Thelma Reiss

In that decade she performed concertos with most major British orchestras, made several tours in Europe, and gave premieres of works by Arnold Bax and George Dyson, before her career was interrupted by the Second World War.

Contemporary accounts of her playing emphasise her "beautiful, unforced tone", according to Margaret Campbell in The Great Cellists, and her "attractive appearance and warm platform personality" made her popular with audiences.

[3][5][9] She then went on tour in the south-west of England, displaying her musical and dancing skills,[3][5] including a performance of a scotch reel at the Plymouth Theatre Royal, which a local newspaper described as being the "greatest success".

[3][5][7] After graduating, the economic depression meant that she had trouble finding concert work, and she continued to play in a wide range of venues including in a music-hall variety act accompanied by a jazz band.

[4][9] In addition to Wood, well-known conductors with whom she performed professionally as a soloist include John Barbirolli,[15] Thomas Beecham,[7] Adrian Boult,[7] Malcolm Sargent,[2][16] Rudolf Schwarz[7] and Felix Weingartner.

[3][7] During the Second World War, she toured Britain with the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, playing in hospitals and factories,[4][5][7] and during the early years continued to give concerts in London.

[6] Margaret Campbell writes in The Great Cellists that Reiss's "attractive appearance and warm platform personality" made her popular with audiences, and that contemporary accounts of her playing emphasise her "beautiful, unforced tone".

[9] A review in Hamburger Anzeiger (quoted by Campbell) on her German debut that year highlights her "outstanding ability" and "marvellous technique", and notes that her "playing moves the audience from beginning to end".

[3] A Times review the same year of a Proms performance of Brahms's Double Concerto, with Eda Kersey, writes that Reiss "makes up in skill what she lacks in sheer strength", and particularly praises her phrasing.

[22] A Times review of a 1950 recital considers that Reiss had "regained and surpassed her old easy mastery" of her instrument after the war, adding that "music drips from her bow" and describing her tone as "like honey".