AS founder and director of the Scottish Baroque Ensemble, Leonard

Friedman, who died this week in Edinburgh aged 63, formed part of the

great Scottish musical upsurge in the 1960s.

Born in London, he was a pupil of Max Rostal but came to Scotland to

run the musical side of Ledlanet Nights, John Calder's country-house

festival in Kinross-shire, for which he recruited his own hand-picked

chamber group.

The SBE soon expanded beyond Ledlanet, giving concerts in the main

cities, in the Highlands and Islands, in France and America, and

wherever there was space for baroque concertos, for the romantic string

repertoire, and for the abundance of Scottish music he adventurously

commissioned and performed.

The first time I heard him was in a characteristic programme of

little-known violin sonatas at Edinburgh University.

The last time I saw him was on the night of his death, when he was

recuperating -- it seemed very well -- from a recent heart attack. We

had supper together in the Hilton Hotel, where he was staying for a few

days in order to gain strength for a variety of forthcoming events.

We talked of his plans for the next instalment of Mendelssohn on Mull,

the summer festival he recently launched (with, as he proudly said, the

Duke of Edinburgh's blessing), and we discussed dates for a lecture I

had agreed to give on the subject of musical families -- Mendelssohn's

in particular.

Leonard's own family is deeply musical and greatly artistic. He passed

on his gifts as a violinist to his elder son Richard (the two of them

frequently played together) and two of his daughters have distinguished

careers in the theatre.

Benjamin, his young son by his second marriage, has just won a #1000

scholarship to continue his cello studies -- something of which Leonard

spoke to me with special pleasure.

A dedicated musician and teacher, he always had time to read books,

see films, go to the theatre -- he was impressively well informed.

Although he left the SBE soon after it changed its name to the

Scottish Ensemble, his illness prevented a planned reunion -- to which

he was looking forward -- playing Bach's double violin concerto with its

latest director.

He approached baroque music, like everything else, with his own

heart-felt romanticism, and his tone was instantly recognisable if you

switched on your radio and he happened to be performing.

The concert by the BT Scottish Ensemble, at the Queen's Hall,

Edinburgh, on Thursday May 19, will now become a tribute to the group's

founder.