The British Flute Society the President Sir James Galway OBE magazine Vice-president Albert Cooper • Chairman Atarah Ben-Tovim MBE pan lute pan f The Journal of the British Flute Society 3 News: the BFS convention Volume 27 number 3 September 2008 Reports and pictures from the fabulously Editor Robert Bigio successful BFS convention in Manchester. •
Contacting the BFS
Secretary and advertising Anna Munks 19 Kenneth Smith: From 27 Eskdale Gardens the toolroom to the first Purley, Surrey CR8 1ET flute’s chair Telephone and fax 020 8668 3360 Email [email protected] Membership secretary Kenneth Smith has spent twenty-five years as John Rayworth first flute in the Philharmonia. His path to the The Nook, How Mill top has been anything but ordinary. Brampton, Cumbria CA8 9JY Telephone 0845 680 1983 Email [email protected] 25 Telemann’s Fantasias Editorial Robert Bigio Rachel Brown on these remarkable solo works 1 Doveridge Gardens for the flute. London N13 5BJ Telephone 020 8882 2627 Fax 020 8882 2728 35 The BFS at twenty-five Email [email protected] • Simon Hunt tells the story of the first quarter- Editorial committee century of the BFS. Robert Bigio Simon Hunt 39 Expressive teaching Mike MacMahon Other news • 14 Nina Perlove on the legacy of Alain Marion. Assistant editor Carla Rees [email protected] Scottish Flute Trio Junior editor Thomas Hancox 45 [email protected] Copy editor Christopher Steward The Scottish Flute Trio has joined some dancers • for some impressive new performances. Design and typesetting Robert Bigio • 49 Reviews Cover photograph Carla Rees Dawson • David Nicholson. Geoffrey Gilbert. Graham CDs, books and music. Mayger. Printed in the United Kingdom at the 61 The small print University Press, Cambridge 16 Letters to the editor Views expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the official view of the British BFS Council and Officers, AFT, announcements, Flute Society. All copyrights reserved. York Bowen’s Sonata for Two Flutes. Gibberish. membership information, index to advertisers. Registered charity No. 326473 South West Flute Festival. Congratulations ISSN 1360-1563 from Seattle. 64 The Last Word… www.bfs.org.uk The British Flute Society’s Silver Jubilee Competition for advanced performers under the age of 25
a celebration of British music
Saturday 22 November 2008
Regent Hall, Oxford Street, London (near Oxford Circus tube station) Closing date for entries: 10 October 2008
First Prize: Resona 100 ute with o set G mechanism provided by Burkart Flutes & Piccolos
For further information and an application form contact Anna Munks, BFS Secretary: Email: [email protected] Telephone: +44 (0)20 8668 3360 www.bfs.org.uk
Registered charity no: 326473 e British Flute Society News •
BFS Convention in Manchester—A first report
Trevor Wye conducting his arrangement of Tallis’s Spem in alium. By Robert Bigio
I made a note to myself to avoid gushing about what a indeed any of the hundreds of other pieces of dross that wonderful convention we have just had. Somehow, as infest our repertoire. I prepare to write this, I feel I am not going to succeed. So, why was this convention different? Quite simply, Now, I consider myself a music-lover who has just hap- it was down to quality—quality of musicianship and pened into the flute world. I hear a lot of flute music, quality of programming. We heard some stunningly good and I have heard some pieces far, far too often. In fact, playing—playing of a standard that, had the musician after a couple of days at a convention some years ago been a pianist or a violinist or a singer, that musician I was curled up with my head in my hands, dream- would have been an international megastar. I have ing of Beethoven quartets and other examples of what torn up my note to myself. Now be prepared for some I considered ‘real’ music. It may be sacrilegious for serious gushing, the quantity of which will only be the editor of a flute magazine to say this, but my life restricted by the fact that I did not (indeed could not) get would not be incomplete were I never again to hear the to every performance. There were simply too many. In Chaminade Concertino, or those wretched variations on fact, that was my only complaint: I would much rather Carnival of Venice that so many players inflict upon us, or have heard fewer concerts, but longer ones.
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flute players, enchanted the audience with arrange- ments of a Bach adagio from an organ work and of songs by Hamilton Harty and Michael Head, and gave a ravishing performance of Dvořak’s Romance Op. 11 for violin. Denis Bouriakov stunned us all with a programme of super-virtuoso arrangements of works by Kreisler, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Paganini and Mendelssohn. Lorna McGhee followed this with her arrangements of Bach, Poulenc, Rachmaninoff, Debussy (the Violin Sonata, which worked well on the flute and was played brilliantly) and Wieniawski (his Scherzo-Tarantelle, delivered with jaw-dropping virtuos- Daniel Pailthorpe ity). Timothy Hutchins, Denis Bouriakov and Lorna McGhee in one evening: never mind that they are virtuoso flute players of an almost unimaginable My personal favourites, interestingly, were all standard—they are terrific musicians, too. orchestral players. (Perhaps I admire their discipline?) I was bowled over by Daniel Pailthorpe’s playing on Friday morning. Daniel performed the Lennox Berkeley Sonatine, that staple of ABRSM examinations some years ago, simply because he liked it, and he played it so beautifully that many of us were forced to reconsider our opinion of the piece. Likewise, he played the Mozart Andante so elegantly that I forgot that it had been massacred by generations of inept pupils. The big surprise was Daniel’s brilliant arrangement of Stravinsky’s Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss, adapted from Stravinsky’s own violin and piano arrangement.
Wissam Boustany
Traffic on the M6 caused me to miss most of the recital by Wissam Boustany and Aleksander Szram. The reaction of members of the audience made it clear that I had missed a great performance. These musicians played un-hackneyed music, too, by Mel Bonis (her wonderful Sonate), and by Bushra El-Turk and Edwin York Bowen. Other duties caused me to miss the equally well-regarded recital by Ian Clarke. Philippa Davies, as ever, played beautifully and included a new work by her pianist, Jan Willem Nelleke. Jonathan Snowden wowed the audience Timothy Hutchins and Janet Creaser Hutchins with performances of John Rutter’s Suite Antique and Widor’s Suite. Arrangements were popular at this convention. Michel Debost, the distinguished former professor Timothy Hutchins, that most elegant and artistic of of flute at the Paris Conservatoire and now professor
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Michel Debost Robert Dick at Oberlin in the USA, played some works associ- piccolo player from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, ated with his predecessor, Paul Taffanel, followed by Walfrid Kujala. some observations on playing and teaching the flute Robert Dick gave his usual high-octane perform- drawn from his book, The Simple Flute. Michel is a most ances of his own music, and was on this occasion amusing and perceptive man. joined by Carla Rees. That other wizard of new sounds, Matthias Ziegler, blew his audience away with his extraordinary playing. Vieri Bottazzini and the All Flutes Chamber Orchestra performed an arrangement of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Andrea Oliva performed a well-received pro- gramme of standard repertoire works. Rachel Brown performed all twelve Fantasias for the flute by Telemann. Rachel’s musicianship is unsur- passed, and she showed us features of these works that few of us had ever noticed. (Do read her article elsewhere in this issue.) One of the great players men- tioned above said to me before Rachel’s concert that much as he loves the Telemann Fantasias, he didn’t think he could sit through all twelve. Interestingly, Rhonda Larson he was still there at the end, such was the beauty of Rachel’s playing. Trevor Wye conducted his arrangement for flutes Rhonda Larson, once again, lit up the convention of Thomas Tallis’s forty-voice Spem in alium, to the with her music-making and with her personality. delight of everyone listening and everyone playing. Nikos Nikopoulos and Georgia Xagara presented The buzz in the foyer amongst the performers after an interesting programme of music for flute and the rehearsal was lovely: ordinary folk had found harp. Amy Morris, with the mezzo-soprano Katharine themselves sharing music stands with some of the Goeldner, gave a performance of recent works by Rory finest flute players ever to have walked the earth. It Boyle and Peter Ash. is the mix of players with audience that makes the Piccolo performances and workshops were given by BFS convention so special—amateurs find themselves Christine Erlander Beard, Matjaź Debaljak. Lior Eitan, standing in the breakfast queue with big stars, and Stewart McIlwham, Patricia Morris and the venerable everyone gets along.
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Late-night performances in the foyer were given by Lulu, accompanied on the guitar by Jun Kagami, while the rest of us drank and chatted. More high-octane performance came from the wonderful Adrianne Greenbaum, klezmer flute spe- cialist, who not only got the audience clapping and singing, but managed to get a few dozen people onto the platform of the Concert Hall where she taught them to dance. William Bennett, the doyen of British flute players, performed, as ravishingly as ever, with the Japanese flute quintet Concert Lumière.
Rachel Brown Greg Pattillo
Greg Pattillo, the beatboxing flute player, turned to dodgy intonation and clashes of vibrato. There was out to be a most engaging fellow and a fantastic musi- none of this in Quintessenz’s performance—their cian, quite apart from a wizard at making amazing tuning is impeccable and their vibrato controlled and sounds while playing the flute. He got us all beatbox- elegant. I am looking once again at the remains of my ing—even some players well into their senior years. note telling myself not to gush. Sorry—I can’t avoid it. These players were fabulous. Marianne Gedigian, the distinguished American player, gave performances of the Griffes Poem, the Franck Sonata and some of her arrangements of music by Frank Bridge. Arrangements, as I said, are now popular again. Sharon Bezaly, fresh from playing Nigel Osborne’s Flute Concerto at the BBC Proms, prepared a programme mostly of standard repertoire: Doppler, Messiaen and Godard, plus one example of the sort of music she is
William Bennett with Concert Lumière
That fantastic group Quintessenz from Leipzig thrilled us all again. These players have it all: first-rate playing ability (as you would expect from members of some of the world’s great orchestras) allied to the most engaging personalities. They performed arrange- ments by their excellent piccolo player, Gudrun Hinze, and were joined in some pieces by the castanet vir- tuoso Friederike von Krosigk, whose elegant gestures and Junoesque appearance captivated the audience. I sometimes worry that flute ensembles will fall victim Ian Clarke
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Sharon Bezaly The brilliant Richard Shaw, pianist, with the indefatigable Jennifer Raven, page turner. best known for, Kalevi Aho’s Solo III. In the end she dropped the Godard and played instead a work by Ian The pianists Clarke for two flutes with Wissam Boustany. Sharon Bezaly has done wonderful work in commissioning So far I have mentioned only the soloists and not new music from top composers (including no fewer the pianists. The pianists deserve medals, especially than fifteen new flute concertos), and she manages to the two resident accompanists, Timothy Carey and perform these new works to mainstream audiences. Richard Shaw. These two did the lion’s share of The audience participated in a performance of the work at this convention, always with the great- Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine, conducted by Atarah Ben- est sensitivity and often with almost no rehearsal. Tovim, before Marco Granados once again zapped The skill of these players is amazing. Wonderful, the audience with his high-energy performance of too, were Aleksander Szram, who performed Latin music. with Wissam Boustany and Lorna McGhee, and Janet Creaser Hutchins, who performed with her husband, Timothy. Michael Heaston worked with Amy Morris and Lior Eitan’s pianist was Monica Fallon.
The organisers and the helpers
Trevor Wye, the convention director, Julie Wright, the convention co-ordinator and Atarah Ben-Tovim, BFS chairman, did a splendid job of running what must be the best convention of all time. Did you notice anything go wrong? Neither did I, and that was because of excellent planning. Members of the BFS council, and particularly John Rayworth, outdid themselves in making everything run smoothly. (And these good folk did all that work, which meant they had to miss most of the concerts, entirely free. Marco Granados with accompanist extraordinaire, Timothy Magnums of champagne just aren’t enough to thank Carey. them.) Julie Wright assembled a team of the most
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Did you attend the convention? Do you have something to say about it? Please write and tell us. We can’t guarantee to publish everything, but we would like to hear from you. (A hint from the editor: brevity is good.)
Everything else
The helpers: Hannah Wright, Frances Beaumont, Harriet There is no space in this issue to describe all the Coates, Katie Wright and Carrie Ronaldson. workshops, warm-ups, flute choirs and other events. We hope to report on these in the December issue. charming and helpful young people make our time at the convention even more agreeable. To every- one who arranged this great event, on behalf of the audience, a thousand thanks.
The photographs
Carla Rees Dawson (the photographer alter-ego of the flute player Carla Rees) took hundreds of pictures. Unfortunately, as she was also playing at the conven- tion and had to rehearse, she could not get to every performance and a few artists were missed. Carla was particularly sorry to have failed to get pictures of Lorna McGhee, Denis Bouriakov and Philippa Davies. Another embarrassing omission is a picture of the bookings The organisers: manager, John Rayworth, who did a fantastic amount Above: Trevor Wye Below: Atarah Ben-Tovim and Julie Wright of work. And, of course, as she was on the other side of the camera, there are no pictures of Carla herself.
All photographs by Carla Rees Dawson Photo CDs of the convention are available from www.carlareesdawson.co.uk
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Adam’s programme consisted of Masks by Oliver Convention: Knussen and Taffanel’s Fantasy on Der Freischutz. The Knussen was one of only two complete works to be The younger artists repeated elsewhere at the convention and unfortu- nately one of the least rewarding. Nevertheless, Adam delivered this theatrical piece with great skill and confidence, prefacing it with a much needed (and, for the convention, surprisingly rare) spoken introduc- tion. The Taffanel was brilliant in every way—a fan- tastic array of colours, immaculate technique, some compelling risk-taking and overwhelming musicality. Denis was the first performer in the convention to receive a standing ovation for a most sensational performance. His programme of violin transcrip- tions balanced virtuosity and sensitivity well, and the results were always highly musical. Phenomenal tonguing came courtesy of Kreisler; expansive lyri- cism from Tchaikovsky, sheer musicality from Bach and technical brilliance with the first movement of Yae Ram Park Mendelssohn’s Concerto in E minor. The only question- able alteration was the choice to use Concert Lumière to accompany the Mendelssohn, where the inevitable By Thomas Hancox chugging of the lower flutes compromised the deli- cacy of the concerto line. As Atarah Ben-Tovim stated in her final remarks of A last-minute change to the schedule opened a the convention, the standard of playing from upcom- window of opportunity for the Hungarian Zsuzsa ing and younger professionals is staggering, and this Vámosi-Nagy who is just about to commence her was most certainly reflected in all six solo recitals doctoral studies at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, given by the ‘fresher’ faces on the scene. having recently completed postgraduate training in The youngest of them all, thirteen-year-old Yae both Holland and at the Royal Academy of Music. Her Ram Park, played as part of the initial Teachers’ relatively brief programme of Bach, Takemitsu and Symposium, performing Chaminade’s Concertino. Poulenc captivated the audience without exception. It was a display of already consummate technical A ravishing sound and a very engaging personality control of the instrument, with flawlessly executed communicated wonderfully the intimate utterances runs, strong tone and good ensemble. However, of Bach’s E major violin sonata, the alternative sound- as Atarah commented to the audience (perhaps a scape of Takemitsu’s Voice and the amorous concerns little controversially), it was also a clear illustration of Poulenc. of the dangers of starting an instrument too early The final two young performers were both previ- in life, before the physical demands can be met ous winners of the most advanced class in the annual satisfactorily. Performance Plus Competitions: Helen Wilson The following day saw recitals by both Adam (2007) and Alena Lugovkina (2008) of which part Walker, the only flautist apart from Emily Beynon to of their prize was this performance platform. It can have been admitted onto the Young Concert Artists only be said that it was a great shame they could not Trust (YCAT) scheme, and Denis Bouriakov, the have been afforded a more prominent performance former principal flute of the Tampere Philharmonic space, with a good acoustic and an adequate capac- and soon to be principal flute of the Barcelona and ity, instead of the subterranean enclosure they found Catalonia Symphony Orchestra. themselves in.
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News •
Helen chose, again, Knussen’s Masks and then, outlined in words the various technological details accompanied by Dave Elliott (himself a BBC Young needed to accomplish the development of the flute Musician category finalist, like Helen) performed the to the modern-day Boehm system and beyond. We last two movements of a new and excellent work by were reminded of the place in history of the cylin- Andy Scott, for flute and percussion. Their ensem- drical renaissance flute, the Baroque conical bore, ble was particularly impressive, achieving unity of Nicholson’s influence on Boehm and the various groupings and phrases without many common stage attempts to better this or integrate the ‘modern cyl- histrionics. inder flute’ with open-standing keys and large tone Alena presented a more traditional programme of holes with the old system of fingering by various works by Reinecke, Roussel and Sibelius. Her sound English nineteenth-century player-inventors. One was fantastic, even within the barren space of Studio of the systems that remained popular even into the 1, and her honest musicality shone through. Indeed, second half of the twentieth century was Carte’s 1867 there is no doubt that the future is already shining flute, one of which was played in the Bournemouth very brilliantly for the next generation. Symphony Orchestra until the 1970s. Of course we know now that Boehm’s system has been the most successful, but perhaps we only need to look in the direction of Eva Kingma’s (logical) quarter-tone adap- tation of Boehm’s stunning design to know what may be round the corner. Thank you Robert for filling in A few more words the gaps of our historical knowledge, and for stepping in at the last minute to the lecture schedule because of Stuart Scott’s illness.
By Lis Lewis Denis Verroust’s lectures on Jean-Pierre Rampal: The First Modern Virtuoso. This well-researched pair of short lectures Rachel Brown’s Telemann performance. Rachel gave this gave a fascinating taster of Denis’s work, which remarkable recital to great acclaim at the convention, will be published as a biography of Rampal in the performing the fantasias in the printed order. She not-too-distant future. It is intended that this and drew us into a different, but nonetheless extensive, a revised discography will first appear in French sound world from that of the twenty-first century, and then in an English translation soon after. In his characterising each Fantasia with great aplomb and role as president of the Jean-Pierre Rampal Society, clarity of intention. Her phrasing was superlative and Denis Verroust has facilitated the reissue of many of unambiguous, leading us though the labyrinth and Rampal’s recordings. complexity of Telemann’s melodies, implied coun- Denis outlined Rampal’s biographical details terpoint and harmony, giving drama and sense of including his unusual childhood and initial train- direction to each fantasia. Despite the potential of ing with his father Joseph Rampal, an important this possibly being the flute equivalent of playing flute player in his own right in Bordeaux. Young Bach’s Goldberg Variations, the audience were on the Jean-Pierre originally trained as a doctor, but this edges of their seats in anticipation. They were not and his eventual training at the Paris Conservatoire disappointed. were interrupted by the war. With the flowering of Rampal’s huge talent with the emergence of long- Robert Bigio’s lecture: A Quick History of the Flute. A stunningly playing records at the end of the war and a fortuitous erudite lecture, revealing only the tip of the iceberg choice of agent, Denis proposed that Rampal had an of Robert’s vast knowledge of all matters flutistic in important role in redefining the flute as a solo instru- the nineteenth century. Artistically accompanied by a ment as important as the violin or piano, able to take vast array of slides of works of art and prints and pho- its place on the soloists’ platform for the first time in tographs of nineteenth-century instruments, Robert the twentieth century.
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Convention picture gallery
Quintessenz with the castanet virtuoso Friederike von Krosigk
Matthias Ziegler Jonathan Snowden
Marianne Gedigian Andrea Oliva
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Above: Adrianne Greenbaum Left: Viyanna Flutes (Holly Cook, Sarah Desbruslais, Katherine Carter, Jennifer Raven, Emma Price, Missy Mills, Rebecca Coker, Fiona Kelly)
Right: Rarescale Flute Academy (Leona Friar, Laura Beardsmore, Ami Lodge, Kim Villaweaver, Vicky Phillips)
Below left: Michel Debost and Atarah Ben-Tovim
Below right: Trevor Wye
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David Nicholson
David Nicholson, second from left, with members of his family at his retirement concert in Glasgow.
A special concert to celebrate David Nicholson’s dramatic performance of the evening was by Wissam retirement after many years on the teaching staff of Boustany of the York Bowen Sonata. The concert ended Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama was with about thirty flutes on stage playing extracts from held in Glasgow on Friday, 6 June. Organised by Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Fauré’s Sicilienne. Sheena Gordon, it was the opportunity for friends The printed programme quoted numerous testi- and especially students to show their appreciation to monies from David’s acquaintances to the effect he David for the immense contribution he has made to has had on their lives as flute-players. Just a few are: flute-teaching at the Academy. A wide variety of flute ‘your amazing contribution to the Scottish flute scene’, music was performed, mainly from Britain, Germany, ‘you gave me inspiration, delight in playing, and a France and Russia. (A Chinese dimension was pro- love of music’, and ‘your huge influence and generos- vided by Eddie McGuire playing a dizi flute; there ity over the years’. was also the world premiere of McGuire’s Knotwork Congratulations and very best wishes for the Rail for flute quartet.) Everyone agreed that the most future, David!
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has recorded broadcasts for the BBC, including solo Graham Mayger recitals and concerto repertoire, and performed a concerto in the Proms. He became a professor at the Royal College at the age of 24. Despite his retirement from the RCM, Graham will continue his performing work and retains his position as Professor of Flute at the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall.
Geoffrey Gilbert
Janet Way writes: A chance meeting in America has led to an exciting development at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Angelita Floyd, author of The Gilbert Legacy has been the custodian of Geoffrey Gilbert’s archive since his death in 1989. She proposed that all his music, papers and memorabilia be moved to England for the benefit of flute players here. The professors at the Guildhall began work to establish a ‘flute room’ where this valuable resource could be kept and used. Carla Rees writes: Geoffrey Gilbert (1914–1989) was England’s most In July, Graham Mayger retired from his position as important and influential flute teacher; William flute professor at the Royal College of Music, after Bennett, OBE, Trevor Wye and Sir James Galway were forty-one years. An inspirational teacher, his pupils among his pupils. have included Susan Milan, Michael Cox, Kevin On 15 February a fund-raising event was held at Gowland, and many others who have followed suc- GSMD with performances by Averil Williams, Sarah cessful careers as flute players. Newbold, Philippa Davies and Ian Clarke and the mag- Keen to stay out of the limelight, Graham is nificent Guildhall Flute Ensemble. Reminiscences by perhaps one of the UK’s best-kept flute secrets. He former pupils of Gilbert were skilfully integrated into studied at the RCM with John Francis on a Foundation the evening by Edward Blakeman. Scholarship, and later won a French Government Former pupils of Geoffrey’s, Peter Lloyd, Pat Scholarship to study with Jean-Pierre Rampal in Paris. Morris, Trevor Wye and Averil Williams, told of his He returned to London to take up a post with the BBC amazing generosity in his teaching; of his perceptive Symphony Orchestra, and has since played with most analysis of difficulties; of his dedication to his pupils of the major London orchestras. He worked with the and of the demands he made in commitment from Northern Sinfonia for twenty seven years, and more his students. It is no exaggeration to say that Geoffrey recently, has held principal flute positions with free- Gilbert transformed English flute playing and that lance orchestras and ensembles, such as the City of his influence is still present today through his illustri- Oxford Orchestra, Milton Keynes City Orchestra and ous pupils. the Orchestra of Stowe Opera. He is also a member Monya, Geoffrey’s daughter, has made a significant of the London Harpsichord Ensemble, which is the donation to the fund, and at the end of an evening longest-established chamber music group in Britain, full of music and memories, John Gilbert, Geoffrey’s founded by John Francis and Millicent Silver. He son, paid a moving tribute to his father.
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Letters to the editor
York Bowen’s Sonata for Two Flutes Gibberish
From Douglas Townshend, Wales From Richard Stagg, London
With reference to the article by Glen Ballard which To anyone who spotted that the penultimate sen- appeared in the June 2008 issue on the subject of tence of my article The Last Word in the June issue is York Bowen’s flute music, I would like to give credit gibberish, congratulations, you are not the weakest to Catherine Handley, who found the manuscript link! Part of it seems to have been lost in the wash. of the Sonata for Two Flutes in the British Library. Her It should read as follows: ‘This, of course, now interest had been aroused by a letter in Pan from the gives the dominant seventh a comfortable, unruf- late Ewen McDougall regarding a partial recording he fled quality which, when placed alongside its fre- had made of the BBC broadcast to which Glen Ballard quent neighbour, the chord of the diminished refers. The much later performance by Catherine seventh, conveniently contrasts with the angst of Handley and myself, which Glen Ballard mentions, its minor thirds.’ took place at a BFS event at Dulwich College at the suggestion of Robert Bigio, who organised that event. Apologies. Part of the sentence was lost in electronic communi- Scholars might like to know that we rehearsed in our cation, not in the laundry. I can assure readers that I have not, respective kitchens. as yet, lost my temper with my computer to the point of tossing it into the washing machine, although some features of a few programs I use have led me to offer a ‘What Idiot Thought This rarescale on Raasay Was a Good Idea?’ award.—Editor.
South West Flute Festival
From Jackie Waddle, Tavistock, Devon
I would like to tell readers about a particularly useful workshop that I attended at the South West Flute Festival in May this year. The workshop explored creative inspiration and various paths towards stimu- 30th March - 3rd April 2009 lating an individual artistic voice in our playing. The Courses on the idyllic Scottish island of Raasay for: focus was on colours, textures, images and words, Alto and Bass Flute especially poetry and descriptive text. An interest- Bass Clarinet ing exercise in this workshop examined doodling. Electronic Composition Everyone knows how to doodle; we’ve all done it with rarescale members Carla Rees, whilst on the telephone or waiting for an appoint- Sarah Watts & Michael Oliva ment. We were all were given pencils and paper and doodled for a few minutes. Once we had started they Stay in the newly-renovated Raasay House Outdoor Centre or in one of a range of accommodation found themselves unable to stop. It had unleashed options on the island. a dormant area of creativity and works of art were shaped. Ian Clarke talked about doodling in the same Full details at www.rarescale.org.uk way with our flutes. Small children certainly doodle
the 16 pan • flute magazine September 2008 News • with their flutes, but we seem to lose the link to experimental creativity in adulthood. The exercise he reminded us that we need to use our imaginations ABELL FLUTE and break out of our inhibited adult moulds where 8DBE6CN we are tied to rigid form. It is important to think outside the box of notation and bring back the magic V from childhood by depicting a scene or painting a Specializing in oehm picture with our music. The South West Flute Festival was held at Sterts system wooden )utes, Arts Centre in Cornwall with Ian Clarke and Tim headjoints and Carey. It was certainly worth enrolling for. The whi les, handmad in organisers (Flute Cocktail) are already making grenadill% and preparations for another enthralling weekend next erling silve . year, this time with Gareth Davies and Tim Carey. % $ More details, including reviews of this year’s festi- V val and plans for next year can be found on their website at Grovewood Road www.flutecocktail.co.uk Asheville, C8 JH6 Congratulations KD>8: ;6M From Alexander Eppler, Seattle, Washington, USA www.abellflute.com
I recently read a copy of Pan (about a year into your editorship) and was so impressed with the quality, that on the strength of your publication, I just joined the BFS. It is BY FAR the most elegant, inter- esting and well-done flute publication in ANY lan- guage, and although British, qualifies for an interna- tional footprint in comparison any others I’ve seen (American, Australian, Russian, Italian, Hungarian, and others). You have done a formidable job in directing and editing all of this. I’m involved in publishing and immediately appreciated the graphic sense and content.
Michel Debost The Simple Flute: from A to Z
…a new kind of reference, resting on fifty years of experience, full of sensitivity and good sense, with little dogmatism and lots of intelligence. Emmanuel Pahud, Berlin Philharmonic Debost’s writing style is © B. de Wetter-Smith refreshingly candid and reaches flutists of all levels. His wisdom is shared simply and directly. Leone Oxford University Press Buyse, Rice University.
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From the toolroom to the first flute’s chair Kenneth Smith’s twenty-five years in the Philharmonia
By Robert Bigio
here is a common career path for the top orchestral musician: National Youth Orchestra, perhaps a specialist music school, prizes at competitions, a place Tat one of the top music colleges (or Oxford or Cambridge), lessons with a big- name teacher, occasionally some study abroad, a position in a provincial orchestra, and finally a position in one of the London orchestras. Along the way, the top orches- tral musician will have developed a network of other top orchestral musicians who will support one another and recommend one another for work. There is, if you like, a tribe of top players. Members of the tribe might be upset if they fail to get one of the top jobs, but will be less upset if the person who does get the job is one of their mates. The degree of upset grows if a top job goes to someone from outside the tribe, especially if that someone is a quiet, retiring man who does not give the impression of having much self-confidence. The most beautiful girl in the school has chosen to step out with the unassuming swot, and the jocks can’t understand why. Kenneth Smith’s path to the top is as far removed from the common one as it is possible to imagine. He was born in 1946 into a working-class family of modest means in Wolverhampton. (He still speaks with the remnants of a Black Country accent.) His father was a toolroom engineer in a local factory and a Methodist lay preacher. Ken attended a local secondary modern school (within sniffing distance of Wolverhampton’s brewery, he remembers), left at the age of fifteen and, to his father’s great pride, took up an apprentice- ship as an engineering draughtsman in another local factory. How he got from there to the first flute’s chair in one of the world’s leading orchestras is a remarkable tale. Ken’s parents sang in local choirs and played the piano, but there had been little music at Ken’s school. There was an orchestra of sorts, but it lacked a flute. The school’s music teacher, a Mr. Rhodes, recognised Ken’s recorder-playing ability and bought an old wooden flute from the retiring flute player in the Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton. It is a hack- neyed phrase now, but in the early 1960s the music teacher’s comment on handing over the flute stuck in Ken’s mind: ‘This is the first day of the rest of your life’. It has certainly turned
Photograph: Carla Rees Dawson out that way.
the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 19 However much enjoyment he may have had playing the flute in his teens, Ken followed the career path of many of his school colleagues and, armed with six O Levels, went to work in engineering, which he soon realised he did not enjoy. His apprenticeship as a draughtsman required him to learn metal working techniques. As part of his training he had to make a set of engineering layout tools—squares, calipers, dividers, scribing blocks and the like—which he still owns. (The train- ing was not easy. His first task was to make a perfect cube using only files and other hand tools. First he had to make a perfectly square hole in a piece of steel, then make a cube that would be an accurate push fit in the hole whichever direction the cube was inserted. ‘I was ever so pleased to get off that job,’
he remembers.) He did make his job a bit more bearable by Photograph: Robert Bigio The test piece made by Ken listening to music on a radio while he worked (often causing Smith made as a fifteen- him to make mistakes), but for a boy in his mid teens the high point of every day year-old engineering was the arrival of the tea lady, a beauteous young lass. ‘Everything was fine with the apprentice, before chemistry of the body,’ Ken remembers, ‘until she arrived. Then the rest of the day embarking on his career in music. The small square was a write-off!’ (An aside: while I was chatting to Ken at the Royal Festival Hall, section was required to Carla Rees Dawson arrived to take his picture. She had trouble getting him to smile. be a good push fit in any ‘Think of the tea lady,’ I called out, provoking a beam on his face that lit up the direction when inserted Thames. That must have been some tea lady.) into the hole, and both Throughout his apprenticeship he continued to play the flute. He travelled to the parts had to be made Midland Institute in Birmingham to have lessons with Delia Ruhm. The word keen entirely with files and other hand tools. This is a is inadequate to describe his attitude—he once turned up for his lesson an hour early. remarkable test of skill. ‘I wanted to play there and then,’ he says. When Delia Ruhm left to have a baby, Ken had lessons with Michael Hirst, then the piccolo player in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. At that stage Ken decided he really did not want to pursue a career in engineering, but as music was not amongst his collection of O levels he could not get on an academic music course, so he applied for a place at various music colleges. Most refused even to hear him play. Michael Hirst then contacted some people on his behalf, after which Ken was accepted for a place at a teacher training college in Cardiff. When he arrived at the college and played his flute, he was told that he was really in the wrong place and should be over the road in the Cardiff College of Music and Drama. Because he did not have the neces- sary academic qualifications the college put him on a preliminary year during which he was expected to get certain grades in theory and O Level music. Ken then left engineering (probably breaking his father’s
heart, although his parents were supportive Photograph: Carla Rees Dawson
the 20 pan • flute magazine September 2008 throughout) and spent eight months at home learning what he needed to learn. In 1964 he finally entered the college in Cardiff, where he was taught the flute by Hilary Evans, the retired first flute in the BBC Welsh Orches tra (who played on an 1867 patent flute). Hilary Evans had been replaced by the very young Sebastian Bell, with whom Ken had a few lessons, and he BBC Training Orchestra had a few lessons with James Galway, too, when Sadler’s Wells Opera, in which he Wind Quintet 1971: Kenneth then played, were in the area on tour. Smith, flute; Pauline Drain, Ken preferred a coloured, French style of playing which was somewhat at odds clarinet; Graham Salter, oboe; Katherine Morton, with Bas Bell’s tastes at the time, so Ken changed teachers to Stanley Gleave, the bassoon; Tessa Schiele, second flute player in the Welsh Orchestra. Stanley Gleave occasionally sent as a horn. (Photograph courtesy deputy a muscle-bound former circus strongman named Frank Wilson, recently of Katherine [Morton] and retired from the BBC Welsh orchestra. (Another aside: the climax of Frank Wilson’s Jeremy Soulsby.) circus act had been to lift a member of the audience in a chair with one hand while playing a piccolo solo with the other. They just don’t make orchestral players like that any more.) Gleave and Wilson agreed to coach Ken on orchestral excerpts while Ken travelled to Birmingham once a fortnight to have a lesson with Michael Hirst. (He would see his parents in Wolverhampton on the same trips.) When Ken finished at his college in 1967, he spent a further year’s study at St. Mark’s and St. John’s Teacher Training College where he could get a qualification as a class teacher. (One of his fellow students at this college was Susan Milan.) Michael Hirst figures frequently in Ken’s flute-playing development. ‘When one door closed, he always seemed to appear and open another,’ says Ken. ‘Around this time he arranged for me to have a lesson with Geoffrey Gilbert, which led to two years’ invaluable study with Peter Lloyd, then principal flute of the LSO. During this time I worked quite hard and attended various flute courses. The real treasure was some unforgettable private lessons in Canterbury with the legendary Marcel Moyse.’ In order to qualify as a teacher Ken returned to Wolverhampton and taught as a peripatetic flute teacher for a year. While working as a peripatetic teacher he began to audition for orchestras and got himself a place in the BBC Training Orchestra in Bristol, in which the members of the section took turns playing first, second and piccolo. After three years, in January 1973, Ken joined the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra as second flute to Laurence Beers (another player of the 1867 patent flute).
the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 21 He stayed in the Bournemouth orches- tra for ten very happy years. In the early 1980s the Bournemouth orchestra made a two-week tour of Germany and Switzerland with Aurèle Nicolet as the flute soloist. Ken Smith’s life changed. He was sitting on the platform after a rehearsal practising the second flute part of a Dvořák sym- phony when Nicolet sat down next to him. ‘You know,’ said Nicolet, ‘there’s a first flute job going in the Philharmonia Orchestra. Why don’t you have a go at it?’ No chance, thought Ken, but after every concert Nicolet gave him a lesson, and after every lesson he told him to bring some other piece next time. Wherever Photograph: Carla Rees Dawson The Philharmonia Orchestra in rehearsal. they were, Ken would scurry around trying to find copies of the music he had been asked to play, although he already had copies at home. ‘It was the Solo and chamber music recordings most magical time,’ Ken remembers, ‘having these lessons from him. He by Kenneth Smith had the enthusiasm of a young teacher.’ Nicolet persuaded Ken to audition for the Philharmonia, although Ken thought it was a step too far and had no • Mozart: Flute and Harp Concerto. Philharmonia conducted by possibility of getting the job. Giuseppe Sinopoli. Lessons with Nicolet were very useful, very detailed and concerned solely • Vivaldi: Concertos for flute ‘La with the music—phrasing, breathing, getting the most out of the music, the Notte’ and ‘II Gardellino’. London significance of every note—and not with the technique. That, says Ken, is Musici. the problem with a lot of flute teaching today: young players now have stag- • Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. gering technique, but use the music to show off their abilities rather than 2. Philharmonia with Maurice André, conducted by Ricardo using their abilities to show off the music. For Nicolet, the music was all, and Muti. the lessons he gave Ken, to use another cliché, quite simply changed his life. When it came to the Philharmonia auditions, he got to the first round and British Music For Flute thought he might, if he was lucky, get some extra work with the orchestra. In (with Paul Rhodes, piano): fact, he got through to the next round and then was asked to do a trial with • Volume I: Summer Music. Works the orchestra, to his complete astonishment. The trial stage lasted fourteen by Arnold, Bennett, Delius, Dunhill, Elgar, Lamb, Ranish, months, with quite a few of Britain’s leading players competing for the job. Scott. A week before he was due for his final trial, while playing badminton, Ken • Volume II: Folk and Fantasy. snapped an Achilles tendon, was taken to hospital and operated on. He woke Works by Bax, Berkeley, Elgar, from his operation to find he was in plaster up to his hip. This forced him Grainger, Harty, Head, Lamb, to take a gamble. He did not want to tell the orchestra that he was not going McLeod, Vaughan Williams. to be available for three months because they would surely have appointed • Volume Ill: The Reed of Pan. Works by Bantock, Blake, someone else in his place, so he persuaded his doctors to cut his cast at the York Bowen, Finzi, Goossens, knee. He had to sign all manner of papers absolving the hospital of respon- Leighton, Mathias, Scott, Lloyd- sibility, but the cast was cut and he did his trial, hobbling onto the platform Webber. on crutches. The programme at his final trial was Shostakovich’s fifteenth • Walking in the Air (21 Favourites symphony, which starts with about thirty bars of flute solo, and a Mozart for Flute) flute concerto in which the soloist was James Galway. It was after that concert
the 22 pan • flute magazine September 2008 that he was offered the job. It is unnecessary to ask how pleased he was. I asked Ken if he had been given any feed- back about why he was given the job. He remembers one example, from the wonder- ful second flute player, the venerable Cecil Cox, famed for his wit and for his ability to keep people in their places. ‘Well, dear boy,’ said Cecil Cox, ‘there may have been superior executants of the instrument, but you suited us better.’ In 1983 Ken became a member of the Philharmonia. At the end of a year he was told that he had been made a full member, then told that his probationary period was to be extended—he still feels the pain from that—and finally, some months later, the Photograph: Robert Bigio position was his. At one of the first concerts Even the most serious as a permanent member of the orchestra he musicians are entitled to played the fourth symphony of Brahms, with its famous flute solo in the last move- some fun in their lives. Ken ment. After the concert he asked Cecil Cox what he thought. ‘Well, dear boy’—it was Smith enjoys bombing always ‘dear boy’ with Cecil—‘that was a little less provincial than before.’ (And Ken about in a very, very swish Jaguar XK8. took that as high praise indeed.) I remember when it was announced that the Philharmonia job was his. Some of the unsuccessful applicants for the job, a few of them hot-shot players with egos as big as outdoors, were scornful that a fellow who had spent ten years as second flute in a provincial orchestra should have grabbed this plum position that should, they thought, have come to them. Or if not to them, at least to a member of their tribe, not to this unknown outsider. The beautiful girl had spurned the jocks and had chosen the swot. A quarter of a century on, they are still happy together. Now, after all this time, what are the high points and what are the low points? ‘The high point,’ says Ken, ‘was getting the job’—he maintains a schoolboy-like excitement about that—‘and it has been a continuous thrill to play the glorious flute lines in the orchestra. For me, this is surely the best repertoire for the flute. The low points are not achieving what I try to achieve. Occasionally my playing takes a dip, and when it does, it has to be my fault, not the fault of a reed or the weather or anything else. That’s always troubling, but I do get over it by practising.’ There have been painful personal moments, too, and Ken is a sensitive man. It can never be easy for someone to know that there are players around who will stop at little to take over his job, yet for all his sensitivity he has managed to survive in what is really a cut-throat world. He has done this by playing beautifully—so beautifully that conductors and recording companies love having him in the orchestra. He has devoted all his energies to orchestral playing. Colleagues tell that on Philharmonia tours to beautiful places, when everyone else is sightseeing, Ken is likely to be in his hotel room practising. He lives for his job. He always has, and for those of us who have long admired his contribution to the Philharmonia’s beautiful sound, long may he continue. •
the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 23 oto © David Williams 2006 oto © Ph DavidWilliams
Williams Flutes, Boston, MA USA phone: 1-781-643-8839 or visit: williamsflutes.com Telemann’s Fantasias: A feat of ingenuity and inspiration By Rachel Brown
n the eighteenth century there was a widespread belief, even amongst players and scholars of repute, that wind instruments could not and should not perform Rachel Brown is principal flute alone on account of their inability to create and sustain harmony. Even cadenzas, with the Academy of Ancient I Music and professor of baroque the shortest of solo forays, were considered best when limited to one breath. Three of flute at the Royal College of the greatest baroque composers, however, namely J.S. and C.P.E. Bach and Telemann, Music in London. She is author took a more imaginative approach, creating substantial works during which there is of The Early Flute, a practical never a moment when the harmony is not clearly implied. Guide, published by Cambridge Telemann published his twelve Fantasias around 1727 or 1728; he may well have University Press and has prepared the plates himself and this would have been one of his first ventures in the written cadenzas for the new Bärenreiter edition of Mozart field of engraving. Undoubtedly these are the flute fantasias mentioned in his auto- concertos. Her most recent biography yet, strangely, the only surviving copy of the first edition is mistakenly recordings include the Handel entitled Fantasie per il Violino, senza Basso and Telemann’s name is only added in pencil. Flute and Recorder Sonatas Telemann in fact published a genuine set for violin in 1735. Opus 1 for Harmonia Mundi Though quite unlike anything else written for the instrument, clearly this earlier (due for release late 2008) and set is conceived for the flute; the range never descends below D above middle C, the Telemann Fantasias for her own label, Uppernote, available (the lowest note of a baroque flute), thus never using the lowest string of the violin. from: Surprisingly, whilst nothing is unplayable on the violin, some of the apparently www.rachelbrownflute.com
Largo Author’s picture
string-like figures such as certain spread chords are somewhat unidiomatic. With multiple stopping each note would normally lie on a different string; where the notes have to be played on the same string they cannot be played together (Example 1). By contrast, the violin fantasias contain much sustained double stopping (Example 2).
Largo 3 3 p f Photograph: Chris Christodoulou
the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 25 It is not known whether this earlier collection was intended for a specific flau- tist, but around this time Telemann composed several sonatas for flute or violin, including the second set of Methodical Sonatas for the Burmester brothers, Rudolf and Hieronymus of Hamburg, who had shown great appreciation of his works. Each fantasia is complete in itself but the collection together creates a monumen- tal whole. Telemann set each fantasia in a different tonality, ascending from A major through A minor, B minor, B major, C major, D minor, D major, E minor, E major, F minor and G major to G minor. This cyclic, almost encyclopaedic presentation was a popular mode of composition at the time; alongside the famous Forty-eight Preludes and Fugues and the Two- and Three-Part Inventions by J.S. Bach are lesser-known examples for flute such as Schickhardt’sL’Alphabet de la Musique, twenty-four sonatas in all major and minor keys, published in London in 1735. Composers and theorists of the day (such as Rousseau, Charpentier, Mattheson and Rameau) firmly believed that each tonality could assume its own character and produce certain Affekts. Telemann, who grew up playing the flute, clearly understood how to play with these powerful elements of Rhetoric. Thus contrasting moods of joy, brilliance, fun, passion, pride, seriousness, coldness, plaintiveness, serenity, ten- derness, delicacy and charm as well as rustic and courtly dancing are reflected in not only the choice and juxtaposition of keys but also the chosen register and motives such as bold arpeggios, characterful rhythms or more lyrical legato lines.
Example 3 Grave
The set opens in A major in a bright and at times playful mood reflecting the improvisatory nature of this most fragmentary prelude. The more pastoral and pensive qualities of A major appear in the closing dance, a Passepied. The contrast with A minor is stark; the opening arpeggios and implied suspensions of sevenths set a serious, plaintive tone (Example 3). B minor continues in a lonely and mel- ancholic vein yet with elements of the bizarre such as the hints towards chromatic glissando in the opening gesture (Example 4). Making a glissando by sliding fingers off the holes was described by Tromlitz in 1791 and became more common in the nineteenth century when it was used by players such as Charles Nicholson. B major is an inherently sunnier key which could, by turn, be proud or delicate, qualities so closely associated with the Polonaise dance of the Allegro. C major brings music full of merriment. The alternating Presto-Largo sections leave one in anticipation of the cheeky canonic Allegro and the hearty closing dance, a Canarie. D minor could hardly be more serious, yet also sweet and tender and devout.
Example 4 Largo
the 26 pan • flute magazine September 2008 D major was traditionally associated with ebullient, animated, even war-like music. Telemann writes a grand overture in the French style (albeit with an Italian title) with characteristic bold dotted rhythms in the opening and closing sections. The central faster section is almost orchestral in its conception; one can imagine first violins introducing the theme, followed by second violins (at the upbeat to bar 19, and finally the bass entry (upbeat to bar 23). Taking the image further, the passage from bar 29 could be orchestrated with pairs of instruments, even horns and then oboes. In the E minor fantasia he returns to a plaintive, almost aggrieved mood. Rameau’s assertion that E minor was never merry, even in an allegro, is certainly apt here; the central Spirituoso is purposeful yet too agitated to be happy. With the tender E major Affettuoso appears a translu- cent light, loving yet wistful, fragile and tinged with sadness. F minor assumes a languid quality while G major returns to a cheerful disposition and G minor closes in an impressive display of solemnity and power, yet the more intimate moments reveal thoughtfulness and beatitude. Many of the descriptive words used here are taken directly from the theorists yet could have been written Georg Philipp Telemann expressly for these pieces. The one-keyed flute, with its tapering bore and eight unequally-sized and -spaced tone-holes, produces a chromatic scale with an inherent unevenness which particu- larly enhances these contrasts. Most notes outside the home key of D major offer a mellow, pastel shade, yet sharp keys usually have strong resonant notes for their tonic, dominant and subdominant, whereas in flat keys these principal notes lie in the softer tones. Telemann sets these fantasias mostly in sharp keys and even the flat-orientated pieces in D and G minor have strong tonics and dominants, yet he constantly modulates, with an ever-changing array of colours. Even the introduction of one new accidental can subtly shift the balance between light and shade, happi- ness and sadness, hope and despair. The brief allusion to the introverted key of F major in the last fantasia makes the wild G minor finale all the more powerful. Here we catch a glimpse of the Polish music ‘in all its barbaric beauty’ which so captured Telemann’s imagination; ‘One would hardly believe what wonderfully bright ideas such pipers and fiddlers are apt to get when they improvise, ideas that would suffice for a lifetime’. Telemann might also have expected his performer to improvise stylish embel- lishments, yet Baroque ornamentation is generally associated with the adagio, and within the fantasias there are surprisingly few true slow movements (the B major Andante, the D minor Dolce, the E minor Largo and the E major Affettuoso), and none of these are exactly bare. Any ornamentation should enhance the style and the charac- ter of the piece. The D major Overture could perhaps be distinguished by French-style battements (after leaps), ports de voix (appoggiaturas after ascending steps), more ornate trills and extra roulades (Example 5), whereas some of the short improvisatory fragments might lend themselves more to the Italian-style melismas of irregular numbers of notes under slurs. The German style of ornamentation is governed by the harmony: any notes of the same harmony may be added (or taken away) and any passing notes introduced must be properly prepared and resolved. German ornamental figures are characterised by detailed articulation (harmony notes can be tongued or slurred whilst passing notes
the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 27 must be slurred from or onto harmony notes), rhythmic variety (triplets, demi- semi-quavers, Lombardic snaps and syncopation) and nuances (Quantz indicated ornamental notes often softer than the main notes).
Example 5 Alla Francese Ti di - dl - di di - d'l Ti ti - d'l di di - d'l di ti ti - ri ti - ri ti -
ri di-ri-d'l di ti-ri-d'l di-d'l di-d'l di ti - ri di-ri-d'l di ti-ri-d'l di-d'l di-d'l di ti - ri ti-ri-d'l di The Adagio of the A minor fantasia is a fully-ornamented movement in the German style and, in that sense, it needs no additional embellishment; Telemann’s music is lovely as it stands yet, if one wanted to ornament here, it would be more a case of exchange, paring the music down to its basic framework before adding new ideas. Example 6 suggests possibilities incorporating some of Telemann’s hallmarks; a turn-type figure on the first note, many harmony notes, passing notes with slurs, an occasional unprepared dissonance, a multitude of rhythms and early entry of the following upbeat. The opening of this movement bears a striking resemblance to the C major Methodical Sonata by Telemann (published just a few years later) and this has been included here for comparison. When adding many notes one must never lose sight of the character. Several of Telemann’s embellished movements in the Methodical Sonatas are at a more flowing tempo: andante or cantabile. There are certainly examples of orna- mentation in fast movements, for example in the second movement of Bach’s E major Sonata BWV1035 (Example 7), and, by Mozart’s time, ornamentation was just as common in an allegro (Example 8). So perhaps the many dance movements with binary repeats in the fantasias are ripe for decoration. Both Quantz and Telemann left examples which were heavily ornamented from start to finish, yet Quantz added that ‘You must never do so in excess, lest the principal notes be obscured, and the plain air be unrecognizable. You must play the principal subject at the very begin- ning just as it is written. If it returns frequently, a few notes may be added the first time, and still more the second, forming either running passage-work, or passage- work broken through the harmony. The third time you must again desist and add almost nothing, in order to maintain the constant attention of the listeners.’1 Such ornamentation was meant to be improvised, or at least sound as if it were freshly dreamt up. The subject of articulation in these flute fantasias is fascinating. Slurs are sparse: surprisingly so. Some movements contain no slurs at all. This may be partially because of Telemann’s relative inexperience with engraving; his Methodical Sonatas and subsequent publications contain many more. However, it is also true that Baroque composers generally notated fewer slurs than some modern editors would have us believe and that players made use of a wide variety of contrasting tonguing syllables instead. Conventionally, various grades of ti and di would be used to differentiate between detached repeated notes or leaps and smooth melodic lines. Pairs of notes could be
1 Quantz, Versuch, translated by E. Reilly as On Playing the Flute, chapter 14, §14.
the 28 pan • flute magazine September 2008 embellishments in the style of Telemnn's Methodical Sonatas Example 6
3 3 3 3 3
bare structure
Telemann Fantasia Ad(agi)o 6 6 6 imaginary bass part
Telemann Methodical Sonata in C major Andante 3 tongued with di-ri and extended to di-ri-di-ri or di-Ri-di-Ri depending on how the notes are grouped or how you wish to group them. Example 9 shows how the sort of ton- guing patterns suggested by Quantz and Hotteterre can offer a variety of phrasing. The articulation may also play a vital part in bringing out one voice to the fore- ground and placing another in the background. A good way to practise this is to play the notes of the theme with shape, attack dynamics and hierarchy exactly as you want them. Then play all the notes with your fingers but only blow the thematic notes (shown in red in Example 10), retaining all the detail. Finally add the back- ground (black) notes pianissimo, but tongued more gently.
the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 29 Example 7 Allegro
Example 8 Allegro maestoso
3 3 Example 9 Allegro di - ri di ti di - ri di - ri di - ri di Allegro di - ri di - ri di - ri di di - ri di di Allegro di ti - ri ti - ri ti ti - ri di - ri di
Example 10 Allegro Ti Ti Ti Ti Ti Ti Ti Ti Ti Ti ti Ti ti Ti ti Ti ti Ti ti Ti ti Ti ti Ti ti Ti ti Ti ti ti Ti di - ri Ti di - ri Ti di - ri Ti di - ri Ti di - ri Ti di - ri Ti di - ri Ti di - ri Ti ti ti Ti ti ti Very fast passages would be tongued with di-d’l-di-d’l (see Example 5) but upgraded to Ti-d’l for more emphatic moments and interspersed with ti-ri wherever the pattern leaps. As with ornamentation, the choice of tonguing should highlight the mood and the character. Of course, in certain contexts (very fast notes or passing notes) slurs are quite appropriate and may well have been added by players of the day. Example 5 shows some optional articulation. The D major overture also raises questions of double-dotting over which there was some disagreement even in the eighteenth century. The single quavers in bars
the 30 pan • flute magazine September 2008 13, 86, 88 and 93 may have been intended to be played as printed or as semi-quavers following a double-dotted crotchet (since the notation of double-dotted notes had not yet been adopted). The notation of the groups of three fast notes in bars 7 and 8 and also at the end of bars 85 and 87 is imprecise. Modern editions usually print these as triplets (demi-semi-quavers in bars 7 and 8 but semi-quavers in bars 85 and 87). Telemann simply notates a dotted note (quaver or crotchet) followed by three fast notes (semi-quavers, played late) and in all probability these were meant to be the same. It is also possible that he may have intended a dotted tied note. Quantz not bar 7 Example 11 Telemann's notation
modern editions 3 3 3 3 another possibility as Quantz describes
bar 85 Telemann's notation modern editions 3 another possibility as Quantz describes only advocated exaggerating dotted rhythms but also actually leaving a gap where string players would need to retake the bow. (see Example 11). Telemann is highly inventive in the many ways he creates or implies harmony, dissonance and counterpoint. As well as regular arpeggiation he notates spread chords (uncommon in flute music, Example 1) or implies double- or triple-stop- ping with frequent use of Lombardic rhythms where the notes are sounded close together (Example 12). Treble and bass lines are created by interspersing high and low notes and we hear pedal points (Example 13) and suspensions (Example 3) through the clever deployment of the two parts. Telemann even constructs ambi- tious imitative contrapuntal movements such as a canon (C major Allegro, Example 10), many fugato passages and a strict fugue, the D minor Allegro, with audible subject, countersubject, modulation, development of motives, hints of inversions,
the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 31 Example 12 Allegro Andante
Example 13 Allegro
Example 14
Subject Counter subject Subject
4 Subj.
6 inv. Subj. inv. Subject altered
9
Counter subject
11 Subj. Subj. Subj. Subject Subj. Subj.
the 32 pan • flute magazine September 2008 Example 15 Adagio and stretto (entries sooner than expected), concluding with the opening notes of the main theme in retrograde (Example 14). Though none are labelled as such, many movements are composed in various forms of the dance suite, so popular at the time, and so easily recognisable to the eighteenth-century public. The tempo markings, therefore, may be seen as confirmation, qualification or modification of the norm. The F minor A tempo giusto is an Italian Corrente, to be played ‘at the conventional speed’ with flowing quaver motion in 3 time and the typical opening gesture, whereas the follow- ing Presto is noticeably speedier than a normal Gavotte, with crotchet motion commencing half-way through the bar. According to Quantz a Gavotte would traditionally be played a little slower than a Rigaudon or Bourrée which would be bar () = 80. In his book, Versuch eiener Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen (Berlin, 1752), Quantz laid down guidelines for various tempi, measured (before the invention of the metronome) by the pulse beat of a healthy person, taken after lunch! He calculated this as 80 beats per minute, though he admitted ‘I do not pretend that a whole piece should be measured off in accordance with the pulse beat; this would be absurd and impossible’. A speed of = 80 for the pieces in the style of a Rigaudon or Bourrée, such as the A minor Allegro or the E major Vivace would be ambitious. Quantz suggests they should be played gaily, using a light bow-stroke. The Vivace marking suggests a lively but less hurried speed. In his introduction to the Musica Rara edition, Barthold Kuijken lists many of the dances occurring in these Fantasias, including a slow Allemande (E minor Largo), a tender Sarabande (E major Affettuoso), several Bourrées and Rondeaus, a Minuet (F minor Moderato) and slightly faster Passepied (A major Allegro), a Gigue (B minor Allegro) and related Canarie (C major second Allegro). To this list I would add the Hornpipe-like D minor Spirituoso and two Polonaises (B major Allegro and E minor Allegro). An eighteenth-century performer would have been well acquainted with the character of each dance. It helps to have a sense of pulse, to know where the strong beats lie and to have an awareness that whilst a few of these beats may have been heavy, such as the rumbustious jumps in a Canarie, marked by short, sharp bow-strokes (at bars 8, 10, 30 and 32), many main beats in the music translate into poised steps up onto the ball of the foot (not a weighty downward accent). The contrast in the stresses and characters of the 3-time dances is particularly interesting. Three beats in a bar typically produces a strong-weak-weak pattern in a Minuet, or a Passepied. In a Sarabande, a stately slower dance (E major Affettuoso), the interest sometimes falls on the second beat of a bar, with a higher or longer note (a minim or dotted crotchet). The Polonaise is a stunning dance
the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 33 to watch; proud, gutsy and exhilarating, marked by sweeping leg movements, but with graceful, more delicate, intimate contrasting sections. Typically, the phrases are four bars long, only resolving on the second or third beat of the fourth bar. At that point in the dance there may be a characteristic heavy jump (second beat) and a click of the heels (third beat). Aside from these more formal structures, Telemann sometimes adopts a more vocal style, for instance in the B major arioso Andante, the folk-song-like C major Largos, the quasi-recitative ending of the A minor Adagio and the rhetorical outbursts, whether questions (B minor Largos), or exclamations (G minor Graves). The Adagio before the Vivace in the G major Fantasia (Example 15) is so short (one and a quarter bars) that many modern editors have felt obliged to complete the bar themselves! There is nothing wrong in that but a sudden interruption may be even more effective. These little improvisatory fragments which pepper these pieces add a final touch of fantasy. Such originality and inventiveness are rare indeed. The ‘Music Tyrants’ who for a while persuaded Telemann’s mother to ban all musical activities had every reason to be jealous, predicting he would turn into a wandering minstrel, a charlatan, a tightrope dancer or a marmot catcher! The Telemann flute Fantasias were unique in their day, and remain so, using the flute in an unorthodox way to create a compositional tour de force. •
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the 34 pan • flute magazine September 2008 Twenty-five years of the BFS
By Simon Hunt
y friends and fellow council members Robert Bigio and Anna Munks, our valued editor and secretary respectively, asked me to write something about Mthe beginnings of BFS, and for once I was at a loss for words, unusual for me as my friends know! The facts are well known: Trevor Wye had the idea of forming a society for a while before it finally happened in 1983, and indeed he has always been the father of the society and has steered us on a course through the years, sometimes through choppy waters until today when we celebrate our twenty-fifth anniversary. I remember the inaugural meeting to form the society at the Boosey & Hawkes instrument factory in Edgware (long since replaced by a boring, overpriced housing development). A very wise decision was taken to elect Christopher Hyde-Smith as chairman. Christopher’s experience, diplomatic skills and humour were invaluable. Simon Hunt is a long-serving Susan Bruce, our wise legal adviser, was there at the beginning and has remained member of the British Flute Society’s council and was present loyally with the society to this day. when the society was founded. John Francis was our first secretary, a well-known figure in the flute world of the He edited this journal for some fifties, sixties and seventies, and he offered the committee the use of his splendid years. Simon was a successful flute player and teacher before setting house in St John’s Wood for our meetings. It would be inappropriate to mention the up his thriving music publishing contributions of individuals and leave out others who are as deserving, but I must say businesses, Pan Educational Music how much I enjoyed and appreciated the chairmanship of Edward Blakeman as col- and Hunt Edition. league and friend. His dry wit enlivened many a meeting (they can drag on if people are not curbed!), as I enjoyed the leadership and energy of the present chair, my old friend Atarah Ben-Tovim. Kenneth Bell also did a great service as chairman. Author’s picture Without denigrating the fellow flute societies, I do think that the BFS quickly estab- lished a reputation as the society that others envied, or at least admired. But particu- larly during my time as events organiser (1986) and as editor (1987 to 1991), I was lucky to be in touch with fellow editors such as Denis Verroust of the French Flute Society’s superb magazine, Traversière, and Stefano Cioffi of the Italian Syrinx, and with many of the great players of my generation and before, whom I had the privilege to talk to in depth. A few names that come to mind: Julius Baker, Aurèle Nicolet, Ransom Wilson, John Francis, Maxence Larrieu, and of course Sir James Galway. The idea of forming a flute society was by no means new, although at the time we started I think we may have been the first in recent years. At any rate, the other soci- eties in Europe were the French, German, Italian and Finnish. The latter are a very active society, with Bill Dyer as editor for a while, with an original magazine. The USA had the National Flute Association, which organises a convention in a different city every year for about 2000 delegates, and there is also the magazine called Flute Talk.
Photograph: Robert Bigio But there were flute societies or flute clubs in many places in the nineteenth and early
the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 35 twentieth centuries. As many of you will know, the flute enjoyed a phenomenal popu- larity from the eighteenth century onwards and was perhaps the preferred instrument …we were of the cultivated amateur. fortunate that When Trevor Wye decided to try to put the formation of the society into action he James Galway did a great deal of work, writing to professional flute players and others in the busi- ness, and, I believe, had a poor response. It has always been the case that only a small (now Sir James) proportion of professionals want to join a society. When they shut the music on the accepted the stand, they often do not want to think about the flute. (They sometimes want to think position of about golf or model railways!) So the BFS has its backbone in the loyal amateurs and teachers, many of whom do of course play in orchestras, chamber groups and flute president of the choirs. society… But we were fortunate that James Galway (now Sir James) accepted the position of president of the society, and the doyen of British flute makers, Albert Cooper, accepted the position of vice-president. (I distinctly remember being given a lift home by Albert from John Francis’s house after a council meeting, and experiencing some exciting driving!) At the first meeting, the professionals were represented by Christopher Hyde-Smith, Trevor Wye, William Bennett, Gordon Heard and myself. Trevor undertook the role of editor of the magazine Pan, with the collaboration of Lorna Lewis. I think it was, from the outset, informative, amusing and original. Lorna edited for four years and sud- denly, at a meeting a John Francis’s house, Lorna announced that she was ill and could not go on. A plea was made for a stand-in for six months (two issues). I volunteered, and for four and a half years I took over, with lots of support from many people. In those days the articles (many in longhand) were typeset by our printers at Novello’s (a lovely man named Albert Gill) and I collected the galley proofs, in long strips. I used to lay them all out on my study floor, cut them up and literally paste them into position, leaving carefully-measured spaces for the pictures and advertisements, which were put in later. The computer has changed all that! From the early years of the society, we relied on the goodwill and generosity of players, teachers and contributors, because according to the charter of the society, which is a registered charity, no-one could be paid except a few officers of the society (including the editor). All we could do was pay expenses (air fares and hotels for people coming from abroad). I remember an early event was a marvellous masterclass given by Jean-Pierre Rampal (with whom I had studied in 1963). Of course, Trevor Wye, William Bennett, Edward Blakeman, Denis Verroust and many others had many and diverse connections in the flute world internationally, and have been able to use these to persuade many distinguished and interesting artists to favour us with their skills. But for me, the greatest excitement was when I organised my first event at the Royal College of Music, when the line-up was Julius Baker, prin- cipal flute of the New York Philharmonic; Richard Adeney, the great English soloist and orchestral player; Philippe Bernold, the flower of the young French flute school (a student of Rampal’s); and Karen Jones, the rising star of British flute playing. The day made a loss, partly because Julius Baker insisted on bringing his entire family, and the BFS had to pay for them! The society benefitted also from the beginning from the generosity of its officers in giving their time and expertise, and also that of many members, who have helped tirelessly to organise local events and give support in many ways. But it has not always
the 36 pan • flute magazine June 2007 been easy to find the right people to fill the demanding jobs, such as chairperson and treasurer, because they require a commitment of time and so much knowledge of the I collected the flute world. Thanks to John Rayworth and Julie Wright, I remember being asked by galley proofs, our indefatigable and charismatic chairperson, Atarah Ben-Tovim, to sit in on inter- viewing some prospective candidates for the editorship. One lady tried to convince us in long strips. that having edited a women’s magazine qualified her for the post. Unfortunately, she I used to lay exhibited little knowledge of the flute world, and I have to say, in a joke against myself, them all out that she had not heard of me or my publications, either. The finances of the society were looked after very well in the early days by our first on my study and second treasurers, Tony Bingham and Jonathan Myall, who steered us away from floor, cut them rash expenses and put us on a sound footing. Now we are fortunate to be in the safe up and liter- financial hands of Rachel Misson. When I gave up the editorship in 1991, at the start of an energetic and committed ally paste them chairwomanship of Susan Milan, another fine player, Judith Fitton, took over and gave into position, the magazine an individual and artistic flavour. Judith is, of course, an experienced leaving care- player and her father was the well-known painter James Fitton. After Judith we were lucky enough to have first Hannah Lang and then Clare Roberts as editor, who con- fully-measured tributed their organisational and computer skills to bringing the magazine up to the spaces for the visual standards of the twenty-first century. Now we are lucky enough to have as editor pictures and Robert Bigio, who surely combines the knowledge, contacts, taste and other skills to make him the right person for the job, and I believe that with his tireless work he has advertisements, helped to put Pan into the front rank of journals of its kind. which were One of the most important aspects of the BFS is that it has brought flute enthusiasts put in later. The together from all over the UK in flute days, competitions, flute choirs, conventions and many, many events organised by local teachers and pupils, amateur players and computer has professionals. All this is due to the generosity of the organisers and participants, and changed all above all to their enthusiasm for the flute, which I share. that! An invaluable part of the continuing health and financial stability of the society has been the continued support and sponsorship of the flute shops: Jonathan Myall of Just Flutes, Andy Thomson of Top Wind and Nigel James of All Flutes Plus, and their col- leagues. There are many shops, publishers and flute makers, too numerous to name, who have supported us loyally, taking stands at the various events, advertising in Pan and generously offering prizes, sometimes of considerable monetary worth. Finally I must give a personal thank you to some of the artists who have given outstanding perform- ances and classes for the BFS over the years. I hope to offend nobody by omission. Firstly, for those sadly no longer with us: James Dower, an early council member who organised some superb flute days and played with great virtuosity and the incom- parable musician Clifford Benson, who died far too young last year. On a lighter note, wonderful performances I can remember were given by Aurèle Nicolet, Robert Dick, William Bennett (who introduced me to the flute), Maxence Larrieu, Wissam Boustany, Philippa Davies, Rachel Brown, Ian Clarke, Marco Granados, Jacques Zoon, Paula Robison, Philippe Bernold, Denis Bouriakov, Robin Soldan, our pianist Richard Shaw and of course Sir James and Lady Galway. There are so many others, but space does not permit their inclusion. I hope that you will all join us, the president, Sir James Galway, the chairperson Atarah Ben-Tovim and the council in wishing the BFS success and wonderful concerts, events and magazines for the next twenty-five years. •
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n a summer day in 1992, I had a life-changing experience. I was in St. Irénée, Québec at the tucked-away Domaine Forget summer music institute overlooking the St. Lawrence River, standing before a group of my peers in First Prize Winner in the O Laurence Beauregard a flute masterclass. The instructor was a small Frenchman with a commanding pres- ence. I had just played a passage from the slow movement of the Bohuslav Martinů Competition, Nina Perlove has been praised by critics for her Sonata and the teacher, Alain Marion, stopped me. ground-breaking website ‘Nina,’ he said, leaning close and looking me straight in the eye. ‘You hesitate to (www.REALFLUTEproject.com) tell me your story. Tell me what makes you weep.’ He lifted his flute and played the and her online performances most heavenly sound I ever imagined. When he finished, Alain looked at me and have received over three saw the reaction in my face. ‘Your turn,’ he said. ‘Your turn to cry. Let me hear your million views worldwide. Nina tears in the flute.’ has performed and taught throughout the US and Europe That was the day I learned the difference between musicality and expression. and her writings have appeared From this simple exchange, I came to understand that while musical playing in Perspectives of New Music, involves careful observation of style, dynamics, tempi, accents and phrasing, expres- American Music, Windplayer sive playing is a highly personal injection of feeling into a performance that comes Magazine, Flute Talk and The from an intimate part of the player’s psyche. Musicality is principally an intellectual Flutist Quarterly. She teaches at endeavour, while expressive playing draws from the performer’s raw emotion. Both Northern Kentucky University and is an Artist for Sankyo musicality and expression absolutely require technical mastery to execute, and both Flutes. are equally essential to artistic music making. Alain showed me that while strictly musical performances may be great, performances that combine both musicality and expression are magical, and no one could bring out a student’s expressive per- Author’s picture formances like Alain. Yet Alain himself believed that personal expression cannot be imposed by a teacher. He said, ‘You learn style and technique from teachers, but not emotion. Everyone has something different to say. You must find your own sense of self.’1 Although Alain believed that one cannot teach musical expression, he showed his students time and time again that musical expression can be unlocked, and that his role as a teacher was to help students recognise their own expressive potential and learn how to channel personal emotions into music making. This ability to lead students towards their own expressive discovery is what I call Expressive Teaching, and this, I believe, was the genius of Alain’s instruction. Those who knew Alain Marion were acutely aware of his talent and charisma. The accomplished French flute player Philippe Bernold wrote this about his former instructor: 1 Alain Marion, quoted in Sheryl Cohen, Bel Canto Flute: The Rampal School, Winzer Press,
Photograph: Dennis Guillaume 2003, p. 32.
the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 39 For [Marion], sound was not a quantifiable part of playing…Its quality depended entirely on its emotional substance…He was as enormously demanding as he was energetic, and we were literally swept along with and transcended by that energy…His teaching style may have seemed outwardly simple, and yet it had tremendous resonance with us, his young students. His presence will remain vivid in our hearts forever.2
American flute player Sheryl Cohen similarly described Alain Marion:
Marion cherished music and had no tolerance for a lackadaisical approach to any aspect of musicianship or flute playing. He savored every moment of music and life, and demonstrated the depth of his humanity in every note he played…Marion’s energy and musician- ship inspired and invigorated those around him, and his teachings left indelible imprints on students.3
Alain’s expectations of students were high. If a student did not play well, he became frustrated. His distress was not directed at the individual performer, but rather at the fact the music was not being served with due respect. Conversely, when a student played well, his joy was doubly evident, because he felt a powerful expres- sive force had been set into motion. He held himself to the same standard. Alain never stopped pushing himself to new levels and never stopped learning. His record- ings got better and more expressive every year. I know Alain was especially proud of his 1993 Accord release, Morceaux de Virtuosité, which he lovingly dedicated to Joseph and Jean-Pierre Rampal, his mentors. Upon hearing the compact disc, Rampal wrote ‘I think that few performers in the world can combine in one recording such feeling, technique, and charm of color.’4 During my two years of study with Alain in Paris, he shaped not only the way I practise and perform, but the way I hear music. I can honestly say that every time I pick up my flute I think of Alain and all that he taught me. It is easy to talk about Alain Marion as if he were a musical superhero. Indeed, to his students, Alain was larger than life. This certainly has some- thing to do with the unique relationship between music instructor and student. I have similar feelings for all my former teachers, each of whom I idolise for their talents and the gifts of knowledge they shared with me. Trevor Wye addressed the risk of mythologising great teachers in the intro- duction to his book on Marcel Moyse: ‘Hero worship does not help the hero; it only makes him more vulnerable to attack by his critics. In fact, Moyse did not need it—he was a very influential and extraordinary man without the fabricated hype.’5 Similarly, it is important to remember that Alain was human. Sometimes in lessons he was tired or distracted. Most of the time
2 Philippe Bernold, A Life in Music, Analekta AN 2 9850-2, 2006, liner notes. 3 Cohen, 6. 4 Jean Pierre Rampal, L’Art d’Alain Marion II, Morceaux de Virtuosité de l’école française, Accord 202182, 1993, liner notes. 5 Trevor Wye, Marcel Moyse, An Extraordinary Man, Winzer Press, 1993, p. xv.
the 40 pan • flute magazine September 2008 he was brilliant. Suffice to say, he was an individual with exceptional talents from whom much can be learned.
Marion’s Expressive Teaching: How did he do it?
1. Opening the floodgates. Alain Marion understood that to play expressively the player must be able to access his or her emotions, and sometimes to do that he would need to break down the protective walls we construct around our sorrows, fears and vulnerabil- ities. It was not uncommon to see a student become teary-eyed in lessons. This was the experience I had with the Martinů Sonata at Domaine Forget. It was exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. Alain had an instinct for knowing when a student was ready to be approached expressively, and when it was time, he would stand close to the student and speak to the pupil by name. He would ask, in a kind voice, for the player to cry, weep, and always to ‘tell me your story.’ There was something in the intensity of his request, the way he looked you in the eye when he spoke, that was very powerful. It was as if he were no longer a flute teacher but a loving parent, a caring therapist, or a priest offering absolution. ‘I care,’ he seemed to be saying, ‘I care aboutyou .’ It was impossible not to be moved, and when we picked up our flutes to play, that sincere emotion would be channelled into sound..
2. Doing and listening. Alain did not spend a great deal of lesson time engaged in discus- sion. Instead, we played—both of us—back and forth—like a duet. Alain did not want to hear himself talk, he wanted to hear music. Because of this, we covered a lot of material. Flute-playing to Alain was instinctive. He didn’t spend time worrying about or discussing mechanics or anatomy. He played, and felt, and most of all, he listened, listened, listened, and he expected us to do the same. I remember one time when Alain told me he was frustrated with a student because whenever he gave her instruction, she asked, ‘Why?’ ‘Why?’ he responded, ‘because it sounds good!’ Alain preferred to demonstrate what he wanted rather than describe it. When he demonstrated in a lesson, his playing was highly emotional and he expected us to mirror that commitment. He did not necessarily want us to imitate him exactly, but to internalise his style, warmth, and energy. When Alain demonstrated in lessons, Photographs you felt that you were part of his music making. He would lean towards you on the dissonant notes and look you straight in the eye as if to say, ‘Do you hear it, do of Alain you hear my soul in the sound?’ His demonstrations were very effective and his total Marion at a commitment to the expression was always evident. masterclass in Nice in 1970 3. Expression was a priority. When Alain did talk in lessons, he spoke constantly of expres- by courtesy of sion, feeling, warmth, and of telling a personal story. ‘Chant,’ he would shout in Pryor Dodge. lessons, ‘Sing! Dance! Play with an open, warm sound.’ Playing expressively in
the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 41 lessons wasn’t just rewarded, it was expected. That alone went a long way toward making us more expressive players. We knew that when we played for Alain, expression was not the icing on the cake, expression was the cake.
4. He gave sensual, emotional interpretations of repertoire. When Alain did offer verbal interpretations of rep- ertoire, he gave short little statements filled with insight. At best, Alain’s interpretations were bril- liant. At worst, unconventional. Without dispute, they were always dynamic and challenged us to draw out the composer’s expressive intent. For example, of the Hindemith Acht Stücke, he said: ‘It is a very bad time. [Hindemith] wasn’t Jewish but he didn’t accept the Nazis…and he left. It is a very dark time. The sound should be dark. You know the Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weil? It is the same style.’ He described the Krishna move- ment from Albert Roussel’s Joueurs de Flûte as ‘rain, smoke, the smell of opium,’ and of the third Schumann Romance Nicht schnell, he said simply, ‘Smell death.’
5. Transference of energy. A large part of playing expressively is capturing life and energy, and Alain transferred raw energy to his students. He often gave us feedback and directions while we played, including clapping, stomping, and gesturing so we could experience the energy of the music while we were making it. This sounds simple, and yet it was tremendously effective. This was especially true when it came to the fast movements of Baroque pieces. ‘Dance!’ he would shout as he clapped and stomped to make us internalise the pulse of a gigue or bourée. To this day, I can hear Alain clapping when I play a Bach allegro.
6. ‘Technique is expressive, practice is expressive.’ Whether talking about breathing, scales, articulation, sound production, or finger technique, it was from the point of view of how these techniques are inherently expressive. According to Cohen, Alain said:
Always begin practice with an adagio or andante…Get your emotions going from the very beginning…You have to play what you feel, but you must feel something. There is no difference between how you practice and how you play in Carnegie Hall. You must be happy to be making music. Even if you make mistakes at this point of the day, it’s not important. You should be working for pleasure and to find sensu- ality in your music. In this way you discover warmth in your sound and find your own self. You have to learn to breathe in such a way that it gives you sensual pleasure—that it gives you goose bumps. In order to be able to give sensual pleasure to others, you have to be able to give it to yourself.6 6 Alain Marion in Cohen, 31.
the 42 pan • flute magazine September 2008 Alain Marion’s breathing technique was in many ways the foundation of his emotional playing. He taught that the intake of air should always be in the character of the music that fol- lowed, just as it does in speech. The breath before a tender declaration of ‘I love you,’ is very different from the intake that precedes a shout of ‘Look out, you are about to get run over by a train!’ To Alain, breath was also a channel by which a warm sound is produced. He often had students blow onto the palms of our hands, first with cool air, then with warm air. By breathing warm, the sound would be warm and open. Alain’s approach to articulation was also particularly expressive. He taught us to propel our attacks with a hu-hu diaphragm kick to give them bounce and life, a technique I have come to call ‘popping’ the sound. Alain ‘’talked about how articulation should not be produced from the tongue alone, but from the diaphragm, which he felt was the centre of life-force energy.
Expressive Teaching: The path towards artistry
There will always be students who respond to Expressive Teaching, and those who may not. Like all aspects of flute playing (sound production, vibrato, finger dexterity, articulation, breathing, etc and so on) some areas may come more easily to a student and others require more diligence and patience. Some students may adopt expres- sivity with little or no assistance, others may need more guidance, and as is true with any area in teaching, still others may never achieve the goals we set for them. The variances in individual students’ abilities, talents and determination are part of the challenge and wonder of teaching. But like Alain Marion, we as teachers have to be as attuned to the issue of Expressive Teaching as we are to our own expressive performing and it is not good enough to just assume that students can unlock their own expressive potential without our help or to use the excuse that expression can’t be taught. We must make the commitment to try to unlock the expressive potential in each student to the best of our abilities, because if we do not, we are depriving our students of one of the greatest lessons in music making, the path toward artistry. Expressive Teaching should be a priority not only for a student’s benefit, but for ours, too, because when we teach this way, it reminds us to be more expressive in our own performances. Alain said that we perform the way we practise. I think it is also true that we perform the way we teach. What can we become more expressive teachers? Is there a set formula we can follow in textbook fashion? Unfortunately Alain Marion is no longer with us to offer his answer, but I believe that if we could ask him his opinion on the subject his reply would echo his teaching: build expressivity by establishing a student’s solid technical foundation; make Expressive Teaching a priority; do not imitate Alain’s method, but be invigorated by his energy and commitment, then find specific ways to execute Expressive Teaching which are natural for you and come from a place of sincere, personal expression. Through your teaching, learn to tell your own story, for if you do, that will become your legacy. •
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Available Through: All Flutes Plus 60-61 Warren Street · London W1T 5NZ (+44) 020 7388 8438 · [email protected] The Scottish Flute Trio: Building a new repertoire for flutes By Pippa Murphy
he Scottish Flute Trio is fast becoming one of the leading contemporary music trios in the UK, surprising and rewarding audiences with slick performances Pippa Murphy is an independent and the quality of their commissions. Everything the three women play is composer living in Edinburgh. T She works with artists, dancers, original, often with a touch of theatre, although they can never be accused of being writers and performers in the arrogant, elitist or showy. They are united in their musical purpose and committed UK and abroad and has been to extending and developing the flute trio repertoire. commissioned by the Scottish Ruth Morley, Laura Bailie and Janet Larsson formed The Scottish Flute Trio in Arts Council Paragon Ensemble, 1994 with the aim to commission new work and present it in exciting and inno- Scotland and Contemporary vative ways to many different audiences. They have devised and presented sound Music For Amateurs (COMA). She has composed for radio installations and exhibited them in public art galleries throughout Scotland, and broadcasts, theatre shows have performed at many national and international festivals including the Edinburgh and sound diffusions. She International Festival and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. They have completed her BMus, MA and commissioned a huge variety of high-calibre works from many leading composers PhD at Birmingham University. including Thea Musgrave, Gordon McPherson, Roger Cann, Django Bates, Kenneth She has been a member of Dempster, Robert Dick, Martin Dixon, Peter McGarr, Karen Wimhurst, Joji Hirota, Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (BEAST) for Javier Alvarez, Nigel Osborne and David Fennessy. One of their most fascinating twelve years and is vice-chair of projects to date was working in collaboration with visual artist Elizabeth Ogilvie and Sonic Arts Network. composer and Taiko drummer Joji Hirota to present a water installation inside St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow. It is always enlightening (even as a contemporary music anorak) to be enter- Author’s picture tained (and I mean entertained) by a well-chosen, well-performed programme of new music with a cleverly and subtly integrated visual element. There are many instances where contemporary music ensembles offer the audience what can be perceived as ‘gimmicks’ in an attempt to boost audience numbers, but they are often not entirely genuine or true to the music. The Scottish Flute Trio never fails to present a polished and engaging performance and never sacrifice the composer’s intent by being tongue-in-cheek, arrogant or showy. This is not to say they don’t have a sense of humour (or mischief for that matter)—indeed they have dressed in vibrant colours, strived to prevent confetti from clogging up their key pads, doubled on harmonicas and recorders, played percussion instruments with their feet whilst sustaining tricky harmonics and multiphonics and singing at the same time, not to mention playing while travelling up escalators followed by members of the audience in Javier Alvarez’s installation piece Cylinder Clouds. Their most recent undertaking is a new show called FEAT which brings together new music, percussionist Rhian MacLeod and The Curve Foundation Dance Company.
the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 45 The show has been touring Scotland and includes music by Isang Yun, Thea Musgrave, Gordon MacPherson and David Fennessy, with choreo graphy by Ross Cooper, Hanna Ahti and Morgann Runacre-Temple. FEAT takes the audience through a variety of landscapes exploring the virtu- osic, lyrical and aggressive possibili- ties of the instrument, alongside a changing physical space dimension. Both ensembles share a common goal of building new repertoire and presenting it in different ways to The SFT with (above) audiences across the UK. The Curve percussionist Rhian Macleod Foundation Dance Company with artistic Director Ross Cooper has worked with and (below) Ross Cooper leading choreographers including Michael Clarke, Siobhan Davies, Jonathan Watkins and members of the Curve Foundation Dance Company. and Merce Cunningham. Ross Cooper trained at École de l’Étoile Rudra Béjart Ballet in Lausanne, Switzerland and has danced with various companies including Rudra Béjart Ballet, London City Ballet, PACT Ballet, Tokyo Ballet, AMP and David Massingham Dance. On his return to Scotland ten years ago, he brought some dancers together and the company was formed. The company is continuing to flourish, and many of the founder members are still involved. The highlight of the FEAT concert was the premiere of David Fennessy’s new piece Foot Foot and Other Stories, which was commissioned by the Scottish Flute Trio and choreographed by Morgann Runacre-Temple. On first hearing the piece was unusual and seemingly unsophisticated. The trio were playing foot pedal cymbals and drums whilst playing out-of-tune har- monies and not-quite-together rhythms. The out-of- tuneness was achieved by asking the players to extend their headjoints as far as possible, without falling off, and everything was written a semitone higher to be roughly at the same pitch at the marimba but with a really messed-up scale and harmonic series. Whilst making some members of the audience feel slightly uncomfortable, it made others sit up and listen, knowing this must be deliberate and not the Scottish Flute Trio’s attempt to make a protest to the com- poser and perform it appallingly, which has occurred with other orchestras! As the music continued with its relentless and fascinating ‘out-of-tune’ harmonies, the audience were led to concentrate and indulge in
the 46 pan • flute magazine September 2008 the rich sonorities of the trio whilst Hanna Ahti, Soraya Ham and Jenna Sloan danced on the shiny silver floor. I believe it is always important for new music to be strong enough to exist without having to rely on knowing where the composer gains his or her inspiration (and indeed this piece achieved this without a doubt), but the story behind Fennessy’s Foot Foot and other Stories gave the performance a whole new dimension. Fennessy explains, ‘When I first heard the music of The Shaggs (a three-sister rock group from the 1960s) I was intrigued and confused by the close-but-not-quite- together rhythms and harmonies. It seemed the music had no real cohesive element yet at the same time it made a weird kind of sense.’ Fennessy continues, ‘The middle movement of the piece was inspired by another three sisters who (along with their ageing aunt) were found dead in their house in Leixup, Co. Kildare in 2001. Apparently they had entered some kind of suicide pact and over a period of weeks had starved themselves to death. Over the years they had become completely reclusive, deciding ultimately to have nothing more to do with the outside world. In the bin were found letters written by In performance with dancer Hanna Ahti of The Curve Ruth to her already deceased sister, Jo. They read as the jumbled writings of a des- Foundation Dance perate person and talk of moving on to “higher wavelengths2, casting off “dense Company. physical bodies2. Elsewhere she expresses doubt, pleading “Please listen. None of us foresaw it could be this cruel and slow. It can deteriorate worse into a slow hell for the four of us (horrible loss of sight, great pain). Please listen”. ‘Somehow, I don’t know why, over time these two stories have become intertwined in my mind. Their characters have become interchangeable; The Shaggs taking on some kind of tragic dimension and the Mulrooneys producing this innocently awful yet poignant music behind closed doors. Of course, the members of the Scottish Flute Trio are highly trained musicians and it has been quite a challenge to notate this seemingly unsophisticated music in an appropriate way for them to play.’ Indeed, I imagine it was a challenge to the flute trio to temporarily lose their usual impeccable intonation and exchange it for an undisturbed flow of out-of-tune harmonies without compromising tone. The piece, in three contrasting sections,
the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 47 creates a landscape of chaos, fluidity and lightness for choreographer Morgann to play with. The repetition of certain dance phrases in the second movement, Letters to Jo/Innisfree, caught the essence of the religious neurosis portrayed in the music, beau- tifully. ‘I hope, like me,’ the composer concludes, ‘you find something in the cracks and stutters and the out-of-tuneness of it all.’ The Scottish Flute Trio continue to share and expose contemporary flute music and techniques to the general public through their education work in schools, concert venues, art galleries and music colleges. They have a CD available called Feasibility Studies on the Metier Label and their performance of the triple concerto Bloodshake is featured on a new compilation of Gordon McPherson works for Natural Studio Records. A podcast of the trio playing Madame de Shanghai by Luc Ferrari can be found at www.seventhings.co.uk. The Scottish Flute Trio continue to tour and commission. Future projects include more performances of FEAT at Dance Live in Aberdeen in October, and at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in November. Also, a new Scottish women composers’ project to celebrate the eightieth birthday of Thea Musgrave. includes new pieces from Thea Musgrave, Sally Beamish, Pippa Murphy, and RSAMD student Kirsty Blackwood. This programme will appear at the SOUND Festival in Aberdeen, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Glasgow University and The Tolbooth in Stirling in November and December this year. The Trio also plan to tour with Joji Hirota in Spring 2009 with a video of The Waterfall of Time by Elizabeth MBF_PAN AD.qxd 10/4/06Ogilvie 12: (originally37 Page 1played in St Mary’s Cathedral). •
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the 48 pan • flute magazine September 2008 • Reviews The first CD, Birds, is an attractive collection of arrangements, beginning with The Birds by Respighi and including the Rondo Capriccioso by Mendelssohn, the Mother Goose Suite by Ravel and a Suite of Israeli Songs by Yoav Talmi. While a flute ensemble cannot have the CDs sound palette of a full orchestra, these arrangements make full and effective use of the colours of piccolo, alto and bass flutes, as well as the standard flute. The second CD Impressions Françaises is entirely French music for flute quartet:Flûtes en Vacances by Castérède; the Suite by Paule Maurice; Trois Pièces by Bozza; Quatuor by Pierre Max Dubois; Quatuor by Florent Schmitt; and Jour d’été à la montagne by Bozza. Needless to say, the perform- ances are stunning, immaculately-articulated and co- ordinated, full of tonal colour and variety. The third CD consists of interesting and challenging arrange- ments of well-known repertoire, including the whole of the Bach Suite No. 2 in B minor, Sevilla by Albeniz, and Adios Nonino by Piazzolla. The fourth CD presents music less familiar to our European ears: music by Israeli composers such as Shlomo Yoffe, Tzvi Avni and Daniel Galay. One would have to be very much enamoured of flutter-tonguing and the shrillest of piccolo sounds to enjoy Pan by Betty Olivero, but there is much variety of mood and colour elsewhere on the CD, particularly in the lyrical and dramatic piece Ruhot (Spirits) by Haim Permont. Alison Uren
Talmis play Talmi. Compositions and arrangements by The Israel Flute Ensemble. Music arranged for flute Yoav Talmi. Er’ella Talmi, flute and piccolo; Yoav Talmi, ensemble and piano by Yoav Talmi: Birds CRC 2696; piano and conductor; Edmond Stein, violin; Marcia Impressions Françaises CRC 2697; From Bach to Piazzolla Zeavin-Bookstein, cello; Mauricio Paez, bassoon. Centaur CRC 2748; Spirits of Israel. IMI CD 12 Records 2749
The Israeli Flute Ensemble was founded in 1986 and Yoav Talmi is known primarily as a conductor on the since then has appeared in the all the major concert international circuit, but this disc is a showcase for series in Israel, and toured abroad with great success. his compositions and for the accomplishments of his The eminent flautists on the four CDs are Uri Soham, wife, the flautist Er’ella Talmi. Both of them studied Er’ella Talmi, Lior Eitan, Eyal Ein-Habar and Ruth at the Juilliard; Er’ella was the principal flute of the Ron. They are joined for some of the pieces by pian- Israel Chamber Orchestra in Tel Aviv, but is now fol- ists Irit Rub-Levy and Israel Kastoriano. lowing a career of solo recitals and chamber music.
the www.bfs.org.uk magazine 49 pan • flute
Reviews •
Yoav Talmi’s Dachau Reflections are eloquent and dra- accompanied by the able and experienced pianist, matic, in a style reminiscent of Shostakovich and, Paul Turner. They begin their recital with the lyrically at times, Britten. Of the works which follow, some expansive Chaminade Concertino, followed by the play- contain music and poetry born during the suffering fully astringent Arrieu Sonatine. The Arrieu’s opening of the Holocaust; others are arrangements of older allegro felt a little hurried, while the third movement, Yiddish folk songs. All are skilfully set in a neoclassical if anything, lacked pace. A contrast between these style which harks back here to Bach, there to Mahler, two tempi would, for me, have worked to greater elsewhere to Milhaud, but always with scrupulous effect. The Gaubert Fantaisie catches nicely the spirit taste, and sometimes with humour and nostalgia. of valse triste, while their strict rhythmic control of Er’ella is a most distinguished player. Her sound the allegro sometimes needed to allow more room is shown off at its best in Track 10, a long-breathed for the quavers of the big tune to expand. With the tune for flute and piano, entitled Youth Song. Their Ravel Pièce en Forme de Habañera, the composer’s con- son, the composer Gil Talmi, contributes his Nocturnal stant use of triplet quavers at the start of each bar Dialog, written as a tribute to his parents, which has gives the clue to the famously lilting rhythm of the a Satiesque simplicity and directness. By way of habañera which, as I like to observe, seems to come contrast with the rather solemn mood of much of naturally to Bizet sopranos, especially Spanish ones, the disc, Er’ella’s piccolo solos introduce a mood of who provide a model for us all. This was a gentle, cheerful slapstick in Tracks 17 and 18. The Israel dreamy interpretation of the Ravel, but I felt that a String Ensemble, the Quebec Chamber Ensemble and little more dreaminess would have been appropriate the mezzo-soprano Bracha Kol also make fine contri- in Gaubert’s Madrigal, where attacks could have been butions to this very listenable, moving and carefully softer, and upbeat quavers more expressive. put-together disc. Richard Stagg In the Godard Suite I particularly enjoyed the Valse, which has both polish and wit, and a charmingly slower-paced central C major episode. The Enesco Flute Fantaisie. Works by Chaminade, Arrieu, Fauré, Cantabile et Presto is given suitably large doses of rubato, Ravel, Gaubert, Godard, Enesco, Dutilleux, Debussy and while the Presto unfolds at a well-chosen pace, and Poulenc. Sally Stocks, flute; Paul Turner, piano. Prologue only lacks a touch of spookiness in the hairpins of the PLG 005. first section. The finale of the DutilleuxSonatine marks Sally Stocks studied at the RCM with Christopher for me the high point of the programme. This has Hyde-Smith and Graham Mayger. She has held absolutely the right qualities of lightness and friski- a flute professorship in New South Wales, and ness maintained throughout a rapid but well-chosen has also served as principal flute in Las Palmas, tempo. The selection is rounded off with Syrinx and Gran Canaria. She presents a selection of well- the Poulenc Sonata. The Syrinx has confidence and known, mostly-French pieces spanning the turn expression, but I never really felt I was in the desert, of the nineteenth century and the mid-twentieth, or even in the oasis. The Poulenc, on the other hand,
the www.bfs.org.uk magazine 51 pan • flute • Reviews has an excellent mixture of moods, as well as plenty The second piece commissioned by the flautist of adrenaline in the finale. Recording quality, on the Er’ella Talmi is A Seder for Peace by Stewart Grant. A whole, is good. In an obviously reverberant acoustic seder is a religious service, in this case one organ- such as this, closer miking might give a worthwhile ised to unite Jews, Muslims and Christians. It features increase in clarity. Richard Stagg variations on the Ten Plagues. It would be unfair of me not to recite them to you: Blood, Frogs, Vermin, Flies and Beasts, Cattle Disease, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness and The Slaying of the First-born. Ouch! Elegant, euphonious and tightly wrought, this piece, mercifully, is a stylisation rather than a literal word- painting. It is a tour-de-force of compositional skill of a very high order indeed. We are certain to hear more of this highly gifted Canadian composer. The remainder of the disc is given over to two C.P.E. Bach trios, those in E major and in A minor, which are, of course, quartets (that is, for flute, oboe, cello and harpsichord). The booklet notes come up with two new translations of Empfindsamkeit: ‘sen- sitive style’ or ‘intimate expressiveness’. Not bad! The modern translation is ‘sentimentality’, but that doesn’t quite hit the button either. How about ‘not It Takes Two to Trio. Works by Doppler, Navok, Grant and CP.E.Bach. Eyal lun-Habar, flute; Dudu Carmel, oboe; like Friedrich Wilhelm the First’ (the one who disap- Akiko Tominaga and Yoni Forhi, piano; Yzhar Kershon, proved of Frederick the Great’s best friend, so had harpsichord; Hillel Zori, cello. Centaur Records CRC 2877. him killed, to solve the problem). Not to put too fine a point on it, the playing in these charming pieces Eyal Ein-Habar was born in Tel Aviv and is a prin- is full of sensitiveness (which is a word, according cipal flute with the Israel Philharmonic, He has to my Collins dictionary!) as well as stylish, varied studied with Adorjan, Bennett, Marion and Nicolet. and authentic ornaments, phrasing and accentuation. Dudu Carmel, born in Israel, is a principal oboe of The togetherness of ornaments is especially compel- the same orchestra. The two have worked closely ling, the balance between oboe and flute always well- together throughout their careers. judged, the sound always elegant. Shut your eyes, and The rousing opener comes in the form of Doppler’s you could be in Sans Souci. Rigoletto Fantaisie (variations on Verdi’s Rigoletto) and Richard Stagg is followed by the Doppler Andante et Rondo, in both cases the oboe taking what is normally the second flute part. This sumptuous feast of Italo-Austro- Hungarian bonbons is presented with well-chosen AKIYAMA HANDMADE FLUTES tempi, immaculate ensemble, vivid accentuation Tokyo, Japan and restrained vibrato. In fact the musicianship is www.akiyamaflute.com so perfect that one almost yearns for a bit of dust and candlegrease in the gypsy rondo. Mysterious Pond, by Lior Navok, was commissioned by Er’ella Talmi in her capacity as artistic director of the series Sons et Couleurs au Musée in Quebec City. An ingenious and constantly flowing kaleidoscope of sound, it is a Available from live portrait of the sounds and sights in and around a Top Wind pond in a forest of New Hampshire. Telephone 020 7401 8787 www.topwind.com
the 52 pan • flute magazine September 2008 Reviews • Books Music
Jan Gippo: The complete piccolo, a comprehensive guide to Teaching material fingering and history. Theodore Presser. Jaap Kastelein: Step by Step 1. Includes DVD and 2 CDs. De A short book about a short instrument. Jan Gippo, Haske. piccolo player of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra There are a great many flute tutors, and some of the since 1972, is a well-known exponent of the piccolo. new ones are cluttered with pictures and coloured In his position on the committee of the National writing, as if desperate to make music into ‘fun’. Flute Association he has commissioned many com- This one is clear and well-structured and resists the positions for the instrument. These include some temptation to add gimmicks; after all, playing a good excellent pieces such as Piccolo Play by Thea Musgrave tune on the flute is fun in itself, isn’t it? Each of the and the Lieberman piccolo concerto. fourteen lessons is structured in much the same way, In this little book there are chapters by Therese with a warm-up exercise, a technical point to master, Wacker, Morgan Williams and Tammy Sue Kirk, a ‘rhythm rap’, a tune to memorise, a game, and then all of whom are respected players and teachers in a medley of tunes using the material which has been America. The result is a great deal of very useful and learned up to that point. All the accompaniments interesting information. There is a short history of are on the CDs with or without the flute, or you can the instrument tracing its development from the fife buy the piano parts separately. The book claims to through the baroque era to the Boehm system. This proceed at a slow pace and to be an ideal method for chapter continues with a description of its use in the younger learners, but because of its straightforward orchestra, chamber music and bands. There is an presentation, I think it would also appeal to students excellent and extensive repertoire list of pieces for a of any age, especially if they needed to learn to read solo piccolo and also with every conceivable combi- music as well as how to play the instrument. The nation of instruments. DVD is a useful back-up to early lessons, showing Perhaps the most helpful chapter of all is a very good posture and embouchure, maintenance of the long list of alternative fingerings. These certainly do flute, tips on breathing and other information, but is not all work on any one instrument, but given the no replacement for lessons with a good teacher. vagaries and eccentricities of piccolos some will be I have one overall objection: the same pretty little successful for everyone. It is comforting to have such girl is pictured in the book and in all the sections of a list to work from. the DVD, and this does nothing for the sexist image I do think this book is a very welcome aid and of the flute! Surely a teenage boy could have been support for any student or player of the piccolo. used in some of the examples? Patricia Morris Alison Uren
Pan—The Flute Magazine reviews policy
1. A review is published for the benefit of the reader, not simply to give an artist some publicity. 2. We do not guarantee to publish a review of every item sent to us. 3. The editorial team will choose the reviewer. Unsolicited reviews will not be accepted. 4. The reviewer may not like the work. A good review is not guaranteed.
the www.bfs.org.uk magazine 53 pan • flute Trinity Guildhall: Scales and Arpeggios for Trinity Guildhall The pieces themselves are around Grades 4 to 5 Flute and Jazz Flute examinations from 2007. Trinity but the piano parts I did manage to look at, although College London. not difficult, did not lift my feeling of gloom. Glen Ballard Trinity Guildhall have produced a well-laid-out book for scales and arpeggios with requirements for their James Rae: Sound at Sight. Trinity Guildhall. Trinity flute and jazz flute examinations clearly listed at the College London. top of the page for each grade. The scales are listed in Sound at Sight, published in two volumes graded 1 to alphabetical order (rather than key order) making it 4 and 5 to 8 are approachable sight-reading pieces easy for candidates to find what they are looking for. graded to match Trinity Guildhall’s requirements for In terms of general technical development for flute, both flute and jazz flute. The volumes offer a wide pentatonic scales are introduced in Grade 4, whole- range of examples designed to help players develop tone scales from grade 6 and scales and arpeggios their skills and build confidence. This is very welcome three octaves from bottom C at grade 7. The require- especially as many candidates seem to develop some ment for candidates to play forte or piano from Grade 6 kind of phobia when confronted with the prospect involves additional technical control, and I don’t see of sight-reading. The introduction gives clear advice why Trinity Guildhall’s use of this and mixed articu- about general requirements when reading at sight— lation in Grade 8 couldn’t be included in the syllabus for example the need for familiarity with intervals, of other examination boards. chord shapes and rhythmic patterns—along with Although relevant to the Trinity Guildhall syllabus, tips about sight-reading in the examination itself. their scale book would be a valuable reference for any There are also useful comments at the beginning of student learning flute or jazz flute. Glen Ballard each grade, providing guidance for pupils working through them on their own. The material would be a Master Play-Along Series: Schott. valuable addition for teachers looking to build confi- dence in their pupils. Glen Ballard The Play-Along Series arranges favourite baroque, clas- sical and romantic themes in both conventional and Ensembles swinging styles and includes a CD with performance and backing tracks as well as piano accompaniments Caroline Franklyn: Two Boldly Blow. Duets for Flute and which can be printed out from a PDF file. So far so Clarinet. Spartan Press. good. However, turning some of music’s most beauti- ful themes such as Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits, the These twelve lively duets are designed to encour- slow movement from Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and age beginners to play together. In the first two duets, Debussy’s Clair de Lune into easy swing arrangements, A-Hunting We Will Blow and Snoozy Bluesy, the two players for me, does not work. Listening to the perform- only need to know three notes, although the rhythms ance tracks with jazz trio on the accompanying CD, it seemed more in keeping with the kind of background music one often hears in shopping malls. On the other hand, the conventional Play-Along series seemed to offer more hope, with full orchestral backing tracks to play along with and piano accompaniments available as PDF files to print out. However, the Baroque Play- Along (which was the only one I saw) did not include the PDF file on the CD which meant that I could not print out any piano accompaniments. This was disap- pointing as the twelve listed arrangements promised to be useful and enjoyable.
the 54 pan • flute magazine September 2008 are quite tricky. The music becomes gradually a little instantly recognise the style. The Quintet begins with harder through the book, up to about Grade 3 stand- a playful Burlesque and this is followed by a tranquil ard. Various musical moods and styles are repre- Pastorale, which is particularly reminiscent of the sented, including March, Swing and Rumba. There is second movement of the flute work. The third move- a piano part provided, and also a CD, with the usual ment is a splendidly exuberant Caprice. At eight and a separate tracks for complete performance, duet only, half minutes this is quite substantial, despite its title, or accompaniment only. Good fun for young learn- and is really very attractive as well as fairly challeng- ers and potential material for school concerts, but at ing. Brenda Dykes £19.99 perhaps rather on the expensive side. Alison Uren Benoît-Tranquille Berbiguier: An Original Cavatina Op. 110 (c.1832) for three flutes. Editions Fuzeau. Airs from The Beggar’s Opera arranged for two flutes and two clarinets in B flat by Sylvia Fairley. Deben Music. Berbiguier lived and worked on the cusp of great In 1728, when The Beggar’s Opera was first produced, change, when the eight-keyed flute had revealed new it was so popular that it had sixty-two consecutive possibilities in tonal, harmonic, dynamic and expres- performances, and it has retained its popularity to sive range. He was himself admired for his technique the present time. John Gay used tunes and ballads of and known as an advocate of a larger flute sound. The the day, to which he added his own lyrics and satiri- Cavatina presents an Andante Sostenuto followed by cal dialogue. Sylvia Fairley has selected four of these a Moderato and Coda in one continuous movement. and arranged them for two flutes and two clarinets: There is dynamic and dramatic range in richly orna- Cease Your Funning; Pretty Polly, Say; Virgins are Like the Fair mented bel canto melodies and meltingly tender ensem- Flower; and the lively song I’m Like a Skiff on the Ocean Tost. ble moments, building through increasingly complex They work well as arrangements, and each part has rhythmic features to a solo four-bar cadenza-like its share of the melodic line. Students of Grade 3 or 4 passage and final flourish. This is a fantastic concert standard would enjoy them very much. Alison Uren piece (essentially an accompanied solo), especially for players of varying ability or confidence. A beautifully Edwin York Bowen: Miniature Suite Op.113 for flute, oboe, presented facsimile, the Cavatina has a useful preface two clarinets and bassoon. Emerson Edition 514 with tantalisingly brief extracts on ornamentation This is a lovely work and I am only sorry that I have from Berbiguier’s Méthode pour la Flûte, also available not encountered it before. The substitution of a from Fuzeau. Christine Garratt second clarinet for the normal French horn seems to make it much easier to both balance and blend the Joseph Bodin de Boismortier: Sonates Op. 8 (1725) for parts. It is written with great insight into the various two flutes. Editions Fuzeau. qualities of the instruments and those readers who are familiar with the Sonata for flute and piano will This publication appeared shortly after Boismortier’s arrival in Paris and only two years before the well- known six concertos for five flutes (Op. 15). Like much of his surviving repertoire, the Op. 8 duets are incon- sistent in quality but have special moments which, with "MUPGMVUFT #BTTGMVUFT the help of the fine Fuzeau facsimile, are a pleasure to discover. They provide helpful pleasant material for students and less advanced players, where the range is modest, canonic entries and parallel movement in ,JOHNB4ZTUFN'MVUFT $POUSBCBTTFT thirds provide security, and there is the opportunity for easy exploration of minor keys and short chromatic )PPGETUSBBU_1#(SPMMPP _5IF/FUIFSMBOET phrases. The helpful chronological table and preface 5FM 'BY _JOGP!LJOHNBGMVUFTDPN_ XXXLJOHNBGMVUFTDPN raise points for further study. Christine Garratt
the www.bfs.org.uk magazine 55 pan • flute Pietro Antonio Locatelli: Six Trio Sonatas Op. 5 (1736) players need to be at least Grade 6 standard. Good for two flutes or violins and continuo. Editions Fuzeau fun. Alison Uren ‘FacsiMusic’ . Locatelli, known as ‘the Paganini of the eighteenth Arranged by Ann Cameron Pearce: Infant Holy, Infant century’, left a modest output of chamber music for Lowly; O Come, O Come, Emmanuel; Shepherds On This Hill; flute: 12 Sonatas Op. 2 for flute and continuo (also Upon That Holy Night. Falls House Press. published by Fuzeau) and Op 5—nevertheless, it These four arrangements of Christmas carols from is music well worth exploring. These sonatas are around the world are all very attractive and could make playful, not particularly violinistic, but challenging an excellent group of pieces for a school Christmas enough to be interesting for the flautist. Characterful concert or any seasonal performance. Three of them themes and rhythmic variety are set in lively conver- can be played by six flutes and the other by five, but sation between the players, with equally entertaining a richer texture is created with alto and bass flutes on parts. The sixth sonata employs a canon ‘four in two’: the bottom two parts. Infant Holy, Infant Lowly is a Polish not only do both flutes play in canon throughout the carol, which flows beautifully through the parts and piece but the continuo is also in canon, fully figured, is, perhaps, the piece that works best for six concert allowing the possibility of a double basso continuo flutes. It is also the easiest, although none needs (that is, an ensemble of six players). There is plenty of really advanced players. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, a exploration of distant keys, giving the period instru- fifteenth-century French plainsong, has five parts and ment players among us something to practise (don’t has some interesting time changes. There is also a we all love those fork-fingered C flats and G flats!). running high obbligato in the second flute part in This easy-to-read facsimile of the original engraved the middle section of the piece. Shepherds On This Hill edition comes in three separate books (flute 1, flute 2 is a really lovely Greek carol in which the first flute and continuo). Christine Garratt doubles with piccolo. This is my favourite of the four
G M Louis Moreau Gottschalk, arranged Trevor Wye: N etween round OR TI ce b and E Tournament Galop for flute choir. Falls House Pres.s N ren sq V E ffe ua E V di re N E e to T h I R t n N O e e This is a five-minute light-hearted romp, rather like a r h G M lo o p le s Sousa march. It starts con bravura, changes to con spirito, x ! E and finishes marcato con fuoco! Trevor Wye has scored it for three flutes (one doubling piccolo), alto flute and bass flute, and it could be performed by any number of players on each part. It is the sort of piece where some percussion could be added effectively. Leonard E. Lopatin & his SquareONE #1 Some fast semiquaver tonguing is required, so the Leonard E. Lopatin invites you to discover why
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the 56 pan • flute magazine September 2008 pieces. There are three thirty-two-bar verses, each of Flute and keyboard which is divided into two halves, one in C minor and the other in C major and at a more upbeat tempo. Carolan’s Concerto. 15 Easy to Intermediate Pieces Every part has some solo material and the harmo- from 18th-century Ireland for flute (violin or oboe) and nies are really attractive. Upon That Holy Night, an Italian keyboard, and optional cello (bassoon). Edited by Patrick Steinbach. Arranged by Jeremy Barlow. Schott. carol, also has piccolo doubling with first flute. Once again all six parts have solo material and, as it says in A beguiling biography of Turlough O’Carolan accom- the preface, Handel must have heard this carol in the panies the fifteen pieces in this book. In brief, he was streets when he was in Italy as a young man, for he born in 1670 in County Meath, the son of a poor later incorporated the melody in He shall feed his flock. farmer’s family. When he was seventeen he con- Each of the pieces is preceded by a few useful per- tracted smallpox and recovered, but became blind. formance tips. Brenda Dykes The landowners where he lived took pity on him and paid for him to learn the harp, and it quickly became Katherine Hoover: Peace is the Way. Papagena Press. clear that he was very gifted. He became a travelling musician of considerable reputation, playing Irish This is a piece for six flutes and two alto flutes. It folk melodies and composing his own music, espe- was originally written for treble chorus and the vocal cially in the Italian Baroque style favoured by high quality is retained in the transcription for flutes. It is society at the time. Often he would compose a piece based on a four-note motif that moves between the while travelling and then present his next hosts with parts, while the first, third and fourth flutes mostly the new work, which would then be written down sustain long notes. The overall effect is rather hyp- by a music copyist and thus preserved. The selected notic and it certainly does create the peaceful mood pieces (all about Grades 2 or 3) in this volume have of the title. Brenda Dykes wonderfully intriguing titles, like Carolan’s quarrel with the landlady, Squire Wood’s lamentation on the refusal of his half- pence and Planxty Lady Wrixon. They are beautifully per- formed on the CD by Jennifer Stinton (flute), Nick Stringfellow (cello) and Jeremy Barlow (harpsichord), and this would inspire a student to perform them ADULT EDUCATION with similar grace, style and colour. Alison Uren Part-time courses in adult education
Flute classes Astor Piazzolla: Vuelvo al sur: 10 tangos and other pieces Enjoy learning many aspects of flute playing including sight- for flute and piano arranged by Hywel Davies. Boosey reading, improvisation, solo and ensemble playing in a friendly and Hawkes. and supportive environment. We offer beginners’ levels to advanced levels. The Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla (1921– 1992) composed over 750 works, including symphonic Courses in Music Beginners’ to professional levels in • Instrumental classes • Jazz & Popular music classes Handmade Flutes • Ear training, harmony and musicianship in Silver, Gold © • Vocal and Piano studies – classical and contemporary styles and Mokumeum • Training in sequencing packages and hard-disc recording . • Professional development Hoevenstraat 8 • Music Foundation 5712 GW Someren The Netherlands • Music appreciation . Telephone for further advice info@eloyfl utes.com Music Department: 020 7492 2630 www.eloyfl utes.com . Keeley Street London WC2B 4BA t: +31 (0)493 471290 www.citylit.ac.uk [email protected]
the www.bfs.org.uk magazine 57 Adv. Convention Program 03 B/W/Greyscale.inddpan • 1 flute 5/15/08 11:40:56 AM and film music, a concerto for Bandoneón (on Repertoire Explorer Flute. Graded pieces for beginners, which he was a child prodigy) and a cello sonata selected by James Rae. Universal Edition. for Rostropovich. He studied with Ginastera and This is an excellent selection of thirty-eight pieces in a Nadia Boulanger who encouraged his compositions vast range of styles, arranged in three groups for Grades of the Tango which he revolutionised into a new 1, 2 and 3. About half of the pieces are unaccompanied. style termed Nuevo tango, incorporating elements At Grade 1, the music ranges from The Skye Boat Song to of jazz and classical music. His new approach (to simple studies by Köhler and Popp, at Grade 2 from the tango) met with resistance at first, especially in Lord of the Dance to Summer Evening by John Reeman, and at Argentina, but by the end of the 1980s his music Grade 3 from Papageno’s Aria by Mozart to Old French Song became more widely accepted and his works began by Tchaikovsky. There is a disproportionate number to be played by classical performers. The arrange- of pieces by James Rae—thirteen altogether—but why ment by Hywel Davies for flute and piano (which not, they are good fun, and children enjoy them. Some comes with accompanying CD) is very accessible of the grading is questionable; the March from Rinaldo and would suite players of intermediate standard by Handel is over-ambitious at Grade 1, and would be who might be looking for something a little differ- better at Grade 2, or even 3, as it is in B flat major and ent. It includes some lovely pieces and the piano Allegro. Conversely, The Lord of the Dance could be played by parts, which can be printed out from the CD, are most Grade 1 students, and The Londonderry Air is stand- straightforward. Glen Ballard ard repertoire for those working for Grade 2 (not 3). However, teachers can use the book flexibly and also for sight-reading practice, and it is very useful to have Brian Lock: Sonata for flute and piano. Emerson Edition. a volume of varied music which will supplement and broaden their students’ repertoire beyond the exami- It is exciting to have a substantial new piece for nation books, at such an affordable price. Alison Uren the flute, especially one as well written as this. The first point to make is that it is very difficult, stretching every traditional technique to the limit. As for more contemporary techniques, apart from quite a lot of flutter-tonguing and the occasional harmonic glissando, Brian Lock has, I am glad to say, not resorted to the strange noises and clatter- ings which many composers use in an attempt to make their music sound novel. It has rhythmic and thematic shape, and is structured in three movements: Vivement, Cantando and Furioso. It is dif- ficult to describe the style, as it is a blend of many idioms, some of which no doubt stem from Lock’s expertise in film music and electronic composi- tion, but one can detect glimpses of composers as diverse as Poulenc and Messiaen , especially in the atmospheric slow movement. In the outer move- ments the piano part (also very difficult) is highly percussive; in the Cantando the pedal is sustained throughout, so that the flute sound resonates with the strings, and the two instruments engage in conversation, not always amicably. The Sonata was written in 2004 and premiered by Susan Milan, to whom it is dedicated. Alison Uren
the 58 pan • flute magazine September 2008 Reviews •
Tchaikovsky’s Greatest Melodies. Arranged for flute and François Danican Philidor: Pièces for flute and continuo piano. Edited by Sir James Galway. Arrangements by Dan (1716). Editions Fuzeau ‘FacsiMusic’. Fox. Theodore Presser. François Danican Philidor was a son of André Danican Every flute player longs for more substantial Romantic Philidor l’ainé and is not to be confused either with his repertoire, and this book goes a long way towards cousin Pierre Danican Philidor, nor indeed his half- helping to fill the vacuum. Some of the melodies brother François-André Danican Philidor, also a musi- included are originally for the flute, at least partly, for cian. Our François was a flautist who also played crum- example the delicious flute solo in the slow movement horn, trumpet and oboe in the French royal household. of the Piano Concerto No.1, and the two well-known pieces His Pièces were published by Ballard using old-fashioned from The Nutcracker, the ‘Dance of the Reed Flutes’ and movable type; although a very attractive score with dia- the ‘Chinese Dance’. Others are borrowed from other mond-shaped notes, it is difficult to read at sight and not instruments: the second movement of the Concerto for as clear as engraved print which had become popular by Violin, the ‘Waltz’ from the Serenade for Strings, the ‘Andante the early 18th century. The music in this collection is Cantabile’ from String Quartet, Op. 11. Much of the skill in lovely, but the facsimile presents the player with numer- writing arrangements of orchestral pieces lies in writing ous challenging performance practice issues; French playable pianistic piano parts, and resisting the tempta- violin clef (G clef on the bottom line of the stave) and tion to over-thicken the texture. On the whole these are quirky misalignment of rhythms to mention only two. excellent, adding just enough colour and harmony to Fuzeau’s slick new ‘FacsiMusic’ edition, boldly striving for support the melodic line, but a proficient pianist would accessibility and ‘emphasis on the music itself’, deliber- be required. For the flute player, None but the Lonely Heart ately offers no preface to help you. I suggest Betty Bang and Chanson Triste, at the beginning of the book, are the Mather’s enduringly valuable Interpretation of French Music least demanding; the rest would challenge players from from 1675 to 1775 (McGinnis & Marx 1973). Well worth Grades 6 to 8. Alison Uren the journey. Bonne chance! Christine Garratt
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the www.bfs.org.uk magazine 59 pan • flute
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the www.bfs.org.uk magazine 61 pan • flute Suite 18 Sales: Admin: 411 High Street 07515 458835 01634 840306 Chatham Kent ME4 4NU Hand Finished by UK Craftsman Using premium quality Italian Pads and British Blue Steel Springs “SUPREME” Piccolos - Flutes - Alto Flutes - Bass Flutes Supreme Piccolo made from Ebonite with Silver Plated Head-joint and complete with Solid Rosewood Case. RRP £445. Direct Price £267!! Supreme Flute Closed Hole with Precious Metal Head-joint, Precious Body and Foot, fully engraved and complete with Solid Rosewood Case. RRP £795. Direct Price £477!! Supreme Flute Open Hole with Precious Metal Head-joint, Precious Body and Foot, fully engraved and Complete with Solid Rosewood Case. RRP £795. Direct Price £477!! Supreme Alto Flute with Silver Plated Curved and Straight Head-joints, Body and Foot and complete with Compact Case. RRP £895. Direct Price £537!! Supreme Bass Flute with Silver Plated Curved Head-joint, Body and Foot and Complete with Compact Case. RRP £1,225 Direct Price £735!! Enthusiastically received by music teachers of more advanced pupils “SUPREME” Instruments offer a superb alternative to the mid-range Yamaha and Buffet products. Incentive programmes for teachers are available. Please contact us for details. • 5 Weeks Approval • Buy Direct and Save 40% 2 Year Guarantee • Free Delivery Anywhere in the UK Membership of the BFS Two flutes, Three flutes, Four and More! Visit music-for-flute.com From January 2008 • UK Carla Rees Dawson—Specialist photography for flute players Individual £25 www.carlareesdawson.co.uk [email protected] 07961 131565 Two members at the same address £30 • Student (under 26), OAP and disabled £15 CONGRATULATIONS to all my diploma students on expressing Schools and flute clubs £25 the music from the heart and giving the examiners performances of real musical value. Results also a bonus...2x FRSM, 4x LRSM, 5x ABRSM Europe -distinctions. And a big thanks to all my non-diploma students too, for Individual £30 keeping me sane and focussed on exploration of beauty, but without deadlines! All best from Nicholas (Vallis-Davies) Student (under 26) £20 • Worldwide WEB ONLINE lessons continue to be a great success - do get in touch Individual (air mail) £35 if you are interested to try one, and cannot travel to see me in person at the moment. All details including recordings, advice pages, articles etc at Student (under 26), OAP and disabled £25 www.OpenAcademy.info or phone Nicholas for information 01458 860006. Schools and flute clubs £35 • Looking for flute players in Warwickshire. I am searching for flute players Life membership and flute teachers in Warwickshire. Having recently moved to Princethorpe, UK individual £375 I would like to meet with other flautists in the area to play some flute choir UK joint £450 music. Anyone interested? Contact Yvonne McIlwaine via e-mail: [email protected] Europe individual £450 • Europe joint £525 Be inspired by a weekend in The Lakes! World individual £525 Saturday 1st November in Kendal, Cumbria World joint £600 with Wissam Boustany (flute) & Brenda Blewett (piano) Masterclasses and flute choirs Membership Secretary John Rayworth Email: [email protected] or phone 015395 60054 The Nook, How Mill, Brampton, Cumbria CA8 9JY Telephone 0845 680 1983 Email [email protected]
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the www.bfs.org.uk magazine 63 pan • flute The Last Word: The joys and perils of playing the flute
By Sylvia and Andrew Fairley
here is an ancient Greek proverb that roughly translates as ‘To flute players nature gives brains, there’s no doubt. But alas! ’Tis in vain, for they soon blow Tthem out.’ Sadly, in some cases this might have been horribly true. A number of flautists—Devienne, Lahou and Jullien amongst them—died insane. And what of the Frenchman, Antoine Hugot? He had been professor of flute at the Paris Conservatoire since its foundation in 1793. He met his end in 1803 whilst working on his flute Méthode, when he was suddenly seized with delirium, stabbed himself several times and leapt from a fourth storey window. Turning from the perils, what of the joys of playing the flute? We become very attached to our instruments and, as well as the pleasure of playing, there may be unex- pected delights. The eighteenth-century beauty, Susannah Kennedy, was delighted to receive the gift of a flute from an admirer, Sir John Clerk. Failing to produce a sound, she discovered a poem hidden inside the flute, envying the ‘lucky pipe which was to be pressed to her lips’. Sadly, his love-sick poems cut no ice with Susannah, for although he pursued her with proposals of marriage, she turned him down to become the third wife of the rich but elderly Lord Eglinton. The American, John Kyle, solo flute in the Italian Opera, New York played the Siccama flute during the first part of his career and liked it enough to write, together with other professors, a recommendation to the patentees, but in 1858 he changed to the Boehm system. He grew to love his silver Boehm flute so much that he asked at his death to have it placed in his hands and buried with him, and so it was. Various animal bones have been used in the making of flutes, including monkey, elephant and the bones of cattle. But there are also interesting tales of live animals, and some of them proved to be reliable critics. In the eighteenth century Michael Blavet numbered among his students a prince whose playing was so dreadful that his own dog would bark and howl when he played. When Blavet played, however, the dog stopped howling and licked Blavet’s feet. John Wesley, founder of Methodism and an enthusiastic amateur on the flute, wrote in his journal of an encounter with a lion at the Tower of London. For some reason—who knows?—he took out his flute and played it near the lion’s den. On hearing him, ‘…one of the lions rose up and came to the front of the den and seemed all attention. Meanwhile, a tiger in the same den started up, leaped over the lion’s back, turned and ran under its belly, leaped over it again and so to and fro incessantly’. While not expecting our human audience to lick our feet or jump up and down, we still appreciate an enthusiastic response, and continue to meet the challenge of perfecting and extending our technique—though hopefully not with such extreme measures as one nineteenth-century flautist who, it is said, split his tongue to improve his double-tonguing technique! But whatever the joys or perils of playing the flute, we shall all no doubt happily continue to ‘blow our brains out’!
Based on extracts from Flutes, Flautists & Makers by Andrew Fairley, published by Pan Educational Music (now out of print).
the 64 pan • flute magazine September 2008