Vernon Handley

Published Tuesday 16 September 2008 at 12:20 by Michael Quinn

Admired by orchestras, adored by audiences, Vernon Handley, one of the most committed and articulate champions of British music, has died at the age of 77.

Born in Enfield, Middlesex, on November 11, 1930, to an Irish mother and Welsh father, Handley was affectionately known to all as ‘Tod’, a nickname acquired in childhood as a result of being born with his toes turned inwards, causing him to ‘toddle’ along. He showed an early interest in music, but with money scarce at home, had to be content with teaching himself. After national service, he read English at Oxford, where most of his time was devoted to the music society, and afterwards attended the Guildhall School of Music.

An admirer of Sir Adrian Boult, Handley wrote to the eminent conductor, who subsequently took him on as his protege, gaining him his first professional engagement, with the Bournemouth Symphony in 1961 - a debut greeted with uproarious approval by the audience.

The following year he was appointed music director of the Guildford Philharmonic, where he stayed until 1985, before taking up principal conductorships with the Ulster Orchestra (until 1989) and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. In 1995 he was appointed associate conductor with the Royal Philharmonic, with whom he had been guesting since 1961.

During the mid-nineties, he spent a considerable amount of time in Australia with the Melbourne and West Australian Symphony Orchestras.

Taking his cue from Boult, Handley was a minimalist on the podium, physically restrained, but detailed and precise, his repertoire was impressively broad, despite notable blind spots with Beethoven, Mahler and Bruckner.

His abiding passion was for music from the British Isles. Of the 160 recordings he made, more than 90 were of British music, on which were first recordings of 87 homegrown works.

He recorded agenda-changing cycles of symphonies by Robert Simpson, Malcolm Arnold and Arnold Bax, and won a Gramophone Record of the Year Award three times. Having refused an OBE in 1988, he accepted a CBE in 2004.

Dogged by kidney problems in later years, exacerbated by serious car crashes in 1991 and 2002, Handley was a keen birdwatcher and rose gardener, as well as an accomplished carpenter.

He was married three times, most recently to the flautist Catherine Newby, and is survived by three sons and two daughters. Handley died at home in Monmouthshire on September 10.