OBITUARIES

ERICH HARTMANN

Double bassist Erich Hartmann, who died on 6 July, was the oldest surviving memberof the Berlin Philharmonie at the time of his death.He celebrated his lOOth birthday on 26 January 2020 in Berlin with former colleagues, who performed parts of his own double bass quartet in his honour.

The son of a Leipzig piano maker, Hartmann studied composition with Hermann Grabnerand double bass with Theodor Albin Findeisen. Hartmann was Findeisen’s last Student at the time of his early death in 1936 and continued his studies with Max Schulz. His first Professional experience was with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

Having served in the army, Hartmann was severely wounded and exempted from further service. In 1943 he successfullyauditioned forthe Berlin Philharmonie and became a memberof the orchestra. He played under Wilhelm Furtwängler and through almost the entire Herbert von Karajan era.

In 1967 Hartmann founded the Berlin Philharmonie Bass Quartet, whose members overthe years have included Klaus Stoll, Wolfgang Kohly, Manfred Dupak, Rudolf Watzel and Friedrich Witt.In 1973 he was awarded the Ring of Honour by the Berlin Philharmonie and received its Hans von Bülow Medal in 1985.

An accomplished and dedicated composer, he wrote, among other works, a Quartet for double basses (1967), a Duo for cello and double bass, premiered by Klaus Stoll and Jörg Baumann (1982), an Octet for double basses (premiered in 1976), two trios forviolin, cello and double bass and an adaptation of the Strauss waltz On the Beautiful Blue Danube for eight basses, which was performed on the lOOth anniversary of the Berlin Philharmonie in 1982.

Hartmann retired from the Berlin Philharmonie in 1985 after more than 41 years of Service, but maintained a special bond with it throughout the rest of his life.

GARYPEACOCK

The American jazz bassist Gary Peacock died on 4 September aged 85. Over his decades-longcareer he was best known for his collaborations with pianist Keith Jarrett, and performed with musicians including Bill Evans and Miles Davis.

Peacock grew up in Yakima, Washington, studying trumpet, piano and drums in high school. He heard live jazz for the first time when he was 15, attending a Jazz atthe Philharmonie concertfeaturing Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown. Later he attended the Westlake College of Music in Los Angeles before being drafted into the army. During this military stint, while stationed in Germany, he began playing the piano as part of a jazz trio, but switched to bass when the group’s bassist quit.

Peacock continued to live and play in Europe afterhis discharge, eventually returning to California where he established himself as a bass player, recording with Don Ellis, Cläre Fischerand Prince Lasha. In 1962 he moved to New York where he joined Bill Evans’s trio. In 1964 he was briefly a part of Miles Davis’s quintet. Reflecting on his time with Davis, he stated that Davis ‘didn’t miss one thing. He heard everything that was happening all the time. I could hear that he was hearing it. There was that kind of focus, that kind of attention, that kind of commitment to what’s happening. It was a great experience, reallya great lesson. Miles was a great teacher, without teaching.

Fora few years in the late 1960s, Peacock took a break from music making. During that time he moved to Japan, where he studied Japanese, history and Eastern philosophy, returning to his musical career in the US in the early 1970s. In 1977 he recorded Tales ofAnother with Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette; together, they would later become known as the Standards Trio, owing to their focus on jazz Standards.

Throughout the 1980s and 90s Peacock released a number of albums underhis own name, and also played and toured extensively with Jarrett and DeJohnette.

He also performed and recorded in the Tethered Moon trio, with Masabumi Kikuchi and Paul Motian. He continued to playand record in trios overthe following decades.

GERALD BRINNEN

Gerald Brinnen, formerprincipal bass of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, died aged 88 on 1 September. Born in Stockport in 1932 Brinnen began studyingthe cello with Stuart Knussen Sr, principal cellist of the Halle. In doing so he became aware of my father, bassist Stuart Jr, and decided to move to the double bass. He became a pupil of the Halle’s principal bassist Arthur Shaw. Bytheage of 20 he himself had joined the Halle and in 1956 my father offered him a place in his section at the BBC Symphony, where Malcolm Sargent was chief conductor. Within a couple of years Gerald Drucker became principal bassist and Brinnen was named co-principal. He became sole principal bassist in 1965, and remained there until his retirement in 1992.

In the 1960s he decided to change from the French to German style of bass bow and studied with Czech Philharmonie principal, Frantisek Posta, with whom he remained friends until Posta’s death.

For many years he would not appoint French bow players to his section but relaxed this policy in the early 1980s. Sadly, Brinnen suffered a series of strokes before a majorone left him paralysed on one side in 2014. For the last five years he was resident in a care home in Ashtead, Surrey, where he was well looked after. Despite his Situation and an ageing mind he often wanted to hear of players he had known and to speak of his career

KENNETH KNUSSEN