Arthur Nachstern, who died on September 22nd, aged 88, was a member of the RTE Symphony Orchestra (later the National Symphony Orchestra) for forty-five years, for more than half of which he was deputy leader.
He was born in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1911, the son of Polish parents - his mother a gifted amateur musician and his father an attorney. He studied under the legendary Pyotr Stolyarsky (the teacher of Milstein and Heifetz) at the Odessa Conservatoire in the company of David Oistrakh who became a close friend (another colleague was Emil Gilels).
A singular mark of distinction was that he played the Glazunov violin concerto under the composer's direction. During a period of political unrest, he moved to Leningrad, where he played in the Leningrad Philharmonic, before joining his family in Warsaw in 1933. There he was one of the "Four Musketeers" at the Conservatory with composers Witold Lutoslawski and Andrzej Panufnik and pianist Witold Malcuzynski, with all of whom he had affectionate reunions during their engagements with the RTE Symphony Orchestra in the 1970s.
In Warsaw he began his professional career as a member of the Philharmonic and Opera Theatre orchestras, as soloist with the Polish Radio Symphony, and as professor at the Karlowicza Academy - he always regretted that his duties with RTE left him no time for teaching. He later played with the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Vienna and with the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia in Rome, where he also conducted.
He joined the fledgling Radio Eireann Symphony Orchestra in 1947 as number three in the first violins, the first of 25 foreigners to join their Irish colleagues under the artistic and administrative direction of Michael Bowles and later of Fachtna O hAnnrachain. In his memoirs he recalled "We were very fortunate: as a country we were small, musically we were not known internationally, yet such a wealth of brilliant conductors and musicians - some of them world-famous - were coming to Ireland and giving us the benefit of their experience". His proud use of "we" indicates the fact that he became an Irish citizen in 1952. His qualities as a player were quickly appreciated: his enormous technical accomplishment and playing style which came from an exotic and deeply imbued tradition contributed significantly to the development of a string sound in the symphony, and, sitting beside the temperamentally quite different Leader, Renzo Marchionni, he provided a backbone for the section which continued under subsequent Leaders - John Ronayne, Geraldine O'Grady, Brendan O'Brien, Max Thoner, John Kitchen, Joseph Maher and Colin Staveley.
His insistence on the importance of daily practice was adamant: "You need stamina and discipline of trapeze artist. Violin is like mistress - you do not pay attention to her and she betray you one night when you are on the high wire".
His duties involved deputising for the leader in many different circumstances - operas, studio recordings, and during the several interregna when leaders resigned - and as such he was required to provide the kind of leadership, including inflection, nuance and style for which his background and training befitted him. Among the occasions which gave him pride in his work was leading the RESO in the recording of O Riada's Mise Eire.
After his formal retirement in 1977 it was recognised by RTE that he would be in demand for many years to come, and he continued as a deputy player until the age of 80. His wisdom and example were of inestimable value to the young recruits who had the privilege of sharing the back desk.
He is survived by his wife, Evelyn and their daughter, Ingrid.
Arthur Nachstern: born 1911; died September, 1999