D Bradley

About

D Bradley played the violin on The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life“. Could “D Bradley” be “Desmond Bradley” ?

From Queen Elisabeth Competition:

Born in 1934 into a musical family, Desmond Bradley was playing from a very young age with great encouragement from his parents, who were both professional musicians. By the age of seven years, he already had under his belt performances on local radio in his home town of Melbourne, Australia. In an effort to continue his rise, the good people of Australia kindly raised enough money for him to move to Paris at the age of 16 years to study with George Enescu. Upon completing these studies, and having moved to London, he began to make his mark by entering the scene and competing in the most prestigious competitions, including the 1959 Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition.

Having given his debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall on 1st December 1953, the first of 6 Wigmore Hall recitals, Desmond Bradley went on to have a very successful career as soloist and concert master in London and elsewhere. His achievements include a self-funded recording and performances of Paganini’s 24 Caprices in the mid-to-late 1960s , later released on EMI Classics, and the composition of three symphonies, a violin concerto and numerous other works. He died in 1992, after battling a long illness, leaving behind his wife and three sons.

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“A Day In The Life” session

The orchestra overdubs for “A Day In The Life” were recorded on February 10, 1967. The Beatles decided to use a symphony orchestra to fill the 24-bar gap between the two sections of the track. To allay concerns that classically trained musicians would not be able to improvise the section, producer George Martin wrote a loose score for the section. It was an extended, atonal crescendo that encouraged the 40-piece orchestra to improvise within the defined framework.

Paul McCartney had the idea to turn this unconventional session into a sort of happening. The musician were asked to attend in full evening dresses and were given accessories like red false noses, flowery paper spectacles or large gorilla paws…

In addition, the session was filmed for use in a planned television special. But given the BBC’s ban of “A Day In The Life“, because of what they assumed were drug references, the idea was abandoned. In 2015, portions of the film were released in the “A Day in the Life” promotional film, included in the three-disc versions of the Beatles’ 2015 video compilation 1+.

The orchestra and George Martin had been asked to attend in full evening dress, which the Beatles also promised they would wear. The Beatles did not keep their word but the orchestra and George Martin looked very smart in their tuxedos. In order to get them into the mood to play something unconventional and to encourage in them an element of playful spontaneity, the Beatles went among the players handing out party favours. Mal Evans had been sent to a joke shop on Great Russell Street and returned with plastic stick-on nipples, plastic glasses with false eyes, rubber bald pates, some with knotted handkerchiefs balanced on them, huge fake cigars, party hats and streamers: David McCallum, the leader of the London Philharmonic, wore a large red false nose; Erich Gruenberg, the leader of the second violins, had on a pair of flowery paper spectacles and held his bow in a large gorilla paw; the bassoon players, Alfred Waters and N. Fawcett, had balloons attached to their instruments which inflated and deflated with each note, raising a laugh from George Martin.

From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

And if that wasn’t unorthodox enough, they were even more bemused, if not downright aghast, by Paul’s instructions that they all play as out of tune and out of time as possible. This twist was added during the taping of “A Day In The Life”‘s cosmic crescendo, for which Paul had assumed – with obvious relish – the role of “conductor.”

Pete Shotton – From “The Beatles, Lennon, And Me“, 1984

It was quite a chaotic session. Such a big orchestra, playing with very little music. And the Beatle chaps were wandering around with rather expensive cameras, like new toys, photographing everything.

Alan Civil – Horn player – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn, 1988

Only the Beatles could have assembled a studio full of musicians, many from the Royal Philharmonic or the London Symphony orchestras, all wearing funny hats, red noses, balloons on their bows and putting up with headphones clipped around their Stradivari violins acting as microphones.

Peter Vince, studio engineer – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn, 1988

Last updated on January 7, 2024