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Tommy (Thomas Rundle) Reilly. Harmonica player, composer, teacher, b Guelph, Ont, 21 Aug 1919, d Frensham, Surrey, England, 25 Sep 2000. His father, Captain James Reilly (1886-1956), a trumpeter and violinist, led (in Guelph, 1920-5) one of the first jazz bands in Canada. The younger Reilly studied violin at eight and began playing harmonica at 11 as a member of his father's Elmdale Harmonica Band. The band won several CNE competitions and Reilly won medals for solo playing in southern Ontario festivals. In 1935 the family moved to London. Though Reilly had played in England 1935-7 and continental Europe 1937-9, it was not until his arrest (while studying violin at the Leipzig Conservatory) and subsequent internment 1939-45 in prisoner-of-war camps that he developed his virtuosity on the harmonica, basing his ideas of phrasing and interpretation on the playing of Jascha Heifetz.
Returning to London in 1945, and resolved to establish the mouth organ as an instrument of high artistic worth, Reilly began parallel careers as a concert soloist and recitalist, a popular BBC radio and TV performer, and a studio musician-composer. He has performed with most of the major European orchestras, toured Europe several times with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, performed often at major festivals, including the 1982 Festival of the Sound, and performed in North America, Australia, and Africa. He remained based in the UK, but since first returning to Canada in 1982, appeared with orchestras in Toronto, Winnipeg, Quebec City (1991), and Calgary, among other places, and the 1993 Guelph Spring Festival. Over 30 concert works have been composed for Reilly, including Michael Spivakovsky's Concerto, 1951, considered the first important full-scale concerto for harmonica, Robert Farnon's Prelude and Dance for Harmonica and Orchestra, several works with orchestra and others with string quartet or strings and woodwinds by Reilly's accompanist James Moody, Matyas Seiber's Old Scottish Air for Harmonica, Strings and Harp, and Richard Rodney Bennett's Suite for harmonica and piano. In the absence of a concert repertoire for the instrument, Reilly transcribed works by Bach, Chopin, Mozart, Smetana, Sarasate, and others. Reilly also composed short harmonica pieces, incidental music for the stock-music libraries of Chappell and other companies, and theme music for BBC TV and radio. His first recording, for Parlophone, was produced by George Martin in 1951. He also performed music for the soundtracks of many US and European films and for several US TV series. Among the composers who wrote film scores expressly for Reilly were Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstein, and Dimitri Tiomkin. Reilly gave master classes 1966-8 at the Städtische Musikschule in Trossingen, Germany, at Fanfare 84 in Toronto, and annually from 1985 in Norway. He taught 1967-71 at the Tommy Reilly International Club in Surrey, attracting pupils from around the world. He wrote several textbooks for harmonica and continued to create widespread interest in the instrument through lecture-recitals, master classes, radio broadcasts, and teaching at the GSM. In 1967 he designed a concert harmonica, later manufactured by Hohner and marketed as the Silver Concerto Chromonica. In 1992, Reilly became the first harmonica player to be made a Member of the Order of the British Empire. His other awards included the Gold Medal of the Deutscher Harmonika-Verband, and a Golden Badge from the British Association of Composers, Authors and Songwriters. Sir Neville Marriner and Stravinsky were among those who admired his playing.
Writings
Play Like the Stars (London 1952) Progressive Exercises (London 1954) Studies for the Chromatic Harmonica (London 1954) Tommy Reilly Harmonica Course (London 1969, Oslo 1971)
Author
Betty Nygaard King
Discography
Dale Robertson Presents Western Classics. Roland Shaw and his Orch. (1960). RCA RD-27175/RCA LPM-2158 The Life of Reilly. J. Moody and His Players. (1965). World Sound T-541 Chromonica Rallye mit Tommy Reilly. (1967). Concorde ORL-ST-5002 Colours of My Life. Hindar Quar. (1968). Poly 184-107/Poly 2914-034 Melody Fair. Kai Warner Singers and Orchestra. (1969). Poly 222-002 Latin Harmonica. Kai Warner and His Orchestra. (1970). Poly 184-367/Poly 2418-021 The Harmonica of Tommy Reilly: Scarlatti - Bach - Rachmaninoff - Farnon - et al. Ørnung piano, string quartet. (1971). Poly 2382-002 The Music of Robert Farnon: Farnon Prelude and Dance for Harmonica and Orchestra. R. Farnon Orchestra. (1971). Poly 2382-008 Wand'rin' Star. (1971). Poly 2384 029/Poly 2383-046 Tommy Reilly Plays Fried Walter. Berlin Studio Players, Walter conductor. (1971). Apollo Sound AS-1008 Harmonica Parisien. T. Reilly and His Orchestra. (1972). Poly 2382-016/Poly 2484-044 Warm Latin Sounds. T. Reilly and His Orchestra. (1975). Philips 6382-081 The Silver Sound of the Harmonica: Jacob Divertimento for Harmonica and String Quartet - Moody Quintet for Harmonica and String Quartet. Hindar Quar. (1975). Argo ZDA-206/Chandos CHAN-8802 (CD) Music for Two Harmonicas: Moody - Jacob - Tausky - Reilly - et al. S. Groven harmonica, Armon Str Quar, others. (1976). Poly 2922 008 Flåklypa Grand Prix, soundtrack: Fabricius-Bjerre. (1976). Poly 2382-066 Mark Twain: D. Reilly. Bing Crosby narrator.(1976). 3-Argo ZSW-561-3 Tommy Reilly, Harmonica: Moody - Jacob - Tausky - Vaughan Williams. Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Marriner dir. 1976. Argo ZRG-856/Chandos CHAN-8617(CD) Harmonica Recital: Chopin - Walton - et al. Moody piano, Kanga harp. (1978). Argo ZK-55/Mus H Soc MHS-7272 Tarka the Otter, soundtrack: Fanshawe. (1979). Argo ZSW-613 Tommy Reilly Plays Villa-Lobos Harmonica Concerto: Villa-Lobos - Arnold - Benjamin. London Sinfonietta, Atherton conductor. 1979. Argo ZRG-905 Thanks For The Memory. Moody piano. 1980. Chandos LRBD-020/Chandos CHAN-8645 (CD) Romantic Melodies: Bach - Gounod - Moody - et al. Kanga harp. (1981). Philips 9500-997/(Moody) Chandos CHAN-8802 (CD) Winnetou-Melodien. Münchner Rundfunk O, Böttcher conductor. (1981). Teldec 6-24965-AS Tommy Reilly & Pluche. Pluche Salon O. (1985). Nova-Zembla NZR-85001 British Folk-Songs. Kanga harp. 1986. Chandos LBRD-017/Chandos CHAN-8559 (CD) Serenade: Moody - Fauré - Grieg - Handel - et al. Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields Chamb Ens. 1986. Chandos ARBD-1202/Chandos CHAN-8486 (CD) Serenade Vol 2. Moszkowski - Bach - Gounod - Villa-Lobos et al. Kanga harp. 1991. Chandos CHAN 6568. Concertos for Harmonica and Orchestra. Spivakovsky - Arnold - Villa-Lobos - Moody. 1993. Chandos CHAN 9248 Also many singles (78s and 45s), beginning in 1951, for Parlophone, Hohner, Metronome, Oriole, Fontana, Philips, and other labels, as soloist with various popular orchestras, and two instruction LPs for Hohner
Bibliography
Gilmour, Clyde. 'Tommy Reilly: Britain's Heifetz of the harmonica,' Toronto Star, 1 May 1982 Schulman, Michael. 'Interview,' Toronto FM Guide, May 1982 Durichen, Pauline. 'Mouth-organ never sounded like this,' Kitchener-Waterloo Record, 12 Feb 1983 White, Robert. "Harmonica player performed the classics," Toronto Globe and Mail, 29 Sep 2000
Links to Other Sites
Tommy Reilly
An obituary for acclaimed harmonica player Tommy Reilly. From the Guardian website.
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