Dennis Brain

Dennis Brain is recognized as perhaps the greatest horn player the world has known. He helped rescue the horn from the obscurity in which it had languished for over a century, and revived the public's faith in it as a major solo instrument. Brain restored to the concert platform concertos by Mozart and Haydn, and inspired contemporary composers to write for the horn, most notably the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings by Benjamin Britten, composed during World War II, a piece which is now central to the repertoire of tenors and horn players. Brain died at the tragically young age of thirty-six in a car crash. The beauty of his playing and his untimely death captured the public imagination like no horn player before or since. This biography was reissued thirty years after his death, and includes a discography. The book also contains an appreciation by Benjamin Britten. 'A clear account of Dennis Brain's brilliant career ...' Times Literary Supplement '...an absorbing and extremely well-written account of the orchestral scene in England.'

Stephen J.Pettitt was born in 1945. For 37 years he has headed the music department of The King's School, Tynemouth. A keen horn player himself, he founded and is Principal Conductor of the New Tyneside Orchestra which has broadcast and toured abroad. Married with three children, he is also the author of Philharmonia Orchestra: A Record of Achievement 1945-1985 and co-author of Philharmonia Orchestra: Complete Discography.