When sifting through the musical obituaries, my eyes usually settle on the composers, conductors, and star performers. Less glory is allotted to orchestra musicians, whose artistry often is not properly appreciated until it’s too late. I mean, their importance is understood, if perhaps a tad taken for granted, but wider fame and adulation usually elude them. This, despite the quality of their performances having such a profound impact on listeners.
It’s only days after I saw that David Cripps died that it finally registers who he was. Cripps served as principal horn of the London Symphony Orchestra during the halcyon years of 1974 to 1983. So it is Cripps’ horn that set me dreaming as an 11 year-old as I wore out the grooves on my original two-LP set of the soundtrack to “Star Wars.” That’s Cripps conjuring the romance of far horizons in “Princess Leia’s Theme” and the music for Tatooine’s binary sunset. As was often the case, John Williams tailored much of his music recorded with the orchestra during that era by drawing on his intimate working knowledge of the LSO’s principal performers.
During his time with the orchestra, Cripps also appeared as soloist in repertoire ranging from the Mozart and Strauss Horn Concertos to Benjamin Britten’s “Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings.” I assume that’s him in the slow movement of André Previn’s recording of Vaughan Williams’ “A London Symphony” and as principal horn at the other links provided below.
Cripps joined the LSO as a section player in 1970. Previn served as the orchestra’s principal conductor from 1968 to 1979. He was succeeded by Claudio Abbado, who held the post until 1988.
Cripps spent the latter part of his career in the U.S. He died in Tucson on Saturday. He was an unsung hero, in a way, having touched so many beyond the concert hall who never knew his name, thanks to the medium of the movies.
Cripps talks “Star Wars”
“Princess Leia’s Theme”
Binary sunset
Vaughan Williams, “A London Symphony,” Mov’t. II: Lento
Mendelssohn, Nocturne from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
“André Previn’s Music Night”
