If you are a regular listener to music broadcasts or recordings, you are bound to have developed a sort of Pavlovian reflex: the NBC Symphony Orchestra will call forth in your mind the name of Arturo Toscanini. You will associate the Cleveland Orchestra with George Szell, and the Berlin Philharmonic with Herbert von Karajan. In much the same way, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields is linked with the name of Neville Marriner—the two are one, really. For years and years, I heard their recordings and became an admirer, so that when I took up interviewing, pretty soon I was anxious to talk to the conductor and find out about the ingredients of the unique chemistry that had produced this exclusive, élite group.

It took a long time to find a date and a city where our paths would cross. Eventually, on March 2,1978, I stood on the threshold of Sir Neville's London home, rang the bell, and he let me in. We talked for about forty minutes. It has stayed in my mind as an extremely pleasant conversation: for all his international success, the conductor was matter-of-fact about his achievement, maintaining the sort of “emotional understatement” that he wishes to impart to his performances with the Academy as well. An element of self-irony lent the interview a welcome flavor of modesty, which is an endearing quality of Britishness, I find.