Mourning for a revered Beatles oboist
mainWe hear that the prodigious Michael Winfield, who played oboe on Strawberry Fields Forever, has died.
Mike played oboe and cor anglais in the Halle and London orchestras for almost half a century. He taught oboe at the Royal College of Music, in London, and was hugely influential on three generations of players.
The funeral will be at 12.30 on Friday September 22 at St.Mary’s church. Causeway, Horsham RH12 1HE.
RIP! Can’t remember an oboe in Strawberry Fields Forever. Classical instruments arranged by George Martin are 3 trumpets and 3 cellos.
He played cor anglais (or oboe) in Penny Lane and was credited Mike Winfield.
Correct. As far as I know he played one oboe part and two cor anglais parts in “Penny Lane” released in February 1967 as a double a-side(!) single with “Strawberry Fields Forever”. Probably that explains the above mentioned confusion.
Most likely then, he has brought the entire world more English horn sounds than any other single person in history….and possibly more double reed sound than anyone ever.
A fine example of his art is his cor anglais solo in one of Leopold Stokowskis`last recordings,Sibelius Swan of Tuonela with the National Philharmonic from 1976.
Brideshead was another example of his beautiful playing