Raymond Cohen

He had a clear technique and a vibrant tone, characterised by his expressive interpretation of the major concertos – Mendelssohn, Bruch, Brahms and Tchaikovsky among them. Audiences adored him, while critics praised his warm and velvety sound.

Raymond Cohen

Cohen was just 15 when he became the youngest-ever member of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester; three years later he was leader of the Pier Orchestra in Blackpool under Jan Hurst; on the eve of being conscripted, he famously performed three concertos in a single evening, a feat said to have been equalled only by Yehudi Menuhin.

On his return from five years' war service, and still in uniform, Cohen took the gold medal at the inaugural Carl Flesch violin competition of 1945. Described by John Barbirolli as "the most brilliantly gifted young violinist I have heard for many a day", he eventually rose to become leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Raymond Hyam Cohen was born in Manchester on July 27 1919, the grandson of Russian-Jewish émigrés. His father, a schoolmaster and self-taught amateur violinist, was his first teacher before he took lessons with Charles Hanke and, later, Lionel Falkman. From Manchester Grammar School he won a scholarship to the Royal Manchester College of Music, where he studied with Henry Holst, who had been leader of the Berlin Philharmonic in the 1920s. He was first heard on the wireless in 1932 and made his public debut at Harrogate in 1937.

His famous three-concerto concert in Manchester – he played Bach, Mendelssohn and Brahms – came in 1940. When the audience would not allow him to leave, he added some unaccompanied Bach by way of an encore. There were also regular prewar engagements with the Manchester Tuesday Midday Concerts, an influential chamber series.

Called up, he trained as a wireless operator with the Royal Signal Corps at Prestatyn and was about to be posted overseas when he secured a transfer to the Signals' Band at Catterick, under the pretext that he was a promising clarinettist. He was soon playing third clarinet, adapting pieces from the violin repertoire to the reed instrument. On one occasion he persuaded his colleagues to accompany him in a military band-style account of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. He also used the war years to continue practising the violin, adding works by Prokofiev, Bloch, Walton and Britten to his repertoire.
His success in the Flesch competition led to a London engagement playing Mendelssohn with the London Philharmonic, under George Weldon, at the Stoll Theatre. After a period as a rank-and-file violinist with the Royal Philharmonic he became leader of, successively, the Goldsborough, the Haydn, the New Symphony and the Pro Arte orchestras, before returning to the RPO in 1959 as leader, and remaining there until 1965.
For a long time Cohen had to borrow suitable instruments for his solo engagements, but after many years hunting round dealers and pawn shops he finally found a 1703 Stradivarius from which he was able produce a crisp and brilliant tone.
Three years ago he used the letters page of a national newspaper to object to the absence of vibrato from the violins of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra in a Prom concert of music by Elgar and Rossini directed by Roger Norrington. His complaint, that what he heard was "a disembowelled, dry sound with many bulges in the phrases", sparked a debate on both sides of the Atlantic.
In 1953 Cohen married the South African-born pianist, Anthya Rael, with whom he gave many recitals. They had a daughter and a son, Robert, the internationally-renowned cellist, with whom Raymond Cohen also occasionally performed. With Anthya, the pair appeared from time to time as the Cohen Trio. He continued to play until shortly before his death, on January 28, and is survived by his wife and children.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/8435992/Raymond-Cohen.html