Editing Dennis Brain (section)

===RAF and wartime===
At the start of the [[Second World War]] Brain and his brother joined the armed forces. Unlike Germany and Italy, Britain did not exempt musicians from conscription, but the conductor of the [[Central Band of the Royal Air Force]], Wing Commander Rudolph O'Donnell, made considerable, and largely successful, efforts to ensure that, as [[Walter Legge]] put it, "every exceptionally able young instrumentalist knew that a place would be found for him in the RAF Band".<ref name=legge/> The band became what ''[[The Independent]]'' described as "a legendary ensemble",<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-cecil-james-1068573.html "Obituary: Cecil James"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218071139/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-cecil-james-1068573.html |date=2021-02-18 }}, ''The Independent'', 23 October 2011</ref> and an RAF Symphony Orchestra was a spin-off. With them, Brain made a three-month tour of the US in 1944–45, and played during the [[Potsdam Conference]] in 1945.<ref name=odnb/>

Players in the RAF ensemble were allowed to perform for civilian managements when not required for official duties. Brain made 26 solo appearances in the wartime [[Myra Hess#Second World War|National Gallery]] concerts organised by [[Myra Hess]], in a range of works including the Mozart Horn Quintet (K407) and the Brahms Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano (Op. 40), which became, as his biographer Tim Barringer writes, "his signature works in later years".<ref name=odnb>Barringer, Tim. [https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/32034 "Brain, Dennis (1921–1957)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614175714/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-32034;jsessionid=5F7DF320837F28C44E58B15008682741 |date=2021-06-14 }}, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2021 {{ODNBsub}}</ref> For the BBC he made more than 20 broadcasts during the war for the home or forces networks, mostly of chamber music, but on one occasion playing the Mozart [[Horn Concerto No. 4 (Mozart)|Horn Concerto K495]] with the [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]] conducted by [[Adrian Boult|Sir Adrian Boult]].<ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?order=asc&q=%22Dennis+Brain%22 "Dennis Brain"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614175653/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?order=asc&q=%22Dennis+Brain%22 |date=2021-06-14 }}, BBC Genome; and  [https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/a9d1041064c9410198d94245b4ab0ae2 "BBC Orchestra"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614175722/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/a9d1041064c9410198d94245b4ab0ae2 |date=2021-06-14 }}, ''Radio Times'', 13 September 1942, p. 14. Retrieved 12 June 2021</ref>

In mid-1942 Brain met the composer [[Benjamin Britten]]; the latter was writing incidental music, played by the RAF orchestra, for a series of BBC radio commentaries on war-time Britain which were being broadcast weekly to the US. Britten immediately recognised Brain's exceptional skill, and took little persuading to write a concert work for him. This was the [[Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings]],<ref name="bb"/> premiered at the [[Wigmore Hall]] in October 1944 with Brain and [[Peter Pears]] as soloists.<ref name=gs>Lewis, Geraint. [https://archive.org/details/Gramophone2020-10/page/93/mode/2up "Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings"], ''Gramophone'', October 2020, pp. 94–97</ref> Britten acknowledged Brain's help during the composition of the work:
{{blockindent|His help was invaluable in writing the work; but he was always most cautious in advising any alterations. Passages which seemed impossible even for his prodigious gifts were practised over and over again before any modifications were suggested, such was his respect for a composer's ideas.<ref name=bb>Britten, Benjamin. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/943677 "Dennis Brain (1921–1957)"], ''Tempo'' , Winter 1957–58, pp. 5–6 {{subscription required}} {{Cite web |url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3AUserLogin&uselang=en&returnto=Special%3AOAuth%2Fauthenticate&returntoquery=%26oauth_consumer_key%3Dc656df92ac58925bbcb164666bde5baf%26oauth_token%3D77b10d65d7eb3f83545f2a7d17789ac2 |title=Archived copy |access-date=14 June 2021 |archive-date=12 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612164122/https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3AUserLogin&uselang=en&returnto=Special%3AOAuth%2Fauthenticate&returntoquery=%26oauth_consumer_key%3Dc656df92ac58925bbcb164666bde5baf%26oauth_token%3D77b10d65d7eb3f83545f2a7d17789ac2 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>  }}