Haydn Draper (clarinet) - Clarinet Concerto in A major, K 622 (Mozart) (1929)

Haydn Draper, with an unnamed orchestra conducted by Claude Powell, plays Mozart's Clarinet Concerto K 622, recorded c. March 1929. This was the first recording of the work. The movements are: 00:00 Allegro 10:50 Adagio 17:33 Rondo Haydn Paul Draper (1889-1934) was taught clarinet by his father Paul. By age 13, he was principal clarinet with the Savoy Opera Company, and at 17 he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, studying first under Julian Egerton and then under his uncle Charles Draper. On graduating, he took up the position of principal clarinet under the Queen's Hall Orchestra which he held until 1920 when he became principal clarinet of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He held other orchestral positions, was a member of the London Wind Quintet and was principal clarinet of the BBC Wireless Military Band. He was also clarinet professor at the Royal Academy of Music from 1921 until his death, his most famous pupil being Reginald Kell. Good photographs of Haydn Draper are hard to find, and I apologise for the quality of the one that appears in the slideshow. If, however, you take a look at the Vintage Sounds banner, you will see a wide-eyed Draper between two moustachioed gentlemen at the left. The banner is part of a photograph taken of Sir Henry Wood and the New Queen's Hall Orchestra during a recording session for Columbia on 2 July 1919.