Step forward seasoned orchestral soloist David Mason, who had recently been the soloist for the English Chamber Orchestra when they performed Bach’s 2nd Brandenburg Concerto for the BBC. McCartney was on the lookout for a classical instrument that might work for the solo on ‘Penny Lane’. When he saw the BBC concert on television by chance, he decided he wanted a piccolo trumpet for his song.
Mason soon found himself being called over to Studio 2 on Abbey Road. He enjoyed recording with the four Beatles, who were all present during the studio session for his solo. He was paid 27 pounds and ten shillings for his work, which is around £500 in today’s money. It was certainly over the odds for an orchestral session musician at the time.
After achieving widespread recognition for his work with The Beatles, Mason taught trumpet as a professor at the Royal College of Music, which now awards a prize in his honour. In classical circles, he is better known as the performer of the flugelhorn solo in Ralph Vaughan Williams’s ‘Symphony No. 9’. The use of this instrument to lead a classical music piece was seen as a radical innovation at the time.
Still, for any musician in the world during the 1960s, it didn’t get bigger than performing with The Beatles. For all his achievements in the sphere of classical music, this eight-bar solo will be the one thing he’s best remembered for.
