotion of his Bruch concerto.
When Jenkins was making his way each and every seaside resort and watering
place had its regular orchestra, and these orchestras could and did play everything an
orchestra can play. Fortunately the seasons of the seaside resorts and of the spas were
such that the players could move around, remaining in employment much of the year.
Jenkins was popular with colleagues and public for his sense of fun, his charm and
his modesty. However, he took music very seriously.
In 1936 he felt he was ready to make a career in his own name, so he sought out J.
H. Squire, the 'cellist, for advice on running a small band. Squire recommended him to a
large firm of caterers which needed musicians for social functions. The pay was excellent,
but Jenkins, seeing that he would have inadequate time to practice, turned it down.
Squire, impresario as well as 'cellist, decided to promote Jenkins himself, and soon Jenkins
was playing with Squire's "Celeste Octet" and also broadcasting.
During his Hastings years Jenkins had continued his studies under Charles
Woodhouse; Squire now arranged for him to move to Carl Flesch.
Carl Flesch (1873-1944) and Leopold Auer (1845-1930) between them must have
taught at least eighty per cent of ranking violinists of their time. Flesch's share included
Wolfsthal, Hassid, Ginette Neveu and Alma Moody, who all, alas, died very young; and
Ida Haendel and Yfrah Neaman, happily still playing.
Flesch was a teacher of the old school (not meant slightingly). Pupils attended
according to his strict timetable. They didn't play, they gave performances to which other
pupils or visiting violinists could come; if Kreisler was in town he might well drop in.
Flesch was also thorough in every detail; one of his books starts by informing the student
how he should place his feet.
As a result of Squire's promotion Jenkins was appointed in 1938 to lead the
orchestra of the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne. The Grand Hotel had opened in 1875. It was
the most fashionable hotel in the most fashionable seaside resort. Music soon became an
important feature, with an orchestra consisting, typically, of: solo/lead violin, 1st & 2nd
violins, viola, 'cello, bass, piano and Mustel organ/celeste. From 1924 broadcasts from the
hotel with Albert Sandler made it a national institution, which, with his experience and
training, Tom Jenkins was ideally placed to continue.
His first concert included music by Noël Coward, Ethelbert Nevin, Herman Finck,
Grieg, Mendelssohn (On Wings of Song - solo), Ernst (Carnival de Venise - solo), Frank
Gomez and Leoncavallo.
It was, of course, an era of arrangements; eyebrows would rise today if an
orchestra of six played the Overture to Tannhäuser, but then Eric Coates, Elgar, Herman
Finck, Grieg, Kreisler, Saint-Saëns, de Sarasate, Tchaikovsky and Wagner rubbed
shoulders with each other and with the elegant clientele.
In 1940 the Grand Hotel had to close, so the B.B.C. transported the orchestra to a
mythical Grand Hotel in Evesham. However, Albert Sandler was given charge of it.
From 1940 until he was called up in 1942 Jenkins was with the B.B.C. Salon Orchestra.
By 1943 he was en route for India, playing whatever sentimental pieces his fellow
homesick soldiers wanted to hear, but stopping to play Mendelssohn's violin concerto in
Durban. In India, now an officer, he played in various clubs and hotels which must have
been, at any rate in ambience, not that many miles from Eastbourne.
As hostilities ceased he hoped to resume his career at Eastbourne, but he felt unable
to accept the terms offered by the hotel. However, the B.B.C. provided opportunities,
and in 1948 when Albert Sandler became very ill, Jenkins was asked to take over the
Grand Hotel broadcasts. These programmes were immensely popular and occupied his
abilities to the full; it is believed that audiences reach ten million. With Jenkins assisted by
the 'cellist Reginald Kilbey and the pianist Jack Byfield (they are heard in this album) there
were many highly appreciated tours.
His long experience in every genre of music allowed the B.B.C. to include him also
in music hall programmes. He was now appearing in everything from vaudeville to
concerti by Mendelssohn, Mozart (A major) and Wieniawski (2nd Concerto, he was
criticised for playing a piece so trite). The first mentioned seems to have been his
favourite; he played it twice during the Festival of Britain and at the Usher Hall,
Edinburgh the following year.
In 1950 he was still studying; this time taking lessons from Sascha Lasserson. In
that year, too, Dorothy Bond made various appearances with Tom Jenkins. She had
studied at the Royal Academy of Music, initially piano and 'cello, then voice. She was
now an able, pure-voiced coloratura soprano. They were married in 1951, but their
happiness was, alas, of short duration for Dorothy Bond was killed next year in a car
crash. She is now best remembered for her part in the film Tales of Hoffmann. (This reappears not infrequently at the National Film Theatre, which invariably fails to mention in
its brochures that the film is conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.)
A part of the enormous popularity of his broadcasts was his readiness to respond to
requests for particular pieces. This, however, led to disappointments as not all could be
played; some were unsuitable, and he found it necessary to institute a policy that no piece
should appear more than twice in one season.
In 1952, and again, in 1953, Jenkins was voted Most Popular Music Entertainer in
the Daily Mail National Radio Award.
In 1952, in the course of an audition, Jenkins met Michelle Le Mesurier Croll. She
was a flute-player who had played at Sadlers Wells and with Boyd Neel. They were
married in 1953, and thus Dorothy's son of sixteen months once more had a mother.
Unfortunately there began to be difficulties with the B.B.C. Either Jenkins had got
used to the silence of studio broadcasting and could not return in comfort to the more
relaxed ambience of a Spa, or audiences had become less interested in music and,
consequently, less restrained. Whatever the cause, Jenkins found knitting needles and
teaspoons, books and newspapers, or what the change in their usage represented, beyond
endurance, and he said so. Very likely he intended to say so politely, but he gave offence
to those who regarded spas as social places not to be intruded upon by B.B.C. sets, and
sat in in silence.
There were also new faces and ideas in Portland Place. Jenkins began to realise
that he might be better off musically outside, and that he would be considerably better off
financially.
For two seasons Jenkins played with great acclaim at Scarborough, but there were
disagreements with the management. The violinist felt that half-empty houses indicated
over-priced tickets. He invited audiences to move forward into unoccupied more
expensive seats. The management couldn't stomach this, but later, after Jenkins had left,
realised that he was correct - prices were reduced.
At this stage Jenkins seems to have wanted a change of direction. Perhaps he
sensed that the great days of "light" music were drawing to a close, perhaps the
disagreements over policy and clashes of personalities had soured his delight in that world,
perhaps he simply wanted a change. In the event he was successful in obtaining a grant
from the Arts Council towards the costs of about twenty-five concerts in the provinces. A
typical programme included the "Devil's Trill" Sonata, the "Moonlight" Sonata, Fantasia
for Flute, Violin and Piano by Goossens, the Franck Sonata and a piece by Françaix.
His next venture was the formation of a quintet, and with renewed interest from the
B.B.C., a very popular series ensued. Indeed, such was the B.B.C.'s renewed interest in
Jenkins that he was soon in charge of the Tom Jenkins Orchestra. Amongst those who
appeared with his orchestra were Julian Bream, Gwydion Brooke, Jack Brymer, Jack
Byfield, Osian Ellis and Ronald Smith, also the B.B.C. Singers. The orchestra sometimes
appeared as the Winter Garden Orchestra, and he also lead the Spa Orchestra.
For a while a possible avenue opened: he would lead the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham, but Tom became seriously ill, so this did not come
about.
A major operation was necessary in 1956 to remove a lung. It left him too weak to
perform as a soloist; but, determined to continue; what turned out to be his last
appearances were as an unnamed orchestral player. Tom Jenkins died in 1957.
In the mid-'30s Jenkins bought a Gagliano of circa 1800. In 1948, with the help of
a member of his family, he was able to purchase an early Stradivarius.
Much of the information for this article is from The Tom Jenkins Story by Peter
Pugh and Duncan Heath, an excellent full-length biography of Jenkins which appeared in
1995, published by Cambridge Business Publishing.
Tom Jenkins had little interest in the gramophone, preferring performance before
an audience. Thus his recorded legacy is best represented, perhaps not by what he
achieved on his few visits to the studio, but rather by air-checks of his playing in Grand
Hotel. These, made before the days of readily available and easily operated tape
recorders, were on aluminium discs with a soft lacquer coating, for which special "trailer"
needles were provided. Most were thrown away, for whatever reason he had them made,
he had no interest in keeping them, but a few survived, badly stored at the back of a
garage. These have been carefully cleaned and transferred to Compact Disc using the
latest technology. As a principle it has been recognised that there is a balance between
removing surface noise and losing the vibrant, vivid sound and individual tone which are
the means by which a living artist communicates with fellow human beings.
All these examples of his playing are from live broadcast performances, thus this
compilation can be listened to as a continuous concert. As a live broadcast, of course,
between the pieces there were announcements, tuning and applause, and these, where
they survive, have been left in.
Applause was usually generous, testimony to his audience's appreciation; longer
instances have been trimmed for convenience on repeated listening.
1 "Songs my Mother taught me" is believed to be the only surviving example of the
artist's pre-war work. As with any great player, quality is evident the instant the bow
touches the strings. The accompanist on this track is Sydney Ffoulkes.
2 Jenkins was invited to a dress rehearsal or first night of a musical then running in
London, which resulted in a "Selection" for the B.B.C. Grand Hotel Orchestra. The
impromptu announcement alludes to the B.B.C.'s inviolable rule against advertising.
3 The song "Estrellita" was written in 1914 and the melody re-used by the
composer for the slow movement of his last major work, the violin concerto of 1941.
Jenkins uses Albert Sammons' bowings and fingerings. (A momentary jar on one note
appears to be due to a defect of the record.)
4 There is something of a puzzle about Wieniawski's "Scherzo Tarantelle".
According to those who knew him he did not care for the piece, but was frequently asked
for it and, as was his wont, obliged by playing it. This may account for the performance
being a little inflexible for some ears. Nevertheless, in announcing it he refers to it as his
own choice.
6 "Arioso" is not the familiar "Air on the G-String", a transcription by Wilhelmj
from Bach's third suite, but a transcription by Sam Franko of the Sinfonia for oboe and
strings from Cantata No.156-Ich steh' mit einem Fuss im Grabe. There are also piano
transcriptions by Wilhelm Kempff, and by Alfred Cortot, and Bach himself re-used the
melody for the slow movement of his Concerto in F minor BWV 1056. It is sometimes
said that violinists are born able to produce fine tone or not. This, if true, can surely be
said of this performance. Nevertheless, when we hear the word "effortless" bandied
about of a great artist, we should always make a point of bearing in mind that what sounds
effortless results from years of hard work, and continuous maintenance of the voice or
hands to Olympic standards.
7 and 9 La Capriciosa has survived in two performances, which allows interesting
comparison and insight into the artist's work. (In the first there is a momentary lapse;
these records are not clinical exercises in assembling pieces of tape, but vibrant live
performances.)
8 An arrangement for small group of the band, perhaps by Byfield or a B.B.C.
arranger.
10 Schubert's "Serenade" has long been immensely popular with violinists. Jenkins
does not play the usual arrangement by Elman, but one by Jack Byfield.
11 The piece is not by Tossy Spivakovsky, born 1907, pupil of Serato and Hess,
active Germany, Australia and U.S.A., but by Michael Spivakovsky, born Michael
Marlow, died 1983, believed to have been a session violinist and contemporary of Jenkins.
13 De Sarasate, like Paganini, was not a great composer; his talent lay in writing
very effectively for his instrument, and in spotting what would transcribe graciously for it.
"A true test of violinistic fitness"-Robin Stowell (The Strad).
Drigo's "Valse Bluette" is announced but no record has survived.
14 Jenkins used Kreisler's "Caprice Viennois" as a signature tune. Very few can
bring it off with the necessary nonchalance and the, equally necessary, sound intonation of
the opening phrase. Jenkins is in this class; he brings to this performance his unique
sound and style.
15 Josef Suk, 1874-1935, son-in-law of Dvorak and member of the Bohemian
String Quartet, is probably best remembered for his Four Pieces, but he was a significant
Czech composer. (There is, alas, a momentary interruption at the end of the original
recording; it is not a fault in the compact disc.)
16 Until recently it was very normal for a Guest Artist to appear in all types of
musical entertainment - symphony concerts and "Grand Hotel" included. Often the group
of pieces performed had no connection with others in the programme.
Dorothy Bond had a light, charming coloratura, easily able to compass the
requirements of Donizetti's music; she reaches the high F with excellent intonation. Tom
Jenkins directs the B.B.C. Grand Hotel Orchestra from the violin.
17 "Bird Songs of Eventide" is sung with great charm and lightness. Unfortunately
the opening phrase was not caught by the recording machine. A "patch" from later in the
record has been used to provide an approximately correct start.
18 Dorothy Bond sings the Waltz from Tom Jones excellently, the piece suiting
her voice to a T. Again with Tom Jenkins directs from the violin,
19 A song as overtly sentimental as "Give a helping hand" can rather make us
blush today, but as recently as 1952 such fare was much appreciated in the right context.
20 Olympia's Song is labelled simply: VOICE TEST TAKE 7 / MISS
DOROTHY BOND. Beyond reasonable doubt it was sent to Sir Thomas Beecham for
him to assess the artist's suitability for the part of the Doll in the film Tales of Hoffmann
which he was to conduct. And, of course, she was chosen and contributed significantly to
the film's success. The excuse for including it in a programme otherwise entirely of live
performances is that it is an excellent example of the artist's voice and style, and is typical
of the genre of pieces which she performed on such occasions. The accompanist is
unknown.
21 Encore by Skalka. All that need be said of such pieces as "Dobra Dobra" is that
they should be played excellently or not at all; Jenkins plays it excellently, with instinctive
feel for the gypsy element.
My mother and father, Madge and Keith Cummings came to England from Perth,
Western Australia in 1934. My father was a viola player, and it was during a Summer
season of light music concerts at Whitby in Yorkshire that he first met Tom Jenkins, who
was already attracting a large and affectionate following as a violinist.
I got to know Tom when my parents settled in London after the war. Due to their
close professional relationship and mutual respect, Tom and my father also became very
close friends; my parents always organised gatherings of friends on Christmas Day and
Tom was naturally included. There was happiness and much laughter as Tom and his
two sons joined in our high spirited games of charades, and I have to this day the three
level tea set stand used for their enactment of The Three Bears. To an impressionable
child Tom's sense of fun and charismatic personality made a huge and lasting impression.
A few years later, for a short period he became my violin teacher, and I am grateful
to this day for his influence over a typically difficult adolescent.
A visit with my mother to the Central Hall Westminster to hear Tom and the Tom
Jenkins Trio play to a packed and very enthusiastic audience is vivid in my memory, and I
only wish I had been old enough to realise fully and understand the greatness of what I
was hearing.
He wrote to me whilst in hospital having undergone operations for the illness that
was so prematurely to end his life, and he seemed the same warm, witty and lively person
that I had always known. I was deeply saddened when I heard the announcement of his
death on the radio late one night.
It was when this Compact Disc was first thought about that I was given the
opportunity by Tom's wife, Michelle of listening to the very few recordings of his playing
to have survived; they allow me now, with age and experience, fully to appreciate his
playing. He was a violinist of extraordinary qualities, both technically and musically. His
sound was entirely individual; warmth, clarity and brilliance were added by his intensely
expressive vibrato and impeccable intonation. In his genre he must have been unique, and
we must be thankful that we are left with at least a glimpse of a style of playing that is
now part of our violinistic heritage.
Diana Cummings
Music Publishers:
Songs my mother taught me (Dvorak-Kreisler)-Alfred Lengnick
Estrellita (Ponce-transcr. Heifetz)-Hawkes & Son
Arioso (Bach-Franko)-Chappell & Co. Ltd.
Wiegenlied (Schubert-Elman)-Schirmer
Valse Burlesque (Spivakovsky)-Cleff Music Publishing Ltd.
Caprice Viennois (Kreisler)-Schott & Co.
Burleska (Suk)-Carlin Recorded Music Library
Bird Songs at Eventide (Coates)-Chappell Recorded Music Library
Acknowledgements: Symposium Records thanks Diana Cummings for much help
and encouragement with this issue and thanks Adrian Tuddenham for assistance with the
production.
Copyright Notice: This digitally transferred compilation with its notes is copyright, it
may not be broadcast, copied, hired out, publicly performed or stored in a retrieval system
without written permission.