Victor Malirsh: played key role in developing Irish orchestral music

Victor Malirsh, who has died at the age of 88, was a central figure in Irish music-making throughout the second half of the 20th century. Born in 1928 in Maribor, Slovenia (in the then kingdom of Yugoslavia), he was educated in Prague, before becoming, at the age of 21, principal horn with the Slovenia Philharmonic in Ljubljana.

Ireland in the 1950s saw the evolution of the Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra, forerunner of the National Symphony (NSO) under its principal conductor, the Croat Milan Horvat.

The recruitment of Malirsh and several other continental players was part of the strengthening of what had been a small radio ensemble. In particular, the wind and brass sections had been reliant on transfers from the Army School of Music, where the players’ tone, experience and horizons were inadequate for a symphony orchestra. These foreign musicians brought colour, breadth of musical vision and expertise that are still evident in today’s NSO.

Born Vitezslav Malir, Victor adopted “Malirsh” as the spelling of his name, and as such he became an Irish citizen shortly after settling here.

Suspicion

Malirsh’s advent was, however, regarded with suspicion by the Civil Service. It was the time when archbishop John Charles McQuaid attempted to stop a football match between Ireland and Yugoslavia on the grounds that the visiting team of communists might endanger public morals. The Radio Éireann officer who interviewed Malirsh recorded: “We did not discuss the question of politics. Horvat gave his categorical assurance that Malir was not a communist and that he was only interested in his music”.

Horvat’s assurance rested on the basis that Victor was “the best horn-player in Yugoslavia”, with “lovely tone, excellent technique and musicality”. Malirsh maintained regular contact with Horvat until the latter’s death in 2014.

Malirsh held the position of principal horn for 25 years until Bell’s palsy brought an end to his playing career. Thereafter he became librarian of the RTÉSO and, in 1983, manager of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, until retirement in 1991.

Concurrently with his performing career, Malirsh taught at the Royal Irish Academy of Music from 1955 until 2000, when he received an honorary fellowship. Here, too, he and his continental colleagues added a new flavour and dimension to the teaching.

He taught almost all the leading horn players in Ireland and many who work overseas. One of his outstanding students, Cormac Ó hAodáin, is now principal horn with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

Several Irish composers wrote works for Malirsh, including Proinnsías Ó Duinn and John Kinsella, and he gave the premiere of Aloys Fleischmann's Cornucopia for horn and orchestra in 1971. He performed the concertos of Richard Strauss with the RTÉSO, and returned briefly to Slovenia to perform the first Strauss concerto under Kyril Kondrashin.

High point

But the high point of his playing career was the performance in 1976, on a single evening with the New Irish Chamber Orchestra (Nico), of all four of Mozart's concertos, an occasion of virtuosity, stamina and innate musicality. He is also distinguished by his sensitive playing of the horn solo in Seán Ó Riada's 1960 score of Mise Éire, with its rhapsodic transcription of Róisín Dubh.

During his final illness, former colleagues from the NSO and Nico gave a small concert in the hospice, which gladdened his heart.

Victor Malirsh is survived by his son Viteja, his daughter Andreja (who is principal harp with the NSO) and his dog Elsa. His wife of 58 years, Mary (Mejci) née Freeney, predeceased him last year.