In his engaging obituary for the conductor Louis Frémaux, Tully Potter speculates that Frémaux’s experience of command in the Foreign Legion may have influenced his dealings “with difficult musicians”. I have wondered whether that and his experience of the second world war in France – he escaped from a German prison camp to rejoin the resistance – may have contributed to a certain reserve and independence of spirit.
After he had supper with my wife, Judith, and me, following a concert with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Swansea, we invited Frémaux to stay the night. He preferred, however, to drive up on to the Gower peninsula and spend the night in his camper van.
On another occasion, the then head of music for BBC Wales emerged from the Llandaff studios following a concert to be met by the smell of chips being cooked. It turned out to be Frémaux in his camper van.
Post his CBSO successors, Simon Rattle, Sakari Oramo and Adris Nelsons – and the opening of Symphony Hall in 1991 – it is easy to lose sight of the sense of excitement that he engendered in audiences at Birmingham town hall. A pleasant and courteous man, he was one of the least flashy of conductors, with a clear and precise manner, as can be seen in a performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra on YouTube.
