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Pat Ryan and Handel Concerto

Author: JohnBach
Date: 2016-10-01 18:10

There was a discussion in this Forum in 2006 about Pat Ryan, first clarinet in the Halle Orchestra for many years up to 1957. Shortly before he retired and as a tribute to him, Barbirolli arranged some Handel organ concerto movements into a clarinet concerto, which Pat Ryan performed in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester (the Halle's then venue). The sheet music for this Handel-Barbirolli work exists, but I can locate no recording of it.

Can anyone help?

It's of special significance to me as Pat Ryan taught my father, who died in 1964, while Laurance Turner, then Halle leader, was teaching me. As mentioned before in these columns, Pat Ryan used a simple system clarinet and played everything on the Bb. His tone was pure and sweet and he was inclined to play quietly, so much so that Laurance Turner complained of this when I suggested that the strings could have been quieter in the performance of the concerto. Perhaps this is why there is no recording? Indeed, I can imagine Pat Ryan declining a recording offer - a great musician and a shy and retiring man.

Does anyone have any memories of this?

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