The names of some of the players read like a musicians’ Who’s Who: David Martin was leader, Dennis Brain, first horn, Gareth Morris, first flute with rank-and-file players, Harry Blech, Frederick Grinke and Leonard Hirsch. Once, when the CO was absent, Blech took up the baton and news must have got around that he could wield it with some authority because the pianist Myra Hess, then running her famous National Gallery concerts, asked him to do a series of “Serenades”. He promptly got together a wind group (the London Wind Players) from his friends in the RAF band; the concerts were sellouts. He told me: “Even conductors wrote to me saying what a pleasure it was to hear a wind group play so beautifully in tune.

In those days there were no wind bands at all.”Towards the end of the war Blech was approached by the London Philharmonic Orchestra asking if he was interested in a post as associate conductor. He was thrilled at the prospect but had done so little conducting that he thought he ought first to gain some experience. He admitted that from childhood he had “an itch to conduct” but never dreamt it would happen So in 1946 he formed the London Symphonic Players. He was amazed at the response; it attracted students from all the colleges and some good amateurs, and their first concert at the Kingsway Hall drew a capacity audience.Then a pianist friend who was tired of giving endless recitals suggested that they give another concert when she would play two Mozart concertos; moreover, she would find a backer for the event. So, with Max Salpeter as leader, Blech booked the Wigmore Hall and it was packed. Soon pianists and other soloists were clamouring to play Mozart concertos; the pianists Denis Matthews, Nina Milkina and Franz Osborn took part and Dennis Brain did all the Mozart horn concertos. Their popularity was such that on occasion they had to repeat the same programme on another night.These were the days when there was a tax on tickets for any commercial venture, so the group found financial backing and formed themselves into a charity.

As the London Mozart Players they gave their first concert at the Wigmore Hall on 11 February 1949 with an all-Mozart programme. They were so successful that in 1951 Blech was approached by the organisers of the South Bank building project, asking if he would like to come in at the start and reserve some concert dates. Blech told me:I thought they were talking about engagements, but they were really offering me dates with a guarantee against loss. I didn’t think it was worthwhile and was just about to leave when they asked if we would like to take part in the opening week when Toscanini would be conducting. I pretended not to be too excited but, of course, I jumped at the idea. So we played in that opening week and it was a very exciting experience.In fact Toscanini never came. There had been grumbling about foreign conductors after the war, so in the end Sir Malcolm Sargent conducted the first ever concert at the Royal Festival Hall.The London Mozart Players became one of Britain’s most popular chamber orchestras – and the only one with a wind section befitting the classical repertory.