Leslie Heward

[1] There he was one of the first pupils in Adrian Boult's conducting class, and was described by Hubert Parry as "the kind of phenomenon that appears once in a generation".

[6] Returning to the UK, Heward took over as conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra when Adrian Boult left to become Music Director at the BBC in 1930.

[7] Heward gained the respect of the orchestra's players, introduced bold programming, with 28 Birmingham premieres in his first season, and attracted front-rank soloists.

[9] Walter Legge produced all of Heward's recordings for EMI, judging him as "musically speaking the most satisfying conductor this country has had since Beecham.

[10] His earliest appearance on record was as the continuo player in Ernest Ansermet’s 1929 Decca performances of Handel's six Concerti Grossi, Op.

103, the Grieg, John Ireland and Shostakovich piano concertos with Benno Moiseiwitsch and Eileen Joyce,[14] and overtures by Johann Strauss and Borodin.

But of particular note was his landmark recording at the end of 1942 with the Halle of E.J Moeran's Symphony in G minor - a work which he had first conducted at its premiere in January 1938 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.