The clarinettist Gervase de Peyer, who has died aged 90, first made his mark with a BBC broadcast of the Mozart concerto at the age of 16, while still a schoolboy. He went on to become the outstanding player of his generation, developing a warm, flexible sound that made extensive use of vibrato, particularly in the lower register, and inspired many new compositions.

He appeared with chamber orchestras – the London Mozart Players from 1949, the Goldsbrough Orchestra and the London Chamber Orchestra – and symphony orchestras – the Royal Philharmonic and Philharmonia. Then he became principal clarinet of the London Symphony Orchestra (1955-72), which also brought solo opportunities. He made his US debut with the Mozart concerto on an LSO tour with Georg Solti conducting, and recorded it with the orchestra twice.

Chamber music was an important field to him. In 1950 he became a member of the newly founded Melos Ensemble, and continued to play with them for the next 24 years, making many recordings, including the quintets by Mozart, Brahms and Arthur Bliss, the last with the composer present. The Mozart he also recorded with the Amadeus Quartet.

Several works were written for him as a soloist: from his lifelong friend Joseph Horovitz came a Concertante for Clarinet and Strings (1948) and a Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano (1981); from Alun Hoddinott came a concerto (1953), of which Gervase gave the first performance with the Hallé under Sir John Barbirolli, and a sonata (1967). Gervase gave the first performance of Thea Musgrave’s concerto (1968) with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Colin Davis. This work called on the the soloist to move around within the orchestra to link up with the various sections, something made possible by Gervase’s flair for performing from memory, which he did almost invariably. Berthold Goldschmidt, Arnold Cooke, William Mathias and Edwin Roxburgh also wrote for him.

Born in London, Gervase was the son of two singers: his mother, Edith (nee Bartlett), gave up her career after her children were born; his father, Esme, taught singing and sometimes performed at Covent Garden, and Gervase came close to following the same career.

After the King Alfred school, Hampstead, and Bedales, in Petersfield, Hampshire, Gervase won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in 1944 as a pianist, and took his ARCM exams in his first year. His time at the college was interrupted by national service (1946-48) and playing in a Royal Marine band and broadcasting on the forces network revived his enthusiasm for the clarinet. He returned to the RCM and continued studying the instrument with Frederick Thurston, at whose suggestion he went on to study in Paris with Louis Cahuzac, from whom he learned a great deal about performance artistry and communication. Not wishing to imitate the tone quality of either great player, he began to develop an individual sound.

Meeting the pianist Charles Wadsworth while playing at the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Italy led to Gervase becoming the clarinettist of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society in New York (1969-89). At first he tried to combine living in the US with maintaining his position as principal with the LSO. However, his frequent absences meant that he had to relinquish that position after four years in favour of Jack Brymer.

Gervase gave performances of the concertos by Aaron Copland and Paul Hindemith with each composer conducting, and did the same for the US premiere of the concerto by Jean Françaix. When playing at the BBC with various orchestras and ensembles he got to know Robert Simpson and told him he would like to try his hand at conducting. Simpson offered him a concert with the LSO Wind Ensemble, for which Gervase was somewhat unprepared, saying he “felt a real idiot”. Nevertheless he persevered: a recording of Richard Strauss’s Suite and Sonatina with the LSO Wind Ensemble and more conducting in London followed. In America he conducted his own Melos Sinfonia of Washington, which he founded in 1992, and the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia.

Although largely absent from the British musical scene once resident in the US, he toured both the UK and mainland Europe with the Australian pianist Gwenneth Pryor, giving recitals to packed audiences well into his 70s. He also released a series of seven CDs of significant pieces from the clarinet repertoire, including some popular and jazz works, in collaboration with his son, Mervyn, and his 80th birthday concert at the Wigmore Hall was a sell-out.

In 1950 he married Sylvia Southcombe, a cellist, and in addition to Mervyn they had two daughters, Lorrayn and Janine. They divorced in 1971, and later that year Gervase married the mezzo-soprano Susan Daniel. They divorced in 1979, and the following year he married Katia Perret Aubry, a dancer and movement therapist, and so became stepfather to her daughter, Valerie. Katia survives him, along with his children and three grandchildren.

• Gervase de Peyer, clarinettist, born 11 April 1926; died 4 February 2017