The next lecture to be given by Michael Eakin, the CEO of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society, is dedicated to the memory of founder member and first Chairman of the Society of Thirteen, Aidan Woodcock: 1925 – 2016. Aidan continued to take an interest in and to support the society financially until his death. At tonight’s lecture, with its story of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (RLPO), it seems fitting for us to pay tribute to his very full life and his long association with music and in particular the RLPO.
The attached is a shortened version of his life-story as given to the audience of a Commemorative Concert in Surrey in the year of his death.
“As a very small child Aldan, was captivated by his father’s recordings of the Brahms symphonies on 78 rpm records, triggering an early interest in music. His father was an erudite and literary man with a deep interest in music who would support Aidan’s career later on with the gift of a Strad. Aidan began lessons at the age of four and continued at Uppingham where he was extremely fortunate to have a violin teacher who recognised an exceptional talent.
Like many, Aidan’s education was interrupted by the war although not before he was able to play for the Liverpool Philharmonic as an extra. Returning from India in 1947 he joined the Phil under Sir Malcolm Sargent. A year later he moved to London and joined the London Symphony Orchestra. In November 1948 he married Susan and they began life together in Hampstead.
The LSO’s concert schedule gave Aldan time to undertake two years of violin study with the renowned violin teacher, Max Rostal and he played in the New London Orchestra for opera productions and, in 1951, in the inaugural concerts in the brand-new Royal Festival Hall.
Parallel with these developments, events of a more personal kind entered his life. The death of his brother in a wartime operation (in 1942) had left no obvious heir to take over the family business, a wholesale news-agency based in the north west. Aidan reluctantly took on this responsibility and with Susan, moved to Chester in order to do so.
After his orchestral career was curtailed by an unexpected hearing problem, he continued playing chamber music. Between Liverpool, (the Phil) and Manchester, (the Halle) there was little, if any, professional music-making in the north west. Consequently, he set about founding not one but several music organisations. He started and conducted the Chester Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestra was composed of professional and semi-professional players and the standard was high. But aware that he could not match the performance standard of the LSO he found other ways to attract audiences. The first public concert given by father and son, Paul Tortelier and Pascal Tortelier in which they played the Brahms double concerto, was conducted by Aidan in 1962. It was also around this time in 1963 that Aidan and others founded The Society of Thirteen.
In his work career he built and developed the family business over a period of nearly 30 years as its managing director. To its core business of wholesale news agency arid distribution, he later added printing. He acquired part of the distribution business of W H Smith in the north west, and introduced full computerisation in 1972, the first in the industry.
In 1986 Aidan retired and he and Susan moved to Surrey. Through Margaret Norris, (head of strings at the Menuhin School and with whom he had first played chamber music in the 1960s in Chester), Aldan and Susan learnt about a house close to the Menuhin School that became their final home. He began playing chamber music regularly with Margaret and pupils from the Menuhin School and on occasion, with Menuhin himself.
Their home became a venue for nearly 500 chamber music concerts and was the heart of a wide musical community composed of players and music lovers. About fifteen years ago Aidan founded his eponymous chanty (The Aidan Woodcock Charitable Trust) offering intensive training courses in chamber music. Through this charity many young players benefited musically from the courses, but also from the welcome and support given to them by Aldan and Susan.
There is no question that Aidan’s legacy will make a significant difference not just to its practitioners but to the future of chamber music itself.”