Jean Pougnet
Encyclopedia
Jean Pougnet was a Mauritian-born
concert violin
ist and orchestra leader, of British nationality, who was highly regarded in both the lighter and more serious classical repertoire during the first half of the twentieth century.
to British parents. His father held a civil service position there, and was an excellent amateur pianist who gave lessons. The family moved to England
in 1909, when Jean was 2. His musical ability was first recognised by his sister Marcelle, who gave him some violin lessons, and musical influences were also received from his elder brother René, a pianist. They happened to be near neighbours of the distinguished violin teacher Rowsby Woof, who took him on as a private pupil. In 1919 (aged 11) he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music
and studied there for 7 years.
, but his real break was a solo recital at the Wigmore Hall
just before his sixteenth birthday, and his appearance soon afterwards at a Promenade concert
. While he was still at the Academy he established a quartet. A Jean Pougnet Quartet appeared publicly at the Wigmore Hall in March 1926 to perform Beethoven
's Quartet, Op. 18, No. 3, the Vaughan Williams
Quartet in G minor, and the Ravel
Quartet. The group consisted of Pougnet, Hugo Rignold
as second violin (later a celebrated conductor), Harry Berly (a distinguished pupil of Lionel Tertis
) as viola and Douglas Cameron the link is wrong (cello). At about this time he assisted the Music Society String Quartet (later called the International String Quartet), consisting of André Mangeot and Boris Pecker (violins), Harry Berly (viola) and John Barbirolli
(cello), in recordings of the Purcell
Fantasia in 5 parts (on one note) and the Vaughan Williams (1912) Phantasy Quintet for strings, for the National Gramophonic Society.
Like Hugo Rignold, for several years Jean Pougnet made his career in light orchestras and bands as well as through Wigmore Hall classical recitals. He made a virtue of this necessity, recognizing its validity and challenges for the professional musician. Jack Hylton
's orchestra was first augmented by the Pougnet String Quartette (with Eric Siday
in place of Hugo Rignold) in early 1926 at the Kit-Kat Club. In October 1928 Jean Pougnet and his Orchestra (a Jack Hylton unit) were performing at the Green Park Hotel Piccadilly
. In the period 1928-1930 he was a frequent player with the New Mayfair Orchestra at the Savoy Hotel
under Carroll Gibbons
or Ray Noble
. Jean Pougnet and his Band were playing at the Berkeley Hotel Piccadilly in January to April 1930. In 1929 he married Frances Lois, of London: there were no children.
Sinfonia Concertante with Bernard Shore (principal viola of the BBC Symphony Orchestra
) in a Queen's Hall
Promenade concert of 8 September 1936, under Henry J. Wood. Pougnet's String Trio, with William Primrose
(viola) and Anthony Pini (cello), was broadcasting before the War. (Anthony Pini had recorded with the Pro Arte Quartet
during the 1930s and he and Henry Holst were associated with Louis Kentner
and Solomon in piano trio recordings during the early 1940s.)
At the outbreak of War, Pougnet was chosen to lead the BBC Salon Orchestra, which did much useful work for public morale until it was dissolved a few years later. In 1942 he was elected Leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra
, a position he stayed with until the end of 1945. With Frederick Riddle
replacing Primrose (permanently) at viola desk, his trio recorded the E. J. Moeran (1931) String Trio in G major in May 1941. During the War he continued to tour as a soloist in the provinces, sometimes sharing the platform with Leon Goossens
or Anthony Pini. In 1943 (November 6) he performed the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with Maurice Ward
(viola) under Adrian Boult
for the Royal Philharmonic Society.
violin concerto in a concert at Covent Garden, and gave the English premiere of a concerto by Richard Arnell
. Other living composers dedicated works to him. During the winter of 1946-1947 he perfected his interpretation of the Delius
concerto with Thomas Beecham
, their performances at Croydon
(October 27, 1946) and at the Delius Festival, Royal Albert Hall
(8 November 1946), and at the People's Palace in April 1947, spanning the Abbey Road Studios
recording sessions of 31 October and 1 November 1946. The wartime recording of this work by Albert Sammons
(said to have 'the dumbfounding splendour of a sunset'), although preferred by some, was deleted when Pougnet's account was published and this became the standard recording for many years. He performed the concerto at a Prom concert in August 1951 with the LSO.
Many of Pougnet's recordings were made in the rich period of the late 1940s and early 1950s, during the shift from 78rpm to early LP records, with the result that classic performances were often replaced by versions by other performers as the newer technology settled down, and have only recently become more widely available again. His recording of the Bach double concerto with Arthur Grumiaux
(Philharmonia Orchestra
under Walter Susskind
) had a restricted life. The Pougnet, Riddle and Pini trio continued to broadcast, and recorded trios by Beethoven (several volumes), Haydn (op 53 nos 1, 2, and 3), Mozart Divertimento in E flat major K 563, and Dohnányi
, Serenade op 10. Pini was meanwhile cellist of the fine Philharmonia Quartet
with Henry Holst, Ernest Element and Herbert Downes. Indeed Pougnet and Riddle take the second fiddle and viola desks with Pini and Holst in the Philharmonia Quartet's recording of the Mozart 'Hunt' Quartet (No 17 in B flat major).
In the same period Pougnet made his famous recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams
's The Lark Ascending
(London Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult, 1952) and played the solo in the same company's recording of Jean Sibelius
's En Saga
. His provincial work remained largely focused on southern England (he lived at various times in Ferring
(West Sussex
), and in Worthing
), and until 1956 he led the Eastbourne
Grand Hotel Palm Court Concerts. However he remained in demand for performance and recordings of the most serious chamber music, associated with the Dolmetsch
Ensemble, and recorded Leclair
sonatas with Arnold Goldsbrough (harpsichord) and James Whitehead (gamba) for Volume VI of the History of Music in Sound project. His 1951 recording of the Dittersdorf
concerto for violin, harpsichord and strings, was with Lionel Salter and the London Baroque Ensemble under Karl Haas
.
He continued to work in ensemble with modern works, recording the Robert Still
Quintet with Francisco Gabarro (cello), Geoffrey Gilbert
, George Crozier and Lionel Solomon (flutes), the Darius Milhaud
Little Symphony No 3, Op. 71 with Reginald Kell
(clarinet), Paul Draper (bassoon), George Eskdale (trumpet) and Anthony Pini under Walter Goehr
, and in April 1955 broadcasting the (1950) Flute Trio in A minor of Harold Truscott
on the BBC. He also appears in a recording of the Ravel Septet, and he recorded suites by Bartók with the New Symphony Orchestra
under Franco Autori.
(horn), which toured Scotland
twice. The group planned in 1957 to tour Australia
, but these arrangements were terminated by the death of Dennis Brain in a car accident at the end of 1957. Late in life Pougnet suffered a succession of misfortunes. As early as 1946 he had been noted for his enthusiasm for D.I.Y. Sometime later while so engaged he injured his arm tendons and was compelled to stop playing. After a long period of retirement he trained his fingers to play again and began to perform, but very soon afterwards he was diagnosed with cancer, which slowly killed him.
Pougnet played an instrument by Januarius Gagliano.
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
concert violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist and orchestra leader, of British nationality, who was highly regarded in both the lighter and more serious classical repertoire during the first half of the twentieth century.
Origins and training
Jean Pougnet was born in MauritiusMauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
to British parents. His father held a civil service position there, and was an excellent amateur pianist who gave lessons. The family moved to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1909, when Jean was 2. His musical ability was first recognised by his sister Marcelle, who gave him some violin lessons, and musical influences were also received from his elder brother René, a pianist. They happened to be near neighbours of the distinguished violin teacher Rowsby Woof, who took him on as a private pupil. In 1919 (aged 11) he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
and studied there for 7 years.
Early career
He made his first public appearance in his twelfth year at King's Hall, Covent GardenRoyal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, but his real break was a solo recital at the Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
just before his sixteenth birthday, and his appearance soon afterwards at a Promenade concert
Promenade concert
See The PromsAlthough the term Promenade Concert is normally associated today with the series of concerts founded in 1895 by Robert Newman and the conductor Henry Wood – a festival known today as the BBC Proms – the term originally referred to concerts in the pleasure gardens of London where the...
. While he was still at the Academy he established a quartet. A Jean Pougnet Quartet appeared publicly at the Wigmore Hall in March 1926 to perform Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's Quartet, Op. 18, No. 3, the Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
Quartet in G minor, and the Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
Quartet. The group consisted of Pougnet, Hugo Rignold
Hugo Rignold
Hugo Henry Rignold was an English conductor and violinist, who is best remembered as Musical Director of the Royal Ballet and conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra ....
as second violin (later a celebrated conductor), Harry Berly (a distinguished pupil of Lionel Tertis
Lionel Tertis
Lionel Tertis, CBE was an English violist and one of the first viola players to find international fame.Tertis was born in West Hartlepool, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants, and initially studied the violin in Leipzig and at the Royal Academy of Music in London...
) as viola and Douglas Cameron the link is wrong (cello). At about this time he assisted the Music Society String Quartet (later called the International String Quartet), consisting of André Mangeot and Boris Pecker (violins), Harry Berly (viola) and John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
(cello), in recordings of the Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
Fantasia in 5 parts (on one note) and the Vaughan Williams (1912) Phantasy Quintet for strings, for the National Gramophonic Society.
Like Hugo Rignold, for several years Jean Pougnet made his career in light orchestras and bands as well as through Wigmore Hall classical recitals. He made a virtue of this necessity, recognizing its validity and challenges for the professional musician. Jack Hylton
Jack Hylton
Jack Hylton was a British band leader and impresario.He was born John Greenhalgh Hilton in the Great Lever area of Bolton, Lancashire, the son of George Hilton, a cotton yarn twister. His father was an amateur singer at the local Labour Club and Jack learned piano to accompany him on the stage...
's orchestra was first augmented by the Pougnet String Quartette (with Eric Siday
Eric Siday
Eric Siday was a composer and musician. While most commonly known for his pioneering work in electro-acoustic music, his early career was that of a hot-jazz violinist in the London dance bands in the Roaring ’20s, including Ray Starita's Piccadilly Revels...
in place of Hugo Rignold) in early 1926 at the Kit-Kat Club. In October 1928 Jean Pougnet and his Orchestra (a Jack Hylton unit) were performing at the Green Park Hotel Piccadilly
Piccadilly
Piccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...
. In the period 1928-1930 he was a frequent player with the New Mayfair Orchestra at the Savoy Hotel
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
under Carroll Gibbons
Carroll Gibbons
Carroll Gibbons was an American-born musician, bandleader and composer who made his career primarily in Britain. He was born and raised in Clinton, Massachusetts. In his late teens he travelled to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music...
or Ray Noble
Ray Noble (musician)
Ray Noble was an English bandleader, composer, arranger and actor. Noble studied music at the Royal Academy of Music and became leader of the HMV Records studio band in 1929. The band, known as the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, featured members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day...
. Jean Pougnet and his Band were playing at the Berkeley Hotel Piccadilly in January to April 1930. In 1929 he married Frances Lois, of London: there were no children.
Classical opportunities
As opportunity arose during the 1930s, he left the band scene to concentrate on recitals, concerti, chamber music, broadcasts, recordings, and work in film studios. His classical reputation in this period is shown in a preserved 'live' recording of the MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
Sinfonia Concertante with Bernard Shore (principal viola of the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
) in a Queen's Hall
Queen's Hall
The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect T.E. Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts founded by Robert...
Promenade concert of 8 September 1936, under Henry J. Wood. Pougnet's String Trio, with William Primrose
William Primrose
William Primrose CBE was a Scottish violist and teacher.-Biography:Primrose was born in Glasgow and studied violin initially. In 1919 he moved to study at the then Guildhall School of Music in London. On the urging of the accompanist Ivor Newton, Primrose moved to Belgium to study under Eugène...
(viola) and Anthony Pini (cello), was broadcasting before the War. (Anthony Pini had recorded with the Pro Arte Quartet
Pro Arte Quartet
The Pro Arte String Quartet was founded in Belgium in 1912, and transferred permanently to Madison, Wisconsin in 1941. After becoming the Court Quartet to Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, the Pro Arte began the first of many international tours in 1919. Bartok, Milhaud and Honegger entrusted the...
during the 1930s and he and Henry Holst were associated with Louis Kentner
Louis Kentner
Louis Kentner was a Hungarian, later British, pianist who excelled in the works of Chopin and Liszt, as well as the Hungarian repertoire....
and Solomon in piano trio recordings during the early 1940s.)
At the outbreak of War, Pougnet was chosen to lead the BBC Salon Orchestra, which did much useful work for public morale until it was dissolved a few years later. In 1942 he was elected Leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
, a position he stayed with until the end of 1945. With Frederick Riddle
Frederick Riddle
Frederick Riddle OBE was an important British violist. He was considered to be in the line from Lionel Tertis and William Primrose, through to the violists of today such as Lawrence Power.-Biography:...
replacing Primrose (permanently) at viola desk, his trio recorded the E. J. Moeran (1931) String Trio in G major in May 1941. During the War he continued to tour as a soloist in the provinces, sometimes sharing the platform with Leon Goossens
Léon Goossens
Léon Jean Goossens CBE, FRCM was a British oboist.He was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal College of Music...
or Anthony Pini. In 1943 (November 6) he performed the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with Maurice Ward
Maurice Ward
Maurice Ward was an English inventor best known for Starlite, a thermal shielding material. He was a former hairdresser from Yorkshire, England. His demand that he keep 51% ownership of the formula for Starlite, and belief that the technology was worth billions of dollars, stunted the commercial...
(viola) under Adrian Boult
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...
for the Royal Philharmonic Society.
Post-War: Concert and recordings
His career uninterrupted, Pougnet took an important part in post-War music in Britain. Setting off on his solo career in December 1945, he made an impression with the Ernest BlochErnest Bloch
Ernest Bloch was a Swiss-born American composer.-Life:Bloch was born in Geneva and began playing the violin at age 9. He began composing soon afterwards. He studied music at the conservatory in Brussels, where his teachers included the celebrated Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe...
violin concerto in a concert at Covent Garden, and gave the English premiere of a concerto by Richard Arnell
Richard Arnell
Richard Anthony Sayer Arnell was an English composer of classical music. Arnell composed in all the established genres for the concert stage, and his list of works includes six completed symphonies and six string quartets.-Biography:Arnell was born in Hampstead, London...
. Other living composers dedicated works to him. During the winter of 1946-1947 he perfected his interpretation of the Delius
Delius
Delius is a surname. It may refer to:* Ernst von Delius - German racing car driver* Frederick Delius - English composer* Nicolaus Delius - German philologist* Tobias Delius Delius is a surname. It may refer to:* Ernst von Delius (1912–1937) - German racing car driver* Frederick Delius...
concerto with Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
, their performances at Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
(October 27, 1946) and at the Delius Festival, Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
(8 November 1946), and at the People's Palace in April 1947, spanning the Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
recording sessions of 31 October and 1 November 1946. The wartime recording of this work by Albert Sammons
Albert Sammons
Albert Edward Sammons CBE was an English violinist, composer and later violin teacher. Almost self-taught on the violin, he had a wide repertoire as both chamber musician and soloist, although his reputation rests mainly on his association with British composers, especially Elgar...
(said to have 'the dumbfounding splendour of a sunset'), although preferred by some, was deleted when Pougnet's account was published and this became the standard recording for many years. He performed the concerto at a Prom concert in August 1951 with the LSO.
Many of Pougnet's recordings were made in the rich period of the late 1940s and early 1950s, during the shift from 78rpm to early LP records, with the result that classic performances were often replaced by versions by other performers as the newer technology settled down, and have only recently become more widely available again. His recording of the Bach double concerto with Arthur Grumiaux
Arthur Grumiaux
Arthur Grumiaux was a Belgian violinist who was also proficient in piano.-Youth:Grumiaux was born in Villers-Perwin, Belgium to a working-class family, and it was his grandfather who urged him to begin music studies at the age of only 4...
(Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
under Walter Susskind
Walter Susskind
Jan Walter Susskind was a Czech-born British conductor.-Biography:Susskind was born in Prague, Austria–Hungary, now the Czech Republic. His father was a Viennese music critic and his Czech mother was a piano teacher. At the State Conservatorium he studied under composer Josef Suk, the son-in-law...
) had a restricted life. The Pougnet, Riddle and Pini trio continued to broadcast, and recorded trios by Beethoven (several volumes), Haydn (op 53 nos 1, 2, and 3), Mozart Divertimento in E flat major K 563, and Dohnányi
Dohnányi
Dohnányi is a Hungarian family name belonging to a notable family of politicians and musicians descended from composer Ernő Dohnányi. The addition of "von" was a personal choice made by Ernő as it was usual by Hungarian noble families not having a prädicate to indicate their nobility.* Ernő...
, Serenade op 10. Pini was meanwhile cellist of the fine Philharmonia Quartet
Philharmonia Quartet
The Philharmonia Quartet was an English string quartet musical ensemble founded during the early 1940s out of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, though some of its members had collaborated during the 1930s in earlier ensembles. The formal career of the quartet ended in 1952...
with Henry Holst, Ernest Element and Herbert Downes. Indeed Pougnet and Riddle take the second fiddle and viola desks with Pini and Holst in the Philharmonia Quartet's recording of the Mozart 'Hunt' Quartet (No 17 in B flat major).
In the same period Pougnet made his famous recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
's The Lark Ascending
The Lark Ascending
The Lark Ascending is a work by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, inspired by George Meredith's 122-line poem of the same name about the skylark. The work was written in two versions: violin and piano, written in 1914; and violin and orchestra, written in 1920. The orchestral version...
(London Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult, 1952) and played the solo in the same company's recording of Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
's En Saga
En Saga
En saga is a tone poem written by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius in 1892. After hearing Sibelius' choral work Kullervo, the conductor Robert Kajanus encouraged Sibelius to compose a purely orchestral work, which turned out finally to be this work...
. His provincial work remained largely focused on southern England (he lived at various times in Ferring
Ferring
Ferring is a village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It is part of the built-up area of Worthing and is located on the A259 road west of the town. The parish has a land area of 430.6 hectares...
(West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
), and in Worthing
Worthing
Worthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...
), and until 1956 he led the Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
Grand Hotel Palm Court Concerts. However he remained in demand for performance and recordings of the most serious chamber music, associated with the Dolmetsch
Dolmetsch
, and means "translator", and refers to:* Arnold Dolmetsch , was a French-born musician, instrument maker* Dolmetsch Early Music Festival...
Ensemble, and recorded Leclair
Leclair
LeClair, LeClaire or Leclair is a French or Francophone surname which can refer to:* Antoine LeClaire , U.S. Army interpreter, founded Davenport, Iowa* Day Leclaire, an American author....
sonatas with Arnold Goldsbrough (harpsichord) and James Whitehead (gamba) for Volume VI of the History of Music in Sound project. His 1951 recording of the Dittersdorf
Dittersdorf
Dittersdorf is a municipality in the district Saale-Orla-Kreis, in Thuringia, Germany....
concerto for violin, harpsichord and strings, was with Lionel Salter and the London Baroque Ensemble under Karl Haas
Karl Haas (conductor)
Karl Wilhelm Jacob Haas , musician, musicologist and conductor, was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, where he studied at the Classical College, then at the Universities of Munich and Heidelberg....
.
He continued to work in ensemble with modern works, recording the Robert Still
Robert Still
Robert Still was an English composer, educator and amateur tennis player.Robert Still was born in London on 10 June 1910...
Quintet with Francisco Gabarro (cello), Geoffrey Gilbert
Geoffrey Gilbert
Geoffrey Winzer Gilbert was an English flutist.He was born in Liverpool, and came to London in to join Sir Thomas Beecham's London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1933. He was the principal flute of the LPO at the age of 19 and held this position until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, when he...
, George Crozier and Lionel Solomon (flutes), the Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
Little Symphony No 3, Op. 71 with Reginald Kell
Reginald Kell
Reginald Clifford Kell was a British clarinetist.-Career:Born in York, England, Kell was the first prominent player to apply vibrato consciously and consistently to his tone, in which respect he modelled himself on his colleague the oboist Léon Goossens...
(clarinet), Paul Draper (bassoon), George Eskdale (trumpet) and Anthony Pini under Walter Goehr
Walter Goehr
Walter Goehr was a German composer and conductor.Goehr was born in Berlin where studied with Arnold Schoenberg and embarked on a conducting career, before being forced as a Jew to seek employment outside Germany, while working for Berlin Radio in 1932. He was invited to become music director for...
, and in April 1955 broadcasting the (1950) Flute Trio in A minor of Harold Truscott
Harold Truscott
Harold Truscott was a British composer, pianist, broadcaster and writer on music. Largely neglected as a composer in his lifetime, he made an important contribution to the British piano repertoire and was influential in spreading knowledge of a wide range of mainly unfashionable music.- Life :Born...
on the BBC. He also appears in a recording of the Ravel Septet, and he recorded suites by Bartók with the New Symphony Orchestra
New Symphony Orchestra
-History:The New Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1991 in Sofia, Bulgaria by the music critic Julia Hristova as an alternative to the existing Bulgarian musical institutions...
under Franco Autori.
Late troubles
A promising development began when Pougnet formed a trio with Wilfrid Parry (piano) and Dennis BrainDennis Brain
Dennis Brain was a British virtuoso horn player and was largely credited for popularizing the horn as a solo classical instrument with the post-war British public...
(horn), which toured Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
twice. The group planned in 1957 to tour Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, but these arrangements were terminated by the death of Dennis Brain in a car accident at the end of 1957. Late in life Pougnet suffered a succession of misfortunes. As early as 1946 he had been noted for his enthusiasm for D.I.Y. Sometime later while so engaged he injured his arm tendons and was compelled to stop playing. After a long period of retirement he trained his fingers to play again and began to perform, but very soon afterwards he was diagnosed with cancer, which slowly killed him.
Pougnet played an instrument by Januarius Gagliano.