Music In Air Force Blue
Jane Anderson, Radio Times, April 2005
You might think a history of the RAF Symphony Orchestra during the Second World War wouldn't turn out to be the sexiest of documentaries but Sony Gold award-winning producer Alan Hall has pulled it off again: this is a riveting listen. It's the story of how Wing Commander Rudi O'Donnell persudaded his bosses that great music would boost the morale of servicemen and civilians, and then enlisted top-notch players. He recruited so many, in fact, that no orchestra of the time could ever have afforded to get them to perform together. Among the best of them, though only a teenager when he was called up, was horn player Dennis Brain, but other starry names included flautist Gareth Morris (who provides many entertaining recollections for the programme), violinist David Martin and the conductor Norman Del Mar. Based at Uxbridge in London, the orchestra was asked to play at Downing Street, tour the States and perform at the Potsdam Conference. The troops were not always so keen to hear them, however: Morris remembers a quip that they had to be marched in manacles to hear them play.
