ABBA

He was an acclaimed multi-musician, horn player, conductor and teacher born in Carlisle, England to a musical family where his father was a cornet player and his mother was a renowned soprano singer. A musician from a tender age he was playing the cornet by the time he was four and when he was seven he would perform as a trumpeter at concerts and later as an organist and chorister at Carlisle Cathedral. He decided to concentrate on horn playing and as well as taking private studies on the subject he would also enter the Royal Academy of Music. After graduation he began his professional career with the Halle Orchestra followed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Becoming known in orchestral circles for his solo performances and chamber recitals he relocated to London and took the position of Principal Horn with a whole range of chamber ensembles and orchestras including the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, the London Mozart Players, the Schiller Trio, the English Chamber Orchestra and his own group the Ifor James Horn Quartet. He was the Principal Conductor of the Besses oth Barn Brass Band for many years and he led them when they won the BBC Brass Band of the Year competition in 1978. Over the years he made countless recordings, with 30 of them being performed with the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, and they include Franz & Richard Strauss: Horn Concertos, Telemann: Horn Concertos, Meditations, Beethoven in the Evening, Concertos for Brass and Eine Kleine Brass Musik, The 20^th Century Album and Greatest Hits by the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. A very well respected teacher, often known to have fun and play pranks on his students, he was Professor of Horn at Manchester's Royal College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, Colchester Institute of Higher Education, Aberdeen University and the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik, Freiberg. He retired in 1996 with his successful students numbering over 100 who are now professionals, with at least 30 of them achieving Principal Horn status, 6 soloists and 11 holding positions as Professors or Heads in musical institutions. He died in 2004 aged 73 with many tributes being made to the impact he had on British horn playing.

Philip Jones Brass Ensemble recordings

The Agincourt Song (Anonymous)

Decca B0000807 (2003, CD: Music from the Royal Court)

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