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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 31 Flute performance style Volume 28 number 1 on original recordings March 2009 Editor Robert Bigio Abigail Dolan analyses the sounds of players • of past times. Contacting the BFS Secretary and advertising Anna Munks 3 News 27 Eskdale Gardens Purley, Surrey CR8 1ET Telephone and fax 020 8668 3360 BFS Silver Jubilee Competition. BFS Council Email [email protected] announcements. Metropolitan Opera. BFS Membership secretary Play-Along Events. Anna Munks. Massed flutes John Rayworth in Cambridge in the 1970s. The Nook, How Mill Brampton, Cumbria CA8 9JY Telephone 0845 680 1983 35 Andy Findon: Out of the Email [email protected] shadows Editorial Robert Bigio Gareth McLearnon talks to one of the best 1 Doveridge Gardens players you will almost never see. London N13 5BJ Telephone 020 8882 2627 Fax 020 8882 2728 Summer schools Email [email protected] 41 • A comprehensive list of summer schools. Editorial committee Robert Bigio Simon Hunt The flute players of Cardiff Mike MacMahon 15 • Assistant editor Carla Rees First in a series on the players in the regions [email protected] of Britain. Junior editor Thomas Hancox [email protected] Reviews Copy editor Christopher Steward 49 • Design and typesetting Robert Bigio CDs, books and music. • Cover Wales Millennium Centre 61 The small print (Photograph by Phil Boorman) • BFS Council and Officers. Association of Flute Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Traders. Small advertisements. Membership information. Index of advertisers. • Views expressed by contributors are their own and do 23 The Hammig family—flute The Last Word not necessarily reflect the official view of the British 64 Flute Society. All copyrights reserved. makers since 1780 Registered charity No. 326473 David Fingerhut despairs of flute-shaped ISSN 1360-1563 Klaus Dapper on this extraordinary dynasty. objects. www.bfs.org.uk Lillian Burkart The Sound and Feel of Great Design Pinless Perfected! Burkart’s micro-Link™ design is a sleek, strong and lightning-fast pinless mechanism. The micro-Link™ improves upon prior pinless systems by eliminating bulky back connectors. Lighter and more comfortable, the Burkart flute delivers stability, security and an evenly balanced key response for both right and left hands. Play it. Hear it. Feel it. Discover the advantage at www.PinlessPerfected.com Burkart Flutes & Piccolos 2 Shaker Road #D107 Shirley, MA 01464 USA Phone: 1-978-425-4500 E-mail: [email protected] News • BFS Silver Jubilee Competition Lillian Burkart The Sound and Feel of Great Design Christopher Hyde-Smith, the first BFS chairman, was a member of Fantasy followed by about six minutes of music of their the jury for the Silver Jubilee Competition. He writes, own choice. The set piece proved an excellent idea for setting standards. We heard an amazing display As part of our society’s silver jubilee celebrations the of finger technique, showing how much improve- council organised a competition for advanced players ment there has been in this area during the society’s under twenty-five subtitled ‘A Celebration of British existence. Less impressive was rhythm, where each Music’. It was held on Saturday, 22 November at the note must fit into its slot exactly and by accentuation Regent Hall, Oxford Street. There were thirty-seven to show the pulse and where the beats lie. Also, too entries of which, sadly, seven withdrew. many players had a weak sound in the bottom regis- The competition was divided into two sections. ter. It was the composer’s intention that in big leaps Section I was for unaccompanied flutes. All competi- the volume at the bottom should, as far as possible, tors had to play the second half of Malcolm Arnold’s equal the top. Pinless Perfected! Burkart’s micro-Link™ design is a sleek, strong and lightning-fast pinless mechanism. The micro-Link™ improves upon prior pinless systems by eliminating bulky back connectors. Lighter and more comfortable, the Burkart flute delivers stability, security and an evenly balanced key response for both right and left hands. Play it. Hear it. Feel it. Winners of the BFS Silver Jubilee Competition (clockwise from bottom left): Jose Zalba, Mark Xiao, Alena Lugovkina, Rod Seed, Joshua Batty, Fiona Kelly (the overall winner), Matthew Featherstone and Fiona Paterson. Photograph by Carla Rees Dawson. Discover the advantage at www.PinlessPerfected.com the www.bfs.org.uk magazine 3 Burkart Flutes & Piccolos 2 Shaker Road #D107 Shirley, MA 01464 USA Phone: 1-978-425-4500 E-mail: [email protected] pan • flute • News It was a live broadcast of this work which inspired the composer to write his magnificent Naiades. From these thirty players, fifteen passed into Round II where they could play up to eight minutes of music for flute and piano of their own choice. It was this choice which proved crucial to the result as a player must be responsible for the programme he or she presents and it is not easy to find one piece which shows all aspects of the art of performing. Several pieces lacked these qualities. Matthew Featherstone gave a beautiful account of movements one and two of the Berkeley Sonatina, but ending with that slow movement lessened the impact. Matthew together with Roderick Seed and Mark Xiao were given BFS awards. The prizes were as follows: Fifth (Sebastian Bell prize) to Alena Lugovkina, who played Hamilton Harty’s In Ireland with a beautiful tone all over the instrument, but on this occasion there was a little sharpness of pitch in the top octave. Fourth (Clifford Benson prize) went to Joshua Batty, a very impressive Silver Jubilee Competition winner Fiona Kelly, with the sixteen-year-old from Chetham’s School, who also Burkart Resona flute, generously donated by Burkart Flutes played In Ireland with musical conviction and techni- & Piccolos, that was her prize. Photograph by Carla Rees cal assurance; he also showed he knew the work as Dawson. a whole and not just the flute part. Third (Founders’ We heard some excellent music for solo flute. Ian prize) went to José Zalba, who played part of Mike Clarke’s Zoom Tube is always a winner, so imaginatively Mower’s Sonata Latino, giving an extrovert performance and knowledgeably written. Nigel Clark’s Echo and with a strong sense of communication. Second (John Narcissus had a remarkable atmosphere as did Roberto Rayworth prize) was awarded to Fiona Paterson, who Gerhard’s Capriccio. The considerable demands of played the first movement of the York Bowen Sonata Edwin Roxburgh’s Star Drift, commissioned by the from memory, faultlessly (bravo); her playing was BFS for its 1992 International Competition, was given assured and very well prepared with good dynamic an accurate and convincing performance (and what a contrasts but greater variety of colour and expression fine piece it is). We heard several accounts of part of would have been a bonus. The winner of the first William Alwyn’s Divertimento, which is always a pleas- prize (a Burkart flute) was Fiona Kelly, who gave a ure but it is difficult to bring out the contrasting parts. beautifully-controlled performance with lovely sound The Silver Jubilee Competition jury (left to right): Simon Hunt, Christopher Hyde-Smith, Edward Blakeman and Trevor Wye. Photographs by Carla Rees Dawson. 4 pan • flute magazine March 2009 News • and phrasing of two movements of Mower’s Sonata Latino; a characterful performance. The results were unanimous decisions of the four judges (Edward Blakeman, Simon Hunt, Trevor Wye and myself), but the opinions in this article are entirely mine without consultation with my colleagues. Congratulations to all who took part, not forget- ting the pianists, for making the day itself enjoyable and successful. It was a complicated day to organise and our thanks also to our chairperson, secretary and membership secretary for making it a hitch-free day. An insider’s view Thomas Hancox offers a competitor’s vew of the proceedings. The BFS Silver Jubilee Competition took place on Saturday, 22 November 2008 at the Regent Hall, London. Atarah Ben-Tovim, chair of the society, stated that this was the first major flute competi- A pensive Fiona Kelly listens to the other competitors. tion for young professionals and advanced music Photograph by Carla Rees Dawson. students in the United Kingdom for several decades. Indeed, the participants were truly international, of notes placed in front of them, and provided won- with entrants coming from Australia, Venezuela, the derfully sensitive support throughout. United States, Poland and France to compete, along- Three BFS medals were awarded to Matthew side those already resident in the United Kingdom. In Featherstone, Mark Xiao and Roderick Seed. Two all, there were over thirty competitors on the day. awards were then given in memory of two musi- The jury comprised four founder members of cians who have had significant impact on the work the BFS: Trevor Wye, Simon Hunt, Christopher of many flautists: flautist Sebastian Bell and pianist Hyde-Smith and the chairman of the jury, Edward Clifford Benson. Alena Lugovkina won the award Blakeman. in memory of Sebastian Bell, and Joshua Batty, the The competition was in two rounds, and all of the youngest finalist at just sixteen years of age, won the music played had to be by British composers. The Clifford Benson Award. first round was unaccompanied, in which the set piece (the second half of Malcolm Arnold’s fiend- ishly difficult Fantasy) was then followed by a free choice. Popular choices included William Alwyn’s Divertimento and several of the works of Dave Heath.