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In September 2017 Sir Simon Rattle became Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra.  Until the end of the 17/18 season he will combine this with his role as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Berliner Philharmoniker, where he was appointed in 2002.

Born in Liverpool, Sir Simon Rattle studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Between 1974 and 1977 he was Assistant Conductor at the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. He made his opera debut at Glyndebourne Festival in 1977, since then he has worked with opera houses including English National Opera, The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Netherlands Opera and leading international orchestras. In 1980 he was appointed, a rising star of the classical music world, as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, where he was Music Director from 1990 to 1998. Under his leadership the orchestra gained a reputation as one of the finest in the world, and in partnership with the City he successfully opened Symphony Hall, Birmingham’s acclaimed concert hall in April 1991.

Sir Simon Rattle

Roman Simovic's brilliant virtuosity and seemingly-inborn musicality, fueled by a limitless imagination, has taken him throughout all continents performing on many of world's leading stages. As soloist, Simovic has appeared with the world leading orchestras: London Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and  Camerata Bern with some of the world’s greatest conductors, including Valery Gergiev, Antonio Pappano and  Kristian Jarvi. 

First Violin

Roman Simovic

Carmine Lauri was born in 1971 and started playing the violin at the age of four later studying with Mario Bisazza. In 1988 he was awarded the Associated Board scholarship to further his studies in London at the Royal Academy of Music with Jean Harvey and Maurice Hasson. He has performed extensively and on a number of occasions he was selected to perform as a soloist in the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth II and other Heads of State.

Carmine Lauri

Lennox Mackenzie was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and started to play the violin aged six. In 1971 he won the ABRSM scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music under Ralph Holmes. Whilst there he won many prizes including the Marjorie Hayward Prize for Excellence in Recital Diploma and the Macklin Bursary which assisted him in buying a Dom Nicolo Amati violin. It was at that time he became a founder member of the Arditti String Quartet.

Lennox Mackenzie

Clare Duckworth

William Melvin

Laurent Quenelle

Helena Smart

Maxine Kwok-Adams

Nigel Broadbent

Harriet Rayfield

Gerald Gregory

Rebecca Dinning

Sylvain Vasseur

Takane Funatsu

Eleanor Fagg

Hilary Jane Parker

Born in London, David Alberman (violin) received his LRAM diploma from the Royal Academy of Music at the age of sixteen. After Classics at Oxford University for four years, a long-standing interest in contemporary music led him in 1986 to join the Arditti Quartet. A Principal of the London Symphony Orchestra since 1999, he has played as guest concertmaster with the LSO itself, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta. 

2nd Violin

David Alberman

Tom Norris

Sarah Quinn was born in Dublin and began playing the violin at the age of eight. She continued her studies at the Royal College of Music in London where she was the recipient of many awards and prizes. While at the Royal College of Music, she took part in the LSO String Experience Scheme. Sarah joined the LSO in 1998 and particularly enjoys working with the LSO Discovery programme.  She is also a keen chamber musician.

Sarah Quinn

Miya Vaisanen

Aischa Gündisch

David Ballesteros

Belinda McFarlane

Matthew Gardner

Esther Kim

Naoko Keatley

Paul Robson

Iwona Muszynska

Julian Gil Rodriguez

Louise Shackleton

Praised for his intense, innovative interpretations Alexander Zemtsov is one of the most versatile and sought after musicians on the music stage today. He has established the recognition as a soloist, conductor, professor and chamber musician. Alexander Zemtsov is a professor in some of the finest Music Universities in Europe: Viola Professor at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, University Professor at the Vienna Konservatorium Privat Universitat and Professeur invite the Haute Ecole de Musique de Laussane in Switzerland.

Viola

Alexander Zemtsov

Gillianne Haddow joined the London Symphony Orchestra in January 1999. Until recently, she combined her engagement with the LSO with her position as Principal Viola with the acclaimed Scottish Ensemble. As a solo and chamber musician she attracts commissions from leading contemporary composers such as Sally Beamish and Edward Maguire, and performs with groups such as the Nash Ensemble and the London Sinfonietta. 

Gillianne Haddow

Lander Echevarria

Regina Beukes

Scottish violist Carol Ella studied with Simon Rowland-Jones at the Royal College of Music in London, where she graduated with Distinction. She has worked with various British orchestras including the LSO (where she won the Promis Award), Philharmonia, RSNO and the John Wilson Orchestra. Carol is a founder member of Liquid Architecture, a prize-winning octet currently on the Making Music scheme.

Carol Ella 

Anna Bastow

Robert Turner

Jonathan Welch

Julia O'Riordan

Lancashire born violist Stephanie Edmundson is a masters graduate of the Royal Academy of Music where she studied with Martin Outram. During her time at the Academy she was awarded the Maurice Loban Prize for Viola, was a member of the Royal Academy Soloists and won a place on the the London Symphony Orchestra string scheme. In 2013-2014, she was a recipient of the Philharmonia Orchestra ‘Meyer Award’. Stephanie has been a member of the Jubilee Quartet since it’s formation in 2006. The quartet are prize winners of several international competitions and award winners of the Tillett Trust, Park Lane Group, Worshipful Company of Musicians, Making Music, Philharmonia/Martin Musical Scholarship Fund and the Hattori Foundation. They have performed across the UK, Europe and in Canada with several appearances at the Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room. The quartet currently study at the Musik-Akademie, Basel with Rainer Schmidt.

Stephanie Edmundson

Philip Hall

Caroline O'Neill

Rebecca Gilliver is Principal cellist of the London Symphony Orchestra. Early success in national and international competitions led to critically acclaimed debut recitals at the Wigmore Hall in London and Carnegie Hall, New York. Rebecca has performed in major music festivals such as Bath, Bergen, and the Manchester International Cello Festival. A keen chamber musician, she has collaborated with international artists including Nikolai Znaider, Sarah Chang and Roger Vignoles with whom she recorded for BBC Radio 3. 

Cello

Rebecca Gilliver

Alastair Blayden was a music scholar at Winchester College and a Foundation Scholar at the Royal College of Music. He studied with Joan Dickson and William Pleeth and also received chamber music coaching at Aldeburgh with the Borodin Quartet and in Cologne with the Amadeus Quartet.

Alastair Blayden

Jennifer Brown

Daniel Gardner

Noel Bradshaw

Amanda Truelove

Hilary Jones

Morwenna Del Mar

After earning her cello diplomas at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Lyon and Paris, she continued her studies in London at the Guidhall School of Music and Drama as well as in Trieste, Italy. Invited by the Orchester National de Paris since 2003, she participates in numerous productions and collaborates in studio and on stage with composers of music of films and musical comedies. She has a close relationship with the worlds of opera and dance.

Miwa Rosso 

Victoria Harrild

Colin Paris studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1974 to 1977 and in his final term at college was offered and accepted a position with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. In 1979 Colin joined the BBC Symphony Orchestra, a position which he held for 2 years, leaving to pursue a freelance career during which he held the position of Principal Double Bass with the London Bach Orchestra. 

Double Bass

Colin Paris

Patrick Laurence

Joe Melvin

Jani Pensola

Matthew Gibson

Thomas Goodman

Paul was born in East Sussex and started to play the double bass at the age of twelve. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London with Thomas Martin and Kevin Rundell. A member and regular principal player with the English Chamber Orchestra Paul has toured and performed with them in over 40 countries and is responsible for coordinating the orchestra’s education and outreach activities. Paul also works extensively with a wide range of period, modern and contemporary orchestras and ensembles, and his guest principal engagements include the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, City of London Sinfonia, Gabrielli Ensemble and Players, Glyndebourne on Tour, Goldberg Ensemble, Hebrides Ensemble, London Festival Orchestra, London Mozart Players, London Sinfonietta, Orchestra of St. John’s, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Norway’s Trondheim Symfoniokester.

Paul Sherman

Simo Vaisanen

In 2009, at the age of 21, Adam Walker was appointed Principal Flute of the London Symphony Orchestra and received the ‘Outstanding Young Artist Award’ at the MIDEM Classique Awards in Cannes. He went on to win a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award and was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Outstanding Young Artist Award.

Flute

Adam Walker

Patricia Moynihan

Sharon Williams is the Principal Piccolo of the London Symphony Orchestra, one of the world's leading orchestras. Prior to that she was Principal Piccolo in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. She regularly works with most of Britain's major orchestras and freelances on film sessions and other commercial work.

Piccolo

Sharon Williams

Oboe

Rosie Jenkins

Olivier Stankiewicz, whose extensive musical activity is characterised both by his remarkable curiosity and virtuosity, has constantly sought to expand his artistic scope and sources of inspiration. Appointed principal oboe with the London Symphony Orchestra in May 2015, he has also performed with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertegebouw and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and served with Toulouse’s Orchestre National du Capitole (ONCT) from 2011 to 2015. There, he recently performed the world premiere of Benjamin Attahir’s oboe concerto Nur under Tugan Sokhiev. Since his first concerto appearance at the age of 16 with the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic, he has performed with the French National Orchestra, the Wallonie Royal Chamber Orchestra, the Pro-Arte orchestra of Hong-Kong and the Tokyo Sinfonietta.

Olivier Stankiewicz

Andrew Marriner has held the position of principal clarinet in the London Symphony Orchestra since 1986, when he succeeded the late Jack Brymer. During his orchestral career Andrew has maintained a presence on the worldwide solo concert platform, in the field of chamber music, and as a teacher. Andrew first played with the LSO in 1977 under Sergiu Celibidache and, as guest principal, on the orchestra’s 1983 world tour. 

Clarinet

Andrew Marriner

Chi-Yu graduated with First Class Honours and a PhD in Chemistry from St. John’s College Cambridge. He then studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where he graduated with a DipRAM and won many prizes. He won the Britten-Pears Concerto Competition, and also was a wind finalist in the Royal Overseas League Music Competition. He was Principal E flat Clarinet of the RLPO, and joined the LSO in 1998. 

Chi-Yu Mo

Daniel studied music at Clare College, Cambridge before deciding to pursue a career as a bassoonist. After completing postgraduate courses at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at the Hochschule fűr Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart, Daniel was appointed co-principal bassoon with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Bremen. From 1999 to 2003, Daniel was principal bassoon with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. 

Bassoon

Daniel Jemison

Rachel Gough has been Principal Bassoon of the LSO since 1999. (For eight years prior to joining the LSO she was Co-Principal with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a professor at the Royal Academy of Music.) As a student she read anthropology and music at King’s College, Cambridge, before gaining Countess of Munster, Martin Musical, Ian Fleming and German government scholarships for postgraduate study at the Royal Academy of Music and the Hannover Hochschule für Musik with Klaus Thunemann. During this time she was principal bassoon of the European Community Youth Orchestra and won the Gold Medal at the Royal Overseas League.

Rachel Gough

Dominic Morgan, Principal Contra-Bassoon of the LSO, began playing the bassoon at the age of 13 and graduated from Royal Northern College of Music. He joined the LSO in 1994, after playing for the English National Opera for nine years.

Contrabassoon

Dominic Morgan

Horn

Anna Euen

Timothy Jones was born in London in 1961 and studied with Ifor James and Frank Lloyd. After leaving school at the age of seventeen, he started his career as a professional musician, playing second horn with the Munich Philharmonic. In 1984 Timothy joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra, where he stayed until joining the London Symphony Orchestra as Principal Horn in 1986. 

Timothy Jones 

In January 2005, at the age of 21, Angela Barnes was appointed second horn of the London Symphony Orchestra, becoming the first female member of the orchestra’s brass section in the orchestra’s hundred-year history. She has worked regularly with most of the major British orchestras, appearing as a guest principal with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Her career combines orchestral, solo and chamber music playing. As well as featuring in the second instalment of the Cala Records ‘‘London Horn Sound’’ series, she has also recently recorded Britten’s Canticle for Tenor, Horn and Piano, with tenor Allan Clayton, as part of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme.

Angela Barnes

Andrew Budden

Jonathan Lipton

Philip Cobb was appointed to the post of Joint-Principal Trumpet with the London Symphony Orchestra in July 2009 while still only 21 years of age. Philip is a fourth generation Salvationist and comes from a family intrinsically linked with Salvation Army music-making at its highest level. From a young age, Philip regularly featured as a cornet soloist, appearing alongside his brother Matthew and father Stephen, accompanied by his mother Elaine. He gained a place in the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain in 2000, where he became Principal Cornet on a number of courses and was a four-time winner of the esteemed Harry Mortimer Award.

Trumpet

Philip Cobb

Gerald Ruddock

Niall Keatley

Trombone

James Maynard

Dudley Bright has been Principal Trombone of the LSO since 2001 having held a similar position in the Philharmona Orchestra. Yet his first orchestral position was as an associate of the LSO before being appointed Principal of the Halle Orchestra. 

Dudley Bright

Tuba

Ross Knight

Paul Milner was born in Edinburgh and after a musical education, moved to Manchester to study at the Royal Northern College of Music. On leaving the RNCM with a Diploma in Professional Performance, Paul freelanced with some of the UK's leading orchestras, before gaining the position of Principal Bass Trombone with the Orchestra of Opera North, Leeds in 1993.

Bass Trombone

Paul Milner 

Nigel Thomas has been Principal Timpanist with the London Symphony Orchestra since 2003, having first joined the orchestra as Principal Percussionist in 1988. He was the Royal College of Music’s first timpani and percussion scholar, and in 1980 was winner of the Shell LSO competition.

Timpani

Nigel Thomas

Sam Walton appears regularly as a percussionist and timpanist with many of the UK’s top orchestras, and since 2012 has been Co-Principal Percussionist of the London Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, Sam has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta de Castilla y Leon, and the Gurzenich Orchestra in Cologne. He has appeared both as a solo recitalist and with his duo partner Colin Currie at numerous venues in the UK and worldwide. 

Percussion

Sam Walton

Neil Percy

David Jackson

Conductor and Strings

Conductor, Strings and Woodwind

Conductor, Strings and French Horns

Strings

Woodwinds

This interactive iBook, available for Mac OS and iOS, contains a selection of resources to help teachers use this performance of Enigma Variations in their classroom.
Also available as a PDF, without embedded media.

iBook for Apple devices

Resources for Key Stage 2 Teachers

Available as both an iBook (with embedded media for iPad and Apple iBooks) and pdf, this document is designed to help families at home with children of KS2 and KS3+ develop listening tasks and activities around Elgar's Enigma Variations.

ENIGMA VARIATIONS: Listening Tasks

Download from iBooks

Enigma Variations: Project pack for KS2 with extensions for KS3+

Elgar's Enigma Variations

Conductor

Of all the instruments in the orchestra, the violin is the most visible, simply by being the most numerous! Sitting at the front of the stage, there can often be more than 30 of these smallest of the string family in the orchestra at any one time. Modern violins have roots in the early Greek ages, but started to become the instruments we know today in the 1500s. Its four strings are usually played with a bow or plucked (pizzicato), but the violin is famously versatile and can produce all sorts of effects such as ethereal harmonics, double stops (playing more than one note at once) or being hit with the wooden part of the bow (col legno).

Violin Factfile

The Second Violin section usually sits next to its colleagues the First Violins, although some composers ask for them to be sat opposite the Firsts to produce an antiphonal, or alternating, effect in the music. Typically the Second Violins will play the harmony lines in the music, while the First Violins play the melodies.

Unless you put a violin next to a viola to provide comparisons, it’s very difficult to tell the difference on sight. The viola is slightly larger than the violin, and has differently tuned strings, but otherwise is pretty much identical – held under the chin and played with a bow or plucked. The sound of the viola, however, is very different. It has a much more mellow tone, deeper and more intense. As the middle instrument of the string family, often playing uncomplicated parts, it can be the brunt of jokes about it being a second class citizen, but actually was favoured by composers such as Mozart and Brahms.

Viola Factfile

Like the violin and viola, the cello has four strings and is played using a bow or plucked, but has one major difference – it is played vertically, resting on the floor using a spike protruding from the bottom. The cello has slightly different roots from violins and violas, being born from early instruments called viols. The cello is a bass instrument, playing the lowest notes of the music, although it is also capable of playing high notes, which are very plaintive and lend it its reputation for being the closest instrument to the sound of a human voice. The cellos usually sit at the front of the stage opposite the First Violins, and number around six to ten in the section.

Cello Factfile

The daddy of the string family, the double bass is the largest and lowest stringed instrument. Being so large it’s usually played sitting on a high stool or standing up, and the basses sit at the very back of the orchestra. Because of its size it’s physically demanding to play – just pressing down the thick strings requires a lot of effort! Like the other stringed instruments it’s played with a bow or plucked and had four strings. Some double basses have an extension on their lowest string to play even lower notes. The notes are so low that it’s not a very loud instrument and so there’s often up to 10 or 12 bassists in the orchestra to provide enough volume.

Double Bass Factfile

The highest member of the woodwind family is not, as the name might suggest, usually made of wood. You can probably spot these instruments shining out from the orchestra, since they’re most commonly made of highly polished metal – sometimes even silver or gold. The flute has roots even more ancient than the violin, recently discovered ones being over 45,000 years old. The flute’s sound is produced by blowing air across the hole (similar to how you might play a bottle!) with the notes changed using the keys along its body. The flute has a bright and perky sound which means it can easily travel over the sound of the orchestra. Orchestras usually have two or three flutes, and you might also see some of the flute’s cousins – the tiny shrill piccolo, the mellow and soulful alto flute, or if you’re really lucky, the frankly odd looking bass and contrabass flutes.

Flute Factfile

The baby of the flute family, the piccolo (Italian for small) is basically a half-size flute. It has the same fingerings as a normal sized flute (although smaller fingers are an advantage!) and is played in the same manner. Flautists sometimes ‘double’ (play both) on piccolo, but it’s a very frequently used member of the orchestra so often a player will be a specialist in piccolo and only play that instrument. It has a brilliant and sparkling tone and because it sounds an octave (8 notes) above the flute it is used to accompany melody lines to add twinkle.

Piccolo Factfile

Sitting next to the flutes on the front row of the woodwind section, the oboe is actually made of wood. The name ‘oboe’ came from the French ‘hautbois’, literally ‘high wood’, as it was known in the 17th century. The sound of the oboe is produced by blowing into a reed in the top of the instrument – which means that oboists have to master not only the art of playing the instrument, but also carving the delicate reeds to suit their own mouths. The oboe’s sound is very pure and easily heard – you’ll spot the oboe easily right at the start of concerts as they will play the A to which the rest of the orchestra tunes. Usually there will be two or three oboes in the orchestra, frequently joined by its cousin the Cor Anglais (English horn – which is neither English, nor a horn…) and sometimes by rarer relatives such as the Oboe d’Amore, bass oboe and Heckelphone.

Oboe Factfile

Usually found behind the flutes in the orchestra, the clarinet is most similar to an oboe in how it looks (made from the same wood) and is played (pointing downwards), but that’s where the similarity ends. It is played by blowing across a single reed, rather than the oboes’ double one, which is much easier to handle. The clarinet has a very wide range, the largest of all the woodwinds, and its sounds is very flexible – from rich and dark in the bottom, through bright and sweet in the middle, to piercing and shrill at the top. It makes the clarinet a popular addition to other genres of band as well as orchestras – jazz and Klezmer, to name but two. Clarinets also come in a variety of keys and sizes – a Bb clarinet being the most commonly used in orchestras, with A clarinets joining them on occasion. It also has several common cousins, like the baby Eb clarinet and the bass clarinet. You might also see Basset-horns, contrabass clarinets and piccolo clarinets.

Clarinet Factfile

The bass member of the woodwind family is another double reed instrument like the oboe. The reed is attached to a long metal tube called the crook, which connects to the bassoon. The longest instrument of the orchestra, unfolded it would stretch 2.5 metres. It’s so unwieldy that most bassoonists use a neck sling or shoulder harness to support the instrument while playing – held diagonally downwards unlike the other woodwinds. The bassoon’s sound is quite flexible and full of character – it often represents the clown of the piece or gruff lumbering animals, but can also be plaintive and lyrical. It is agile and can produce quick running notes. Like the other woodwinds, there are usually two or three bassoons in the orchestra, with its big cousin the contra-bassoon quite often present. It’s even longer than the bassoon, folded over more times, and requires a small spike on the bottom fold for extra support.

Bassoon Factfile

The contrabassoon is quite enormous – twice the length of the bassoon to be exact – meaning it sounds an octave lower and has to double up on itself twice, like a paperclip, to be playable by a seated human. While Beethoven was the first to write an entirely separate contrabassoon part in his 5th symphony, there are clues that it may have been used as far back as Bach. However, the original iterations of the instrument were generally regarded as weak in sonority and dynamics, so its parts were often played on an alternate instrument like the serpent or contrabass sarrusophone (both of which are definitely worth looking up on Wikipedia!) It wasn’t until the late 19th century that significant improvements were made to the instrument, but after that it became increasingly common to hear the clattering, machine-like low end cropping up in orchestral repertoire.

Sometimes called the French horn, the horn is actually technically German in origin. It’s from the brass family, and is made of, well, brass. The sounds are produced via the players lips on the cup-shaped mouthpiece – notes are changed by adjusting both the lip tension, using the valves to lengthen or shorten the tubing, and by putting a hand inside the bell to make the instrument longer. The modern horn is a descendent of the hunting horn, and its sound is often used by composers to signify a hunt. It is also capable of producing a haunted and distant sound, and is well used in film music. The horns usually sit on the opposite side of the orchestra to their other brass colleagues, and usually number four. They work in pairs, with horns 1 and 3 taking high parts and horns 2 and 4 taking low parts. There is also sometimes an extra horn called a bumper, who can assist the principal in solo passages or to make parts louder.

Horn Factfile

The highest member of the brass family is the trumpet, and it’s also the oldest musical instrument, dating back to around 1500BC. Like the horn the sound is produced by varying lip pressure on the mouthpiece and by piston valves on the top which lengthen the tubing and therefore lower the pitch. It wasn’t until after Brahms that valved trumpets were used in orchestras, though, which was the point at which it really took off as it could play more notes! The sound of the trumpet can be very loud or very soft, and is often equated with military style. Trumpets are capable of producing a huge variety of effects – flutter tonguing, sliding between notes, growling, making noises through the instrument and by an unending variety of mutes which are put into the bell. There are often four trumpets in the orchestra, and it has a variety of relatives, many of which rarely make an appearance, but are much more common in brass or jazz bands – cornet, flugelhorn, bugle, bass trumpet and piccolo trumpet.

Trumpet Factfile

The name trombone comes from the Italian Tromba (trumpet) and –one (large), and therefore literally is a ‘large trumpet’. It is though the only brass instrument that doesn’t have valves (although some have one to make small adjustments), instead the notes are changed by changing the length of the tube using a large slide. The trombone is made of brass, although recently some have been made of plastic as a cheaper and more robust alternative – it also means they can be made in a variety of jazzy colours! The trombone you will commonly see in symphony orchestras is a tenor trombone, although it’s rarely called that. You might also see a bass trombone sitting between the trombones and the tuba, a larger and lower pitched instrument.

Trombone Factfile

Sitting at the bottom of the brass pile is the tuba. The biggest and lowest of the brass family is played using vibrating lips and with valves, and is made of lacquered brass so needs to be polished frequently. It usually carries the bass line of the music, and reinforces the lines of the string and woodwind bass instruments. Although it looks cumbersome, there have been several solo concerti written for the instrument. Like the trombone, the word ‘tuba’ actually means trumpet (in Latin) – and so we can therefore conclude that all brass instruments are basically trumpets! There is usually only one tuba in the orchestra, but it does have several cousins which are more frequently seen in brass and marching bands, such as the euphonium, tenor tuba, Wagner tuba and Sousaphone.

Tuba Factfile

Among the array of percussion instruments at the back of the orchestra the one constant is the timpani, or ‘kettle drums’ - so called because of their copper bowl shape. Across the top of the drum is stretched a skin, which is usually plastic but can be made of calf skin or goat skin. The drum is hit with sticks, the heads of which are different materials and softness which the player chooses to produce different qualities of sound. There are usually two or more timpani present at any one time depending on the needs of the music, gradually reducing in size to produce higher notes – four or five drums is about average, but up to 16 has been known! Timpanists can produce different notes from the drum by use of tuning foot pedals which alter the tightness of the skin, and very modern “timps” also have micro-tuning levers and switches for ultimate control. The timpanist in the orchestra, although a trained percussionist, specialises in timpani playing and very rarely plays any of the other percussion instruments. Or as the conductor Norman del Mar once put it, “king of his own province”!

Timpani Factfile

To describe everything that one could find in a percussion section would take years – really this group is only limited by the imagination of the composer! If you can hit, scrape or shake something and make it make a sound, it can be a percussion instrument. Consequently percussionists are a resourceful bunch and need to be proficient in all sorts of techniques. Percussion can be split into broadly two categories: tuned and untuned. Tuned percussion instruments include xylophones, glockenspiels, marimbas, tubular bells, hang drums, steel pans and hand bells; while untuned includes all sorts of drums, woodblocks, gongs, maracas, triangles, tambourines, castanets, cymbals and pretty much anything your average junk yard can provide: car brake drums, buckets, bags, anvils, saws, typewriters, metal sheets and even bowls of water. The percussion section is central to an ensemble: at the most basic level they often provide the pulse of the music. In orchestras though, percussion usually provides the “special effects” of the music – and it’s often as much fun to watch the percussionists (any number from 2 to 10 can regularly be seen) move around the instruments and each other during quick changes!

Percussion Factfile

LSO Oboist Rosie Jenkins discusses the role of the second oboe, technical aspects and interpretation of notation and fingering, and the LSO as custodians of Enigma.

Oboe Masterclass

LSO Co-Principal Double Bass Colin Paris discusses performance techniques as the instrument takes centre stage during variations W.M.B. and Troyte, and the bass sections’ least favourite variation.


Double Bass Masterclass

Conducting this performance of “the first indisputable masterpiece of Elgar,” Sir Simon Rattle discusses how Sir Edward Elgar came to compose the Enigma Variations and describes his relationship with the work.

Sir Simon Rattle on Elgar

Elgar said any connections between his opening theme and the variations were often just of the merest texture. Hear from Rachel Leach as she explores the Elgar’s use of theme, structure and recurring rhythm in his variations, and discusses how he came upon the idea of creating variations for the 'friends pictured within.'

Listening Guide: Introduction to Elgar's Variations

LSO Animateur Rachel Leach describes how Sir Edward Elgar translated his good friend Richard Baxter Townshend's unique singing voice and bicycle bell into Variation III R.B.T. (Allegretto). 

Variation III - Richard Baxter Townshend

LSO Animateur Rachel Leach discusses the musically-linked Variations V R.P.A. (Moderato) and VI Ysobel (Andantino), describing Elgar's friend Richard Penrose Arnold and Isabel Fitton, Elgar's pupil and string player.

Variations V & VI - Richard Penrose Arnold and Isabel Fitton

LSO Animateur Rachel Leach discusses Variation VII Troyte (Presto), about architect and friend of Elgar's, Arthur Troyte Griffith. This variation sees a return of the Enigma rhythm and describes Troyte's unique piano playing style.

Variation VII - Troyte

LSO Animateur Rachel Leach discusses Variation VIII W.N. (Allegretto), a sophisticated and charming variation either describing Winifred Norbury and her giggling in the local orchestra, or her house.

Variation VIII - Winifred Norbury

LSO Animateur Rachel Leach discusses the mysterious Variation XIII *** (Romanza). A person taking a long journey is described in this spooky interlude before the finale of Elgar's variations.

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