A frequent guest at Horn Workshops, Alan Civil played second horn to Dennis Brain, and was later his successor in the Royal Philharmonic. He later became the principal horn of the BBC Orchestra and taught at the Royal College of Music.

Besides three different recorded versions of the Mozart concerti, Civil also can be heard in the Beatles song "For No One," where he plays a beautiful high-register obbligato solo.

Known for his quick wit, Civil once metaphorically quipped that you "really have to be sitting on the edge of your seat for pretty well all your life, otherwise you won't be able to play the horn."