Pan • Flute • News Youngest Was Nine); They Made up About a Quarter in Her Splendid Manner by Atarah Ben-Tovim

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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 3 News 41 Evenings at the Opera. The Volume 25 number 3 BFS Convention 2006. flute players of the Orchestra September 2006 of the Royal Opera House Editor Robert Bigio • Contacting the BFS Secretary Anna Munks 27 Eskdale Gardens Purley, Surrey CR8 1ET Telephone and fax 020 8668 3360 Email [email protected] Membership secretary 47 Oxford Flute Summer School: BFS AGM. Performance Plus and Geoffrey John Rayworth a twenty-first birthday The Nook, How Mill Gilbert adult amateur competitions. Local Brampton, Cumbria CA8 9JY events. Flute choir news. Concerts. The editor Telephone 01228 670306 comments not. Email [email protected] 51 Paul Edmund-Davies: Editorial Mozart and the flute Principally a flute player Robert Bigio 1 Doveridge Gardens London N13 5BJ 55 Music Exams: here for good? Telephone 020 8882 2627 Fax 020 8882 2728 Email [email protected] 57 Thumb rests: do we need them? Advertising Anna Munks 27 Eskdale Gardens 59 Reviews: CDs, music, books Purley, Surrey CR8 1ET Telephone and fax 020 8668 3360 Email [email protected] • Editorial advisory committee Robert Bigio Simon Hunt Mike MacMahon Rachel Brown: Mozart’s flute: Design and typesetting Robert Bigio 17 Magic, mediocre or maligned? Copy editing Christopher Steward 70 The small print • 27 Peter Spohr: The flutes of BFS Council and Officers. Area Representatives. Cover Flute in ivory with silver ferrules Mozart’s day Association of Flute Traders. Small and silver keys by Thomas Cahusac, advertisements. Announcements. London. Photograph by Peter Spohr. 35 Christopher Krueger: Which Membership information. Printed in the United Kingdom at the Glass is Best for Merlot? Which University Press, Cambridge 72 Richard Stagg has… Views expressed by contributors are their own and do Flute is Best for Mozart? not necessarily reflect the official view of the British The Last Word Flute Society. All copyrights reserved. Registered charity No. 326473 The aims of the British Flute Society: …to advance the education of the public in the Art and ISSN 1360-1563 Science of Music and in particular the Art and Science of Flute playing in all its aspects… www.bfs.org.uk A comprehensive set of titles to support the Associated Board's NEW JAZZ FLUTE exciting new Jazz Flute syllabus includes CD and piano accompaniment JAZZ FLUTE TUNES LEVEL/GRADE 1 JAZZ FLUTE AURAL TESTS & QUICK STUDIES LEVELS/GRADES 1–5

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Convention 2006: a first report

The hugely successful BFS Convention in Manchester ended just as we were about to go to press. These are some impressions by Mike MacMahon and Tony Ovenell, with photographs by Carla Rees Dawson. A longer report will follow in the December issue.

Mike MacMahon writes: First impressions do matter. The just a few yards from the RNCM. This really was trains going into Piccadilly station in Manchester had an international event: there were flautists not ‘Manchester Picc’ on them, which I thought was a only from the UK, but Japan, Hong Kong, France, good omen for a flute convention. Then there was the Lithuania, Finland, the USA and many other places. cheery, efficient team at the reception desk, and the Hugely pleasing was the large contingent of younger good-quality (if Ikea-ish) student accommodation flautists (under the age of twenty-five or so—the

The Gala Concert on the final evening of the convention included a performance by guest of honour William Bennett and five of his former students, with pianist Clifford Benson. Left to right: Matthias Ziegler, Denis Bouriakov, Petri Alanko, Lorna McGhee, William Bennett and Emily Beynon. The audience was in no doubt that this was a collection of some of the world’s very finest flute players.

the www.bfs.org.uk magazine 3 pan • flute • News youngest was nine); they made up about a quarter in her splendid manner by Atarah Ben-Tovim. of the entire population. The in-house arrangements We sat faithfully in our seats and answered, with for eating and drinking, for making sure people varying degrees of accuracy, her special quiz based knew where the next event was taking place and on information in the June edition of Pan–The Flute when, and the proximity of the many trade stands Magazine. Atarah certainly knows how to wind up an (sagging with headjoints, piccolos, flutes, big flutes, audience! music, gadgets) were well organised. Trevor Wye put on the seven-minute opera by Alan Ridout called the Burning of Jan Palach, based on an event nearly forty years ago in Prague. Trevor taught the words and music there and then to about forty-five participants (minus their flutes). Given the circumstances of the work’s creation, we did not applaud.

A forest of flutes at one of the stands in the trade hall.

Fluting started in various forms at 7 in the morning on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and went on until well past 11 p.m. each night. You could warm up, you could sort out the reasons for any physiologi- cal stresses and strains when playing the flute, or you could ponder the hows, whys and wherefores of warming up. And all that before we had even had our breakfasts. There was a vast range of music, from the early eighteenth century to some world premieres, but a distinct emphasis could be found on music written expressly for the flute within the last twenty years. I slipped into a Teachers’ session on the new Rhonda Larson. Associated Board and Trinity Guildhall syllabuses. The new development is a specific set of exams for Friday’s first main concert was by the American jazz flute, something many teachers strongly wel- flautist, Rhonda Larson. This was outstanding. She comed. There was also some useful discussion about played a variety of music, from the medieval period one of the Jupiter flutes, specially re-designed for to the modern, drawing on different cultural styles, very young beginners; we can expect some strong and using different sorts of flute; her accompanist marketing of this in the months to come. Good! was a pre-recorded tape. For example, using a six- All this happened before the Convention had hole crystal flute she played The Boatman, based on officially started. It was opened and jollied along an old Scottish melody. There were people in the

the 4 pan • flute magazine September 2006 News • audience in tears at the intense beauty of this per- whistling by the end, and no wonder. She played formance. Sadly, she was denied time for a much the Taktakishvili and Prokofiev sonatas. This was deserved encore. flute playing of extraordinarily high quality. The discussion of ‘extended techniques’ by Ian She was followed by Wissam Boustany, who, with Clarke concentrated on multiphonics and tongue- the young pianist Aleksandr Szram, did a bravura ramming, followed by a revealing short demonstra- performance, and entirely from memory, of sonatas tion of jazz on the flute. by Stankovych and Jongen. The Stankovych was Matthias Ziegler was back again this year, together written for Wissam, and he first performed it less with his contrabass and, amongst other flutes, a new than a year ago. We heard playing by both artists prototype bass. By fixing microphones inside the that was fearsomely passionate. The applause was flutes, he has created an entirely new soundscape thunderous. for the flute (or rather flutes), much of it far, far removed from what we traditionally associate with the instruments. Several flautists at this convention were tongue-ramming, but Matthias has gone much further. He’s not just risen to new heights in extending the tonal range of the flute, but risen to new depths of sound. How many more people will venture into what he calls ‘solo polyphonic music’, I wonder. Alexa Still’s recital was packed out. Her programme was entirely to do with the Maori culture of her native New Zealand; she was accompanied at the piano, and at very short notice, by Timothy Wissam Boustany in the trade hall, engulfed by a contrabass flute. Carey. Alexa used much more than the Boehm flute. There was a lot to enjoy—and ponder. Fuller pro- After a brief interval, it was Lorna McGhee’s turn, gramme notes might have helped. Even so, the last accompanied by Heidi Krutzen on the harp. The word I jotted down in my notes at the end of the emphasis was on Canadian music. I particularly recital was, simply, ‘brilliant’. liked Gareth Farr’s Taheke, a description of three Can you fill fifty minutes with a performance of different waterfalls. As ever, Lorna’s playing was piccolo plus or minus piano? Jean-Louis Beaumadier immaculate. can, and very effective it was. He chose nine pieces, Rhonda Larson’s hot-up (something more inten- the best of which, I thought, was the piccolo solo sive than a mere warm-up) was revelatory. Put aside Nidi by Franco Donatoni. The music is not easy, but the metronome, and get yourself a tape of repeti- Jean-Louis performed it perfectly. His final item, tive percussion sounds: in Rhonda’s case, of African Damaré’s Le merle blanc brought the house down, as drumming—not the wallop and crash of rock bass did his performance of Andersen’s Moto Perpetuo. drum and cymbals. Put the tape on pretty loudly, I felt sorry for Susan Milan. She had a large audi- and practise snatches of sounds, and especially ence, but there was something amiss with the lip- rhythms, against the background of the percussion. plate, and as a result she was clearly not at ease. You’ll be surprised how it all improves the quality Yet, her performance of Bennett’s Winter Music had of your tonguing and rhythmical sense. some outstanding features, especially the beautiful Niurka González’s recital began with the Doppler closing lines of the second and last movements. I Hungarian Fantasy. But once Niurka (born in Cuba) also liked her fast tonguing, flutter-tonguing and switched to South American music, we heard her the use of quarter tones. at her best, especially in Leo Brouwer’s La Région There wasn’t a spare seat in the Concert Hall for más Transparente. I was left in admiration of her very Emily Beynon’s concert. She had the punters wolf- expressive playing.

the www.bfs.org.uk magazine 5 pan • flute • News

The recital by the Turkish flautist Bülent Evcil had hitches. The cohort of international soloists didn’t been well trailed, and there was clearly a strong sense jet off to their next engagement, but stayed behind. that we were about to hear the next Jimmy G. The They stood in the lunch queue with us mortals, they Burton Sonatina was technically flawless, but slightly talked to one and all, and from my observations they uncommunicative as far as the music-making was were enjoying the music-making just as much as the concerned. However, things changed with Tura’s rest of us. This democratic sense is something to be Variations on a Turkish Folk Tune, written for Bülent in treasured. I heard lots of flutter-tonguing; perhaps 2004. And in the Briccialdi Carnival of Venice variations too much—it’s sounding trendy. Tongue-ramming we heard him at his very best. is becoming more popular. Quarter-tones are in. The contrast to these fireworks was provided The meticulous playing of Quintessenz, the Leipzig- by Rachel Brown, Adrian Butterfield and Laurence based flute quintet, was a real joy. Cummings, with performances of eighteenth- Two specific sounds I took away from the century music, with Rachel on Baroque flute. This Convention were the vivid and rich quality of the was exquisite musicianship, best shown in a Quantz nineteenth-century Meyer flute that Rhonda Larson sonata that Rachel had edited from the manuscript used at one point in her recital, and Emily Beynon’s in Berlin. The audience, at least 400 strong, didn’t pianissimo top notes. move a muscle at the end, so entranced were they by the sound and the precision of the playing. Although it didn’t focus specifically on the flute, there was much to be learned from Mike and Wendy Gluyas’s fun- and gadget-packed presentation about our understanding of sound. Have you ever seen a coiled spring walk down a staircase? If not, try to get to another of their several presentations around the UK, and you’ll discover why it’s relevant for flute- playing. Philippa Davies stepped into the gap created by Robert Dick’s absence (courtesy of the airport crisis in the UK) at more or less the last moment. Like other artists, she had to endure an uncomfortably low temperature in the Opera Theatre. The programme began with some very early Mendelssohn, then moved to modern works. I enjoyed Nelleke’s oddly-named Stack Overflow and Paul Read’s Flute BFS chair Atarah Ben-Tovim with programme director Trevor Concerto, now more than twenty years old, but still Wye. worth hearing again. Tony Ovenell writes: I arrived early with my rucksack The highlight of Sunday morning was Edward heavy with music—flute choir pieces to use in the Blakeman’s lecture on Taffanel, interspersed with early morning sessions which the persuasive Atarah musical illustrations by William Bennett and Clifford had asked me to take at the last minute. There are Benson. (Don’t forget we owe a debt of gratitude always glitches, but this year’s clutch was worse than to Simon Hunt for undertaking the publication of usual. The security clamp-down at the airports led to some of Taffanel’s hitherto unpublished works.) several serious cancellations including the Americans, And did you know that Tchaikovsky was going to Mimi Stillman (how we missed that lovely pro- write a flute concerto for Taffanel, but died before gramme) and Robert Dick (icon of our new flute age he could start work on it? extensionists). But the BFS organisational machine Final impressions matter too. The whole had swung into action and the programme unfolded Convention was very well organised, with no obvious as smoothly as ever.

the 6 pan • flute magazine September 2006 News •

My early morning flute choir sessions were my our own sounds. With microphone implants, and main pre-occupation at the start - who to expect great skill in sampling and mixing, Matthias pro- and in what numbers - but it rapidly gave me a feel duced hauntingly beautiful dream-like essays using for this very special convention: a winning mix of just the simplest of basic raw materials. warmth, friendliness and passion. This year’s event I was fascinated too by Nancy Andrews’ talk on had already broken records; the largest number of Moyse. She has delved deeper than most into his life attendees and membership now at the highest figure and work and has uncovered a rich amount of video ever, but surely there was just so much more hap- material. For those of us who did not encounter him, pening each day than in previous years - it cer- we can now understand a little more of the reason tainly seemed so. Once underway we were on a for his influence on our flute world. Here’s a remem- roller coaster of frenetic flute activity and that fre- bered quote from Moyse himself on the value of a quent word ‘choices’ came to mean inevitably the tradition: ’we learnt respect for the music, for the disappointment of missing something. It became composer, for the teacher, and finally for ourselves.’ obvious that it was essential to plan one’s day. With A charming and engaging man, he never seemed to care and the helpful timetabling, it was possible to doubt his own place in history. sample most things over the four days. However there were sessions I did not get to, with regret - the body mapping, the Wissam warm-ups, The Marco Granados workshop, the performance anxiety session and the one on writing flute studies. One I missed by accident. How could I have overlooked Rhonda Larson? It must have been my aversion to the ‘World Music’ tag! To make up, I attended her hugely enjoyable warm-ups and had the feeling (not for the only time) that my own sessions with my kids would never be the same again. What a difference a rhythm track makes! Without doubt for me, the main concert highlight of the Festival was the one on Friday evening with Emily Beynon, Wissam Boustany and Lorna McGhee. Here were three consummate artists each playing the flute in a unique way, yet communicat- ing, through the sheer power and presence of their musical personalities, the essence of their music. Nancy Andrew, executive director of the Marcel Moyse You might say that Emily’s Prokofiev was almost too Society and director of the 2007 National Flute Association refined (the composer would certainly have never convention in Albequerque, New Mexico. heard it like this) or that Wissam sacrificed tonal beauty at times for his passionate commitment, or Rachel Brown gave what for me was the most even that Lorna’s disciplined perfection left no hint completely musical, cultured performance of the of danger. But we hear the performances as flautists, convention when she played her Baroque Flute in we live and breathe each phrase with them and we Handel and Quantz. She is so clearly not just a won- can only marvel at their achievement and become derful musician, but a keenly intelligent one too. We inspired and uplifted by their extraordinary wiz- listened with rapture as she used all her skills of finger ardry. vibrato, tuning and tonguing to bring this music Each day of this festival brought something mem- so completely to life. How refreshing too to have orable. Earlier we had heard the remarkable Matthias a proper chamber group of harpsichord and violin Ziegler fashion whole pieces out of the cast-offs of to give us a welcome change in sonority. Would that

the www.bfs.org.uk magazine 7 pan • flute • News

Quintessenz. Marco Granados, who else? His music encompasses all the emotions we had felt over the four days—joy, other flautists took on board this approach, instead yearning, sadness and love but above all sheer, irre- of dishing up the usual flashy displays of sugared-up pressible rhythmic vitality which had many dancing tone and style which we still hear too often. in their seats. Why not have some real dancing next Among the many groups performing this year, time, right up on stage. It was all that this wonder- Quintessenz stood out for me. They provided the ful, mesmerising performance lacked. Bienvenue most delicious programme of lollipops and were à Manchester 2008. The BFS will be, incredibly, a class act in their presentation and tightness of twenty-five years old. What a party! Be there! • ensemble. Christian Sprenger handled the bass with incredible agility and there were no compromises over tempo or articulation. The convention’s flute choir moment came when Atarah directed a surprisingly light-footed Mozart Divertimento and Philippa Davies’ musicianship stunned us in the D major concerto and a new, highly imaginative composition dedicated to herself and Atarah called Lureley’s Delight, written by Jan Willem Nelleke. The convention wound up in a celebratory manner with a concert to mark Wibb’s seventieth birthday. This was a heart-warming coming together of youngsters and their teacher, except that the youngsters in this case were all world class players who just happen to have been Wibb’s students. Lucky students, lucky teacher! After the interval, we began The convention’s most able and hard-working programme to think of our farewells to the sounds of the great co-ordinator, Julie Wright.

the 8 pan • flute magazine September 2006

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the 10 pan • flute magazine September 2006 News •

British Flute Society Performance Plus Competition Annual General Meeting and Geoffrey Gilbert Adult Amateur Competition The BFS AGM was held on 6 May, 2006 at Regent Hall, Oxford Street, London. Atarah Ben-Tovim, the BFS chairman, introduced Anna Munks, the society’s new secretary. It was The Tenth Performance Plus Competition and the announced that Clare Roberts, the editor, and Alex new Geoffrey Gilbert Adult Amateur Competition Davidson, the deputy editor, had resigned. Robert will take place on Wednesday 14 February 2007 at Bigio, the new editor, was introduced to the meeting. Regent Hall, The Salvation Army, 275 Oxford Street, It was announced that the BFS has ended its business London W1C 2DJ. relationship with its advertising manager, Dan Tong The new Geoffrey Gilbert Adult Amateur of Maple Media, and that advertising would now be Competition is open to all adult amateur flute players handled by Anna Munks. over the age of 25 years. Competitors will be asked Rachel Misson, the BFS treasurer, reported that to perform a piece lasting less than 6 minutes. All expenses had increased but income had not. It was levels welcome but competitors must not earn a agreed that subscriptions would rise in 2008 for living from playing the flute. the first time in some fifteen years. Members noted For further information please contact Anna that BFS subscriptions were substantially lower than Munks, BFS Secretary: those of similar societies. Telephone or fax: 020 8668 3360 John Rayworth, the membership secretary, Email: [email protected] reported that membership was virtually unchanged from last year with as many people joining as members dropping out, but that there had been a noticeable increase in applications since September. An editor’s comment on editors’ Many ideas were presented for increasing member- comments ship. Two new council members were introduced: Mike MacMahon and Ian Mullin. Julie Wright was re-elected to the council. It is the custom for the editor to write a comment The meeting was attended by several members in each issue. A large space (and a very prominent of the society plus council members and offic- space, too, at least in this magazine) is set out for ers Atarah Ben-Tovim, Julie Wright, Susan Bruce, the editor to say—well, what? I suppose I could tell John Rayworth, Irene Barnes, Rachel Misson, you what is in the magazine, but you have already Hugh Phillips, Robert Bigio, Mike MacMahon, seen the contents page. I could tell you something Anna Munks, Nick Wallbridge and Ian Mullin. about what you are about to read, but that seems Apologies for absence were received from Yvonne a waste of space as you are just about to read it. I McIlwaine, Tony Ovenell and Simon Hunt. could, too, attempt to dazzle you with my wit and After the meeting those present engaged in an erudition, but somehow I think you would prefer enjoyable playing session directed by Atarah Ben- to read articles about the flute. So, should a very Tovim. valuable chunk of this magazine be given over to A full copy of the draft minutes is available on the BFS me to show off? Probably not. There are some very web site (www.bfs.org.uk) or by contacting the BFS secretary, interesting articles in this issue. Enjoy them, and Anna Munks. henceforth be spared my blather. Robert Bigio

the www.bfs.org.uk magazine 11 pan • flute • News

Local events

Burwell House.

The Burwell Blow!

Friday 13 October to Sunday 15 October 2006

A residential course for young flautists, clarinettists and Wissam Boustany. saxophonists: grade 3 and above, ages 12–17. Catering for individual lessons, small group work, instrument In Search of Inspiration with Wissam Boustany choirs, and a full ensemble. Burwell House, North Street, Burwell, Cambridge CB5 0BA. Focusing on Saturday 14th October. Kendal Parish Church, classical and jazz music. Staff include Brenda Dykes, Cumbria. Masterclasses: 9.00 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Jason Meyrick, Anne Bury and Sarah Chapman. For Evening Concert: 7.30 p.m. more information please call Sarah on 01954 252493 or email Anne at [email protected], or visit This is a day for losing your inhibitions and sharing our website: www.burwellblow.co.uk. music with one of the world’s finest soloists and teachers. Come and be inspired.     Cost: Masterclass participant £35   Listener & flute choir participant £25    Listener only £5     Concert tickets £10, £8, children free    For a booking form or more information contact    Suzanne de Lozey:      Email [email protected]  Telephone 015395 60054  

the 12 pan • flute magazine September 2006 News •

Flute Extravaganza! Barton Peveril College

Flute Workshops throughout the day Flute Recital and Masterclass, presented by Clare Southworth

Concert at 7pm featuring Flautissimo and Hampshire Flute Choir Saturday 14th October 2006

The ticket price of £15 includes the workshops, recital and master class. The evening concert will begin at 7pm in the theatre. Tickets cost £5 for adults, £3 for conces- sions and £12 for a family ticket (includes two adults Anna Noakes, who will be giving a masterclass in with children). All participants of the workshop Woodbridge. with perform in the evening concert. The concert Woodbridge Flute Day—5 November 2006 will also feature Flautissimo and Hampshire Flute Choir, finishing with a massed piece. Woodbridge is the prettiest town in Suffolk, over- Tickets and further details are available from Carrie looking the River Deben, with the famous Tide Hensel on 07968 166 481 or [email protected] Mill that attracts many visitors. Another reason to visit on 5 November 2006 will be the flute playing day, which will take place in the Music School at Woodbridge School. I taught flute there for nearly thirty years, until I left to concentrate on publishing woodwind music. The school has a high musical profile, a well-equipped music school and will be the ideal venue. We plan to arrange players into three groups, with a final session combining all players. Robin Soldan and Anna Noakes will coach. Robin organised and directed the London Magic Flute Day at the Barbican in 1991 (with over 3000 flute players!) and the BFS has presented him with a Floscar award for his work with flute choirs. Anna is Professor of Flute at Trinity College of Music, and for the past fourteen years has run her own Summer School for talented flute students, ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’ (www.flutecourse.com). She is Artistic Director of the Yoxford Arts Festival (www.yoxfest.org.uk). So remember: the fifth of November! Put it in your diaries, and maybe make a weekend of it and enjoy the sights of Woodbridge! More details, entry forms and map: [email protected]. Telephone 01394 386876.

the www.bfs.org.uk magazine 13 pan • flute

News •

Fibonacci Sequence in Oxford Flute choir news

The indefatigable Margaret Lowe has prepared a comprehensive and most useful list of flute choirs in Britain. The national flute choirs list will be published in the next issue of Pan—The Flute Magazine and will also be on the new flute choirs page on the BFS web site (www.bfs.org.uk). Margaret has also published her fanfare for flute choir, Dawn Carol, to be played canonically by as many players as are available. The players may be scattered around the hall and among the audience. This work acts as an excellent introduction to a flute choir concert. All income from Dawn Carol goes to the Birmingham Flute Commission and is used to help commission and perform new works for flutes. Copies are available on receipt of a donation (suggested £10) from Margaret Lowe, 10 Navenby Close, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands B90 1LH.

We want to hear from flute choirs. Please send us your news.

Festive Flutes Ileana Ruhemann.

The renowned Fibonacci Sequence chamber ensem- Festive Flutes are pleased ble, which includes the flautist Ileana Ruhemann, to announce the release finds itself in Oxford on Sunday 24 September of their CD, Christmas at 11.15 a.m., where it is offering a fine concert Crackers with Festive Flutes of music by Alan Rawsthorne, William Alwyn in support of the NSPCC, and Alberto Ginastera. The concert is sponsored the UK’s leading charity by the Rawsthorne Trust and the William Alwyn specialising in child Foundation. protection and the pre- The concert, one of the coffee concert series vention of cruelty to children. Recorded in Devon started in l986, takes place in the stunning Holywell at Phil Johnstone’s studio, the tracks include fabu- Music Room , one of the oldest purpose built concert lous new arrangements by Melanie Orriss of Santa halls in Europe. Opened in 1748, its elegance and Baby, Winter Wonderland, Let it Snow, Chestnuts Roasting beauty have played host to some of the world’s on an Open Fire, the Nutcracker Overture and Fruit and greatest musicians and composers, including Haydn Nut, plus some classical hits such as Winter from and Handel. Seating 250, the excellent acoustics are Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and the magical Cantata Sheep particularly well suited to chamber music concerts. may Safely Graze arranged by fellow flautist, Elizabeth This is one of the most successful chamber music Walker. CDs cost just £10 each (plus p&p), with series in the country. Telephone: 01865 305305. £5 from each sale going directly to the NSPCC. (www.coffeeconcerts.com) (www.festiveflutes.co.uk)

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...in fact so much more than One year’s FREE insurance with every new instrument £500.00 and over...* *1 year’s insurance included for all UK based customers purchasing a new instrument £500.00 and over, covering your instrument against theft, loss and accidental damage (subject to terms and conditions). Insurance underwritten by 46 South End, Croydon, CR0 1DP British Reserve (BRIC), trading as Allianz Cornhill Musical Insurance plc. BRIC is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is a wholly Tel: 020 8662 8400 owned subsidiary of Allianz Cornhill Musical Insurance plc. Expires 30/09/2006. www.justflutes.com Mozart’s flute: Magic, mediocre or maligned? By Rachel Brown

carcely a mention of Mozart’s flute concertos and quartets is made without reference to a certain letter dating from around the time of their composition in which Mozart wrote: ‘…my mind gets easily dulled, as you know, when S 1 I’m supposed to write lots for an instrument I can’t stand.’ Was this merely an off- the-cuff remark or did Mozart genuinely harbour a deep dislike of the flute? If so, Since winning first prize at on what grounds did he hold this opinion and was it a lifelong aversion? the American National Flute Most of what we know about Mozart’s life at this time is derived from his cor- Competition, Rachel Brown has become known for her versatility respondence with his father, occasional letters to his sister and cousin and a few on modern and historical flutes notes from his mother to his father.2 It is as well not to read Mozart’s letters too and recorders. She plays principal literally. Frequently he delighted in writing playful nonsense such as ‘That’s so flute and recorder with many of the leading period-instrument strange! I’m supposed to come up with something sensuble, but nothing sensuble ensembles. She has given many comes to mind…well now I don’t have enough space to write anything sensible, concerto appearances in Europe, besides to be always sensible gives you a headache.’ He loved to jumble up the America, Canada and Japan and will also appear as a soloist with the words in random order and sign himself off tongue-in-cheek. At times, particu- Acadamy of Ancient Music at the larly with his cousin, but also with his family, he revelled in talking dirty, as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and poem below graphically illustrates. at the 2006 BBC Proms. Mozart’s damning remark on the flute seems abrupt, yet he frequently dished Rachel is professor of baroque flute at the Royal College of Music out harsh criticism of other musicians and their compositions, often less than tact- in London. She is author of the fully, publicly sniggering at them or openly bettering them. He could speak against Cambridge handbook The Early Flute his friends with remarkable ease, yet maintain the friendships when it suited him, and has composed cadenzas for the new Bärenreiter edition of Mozart revealing all the immaturity of a hot-housed young boy, despite his astonishing Flute Concertos. musical maturity or perhaps as a way of coping with it. In his fascinating book Mozart in Revolt David Schroeder suggests that Mozart’s father may have hoped to publish their correspondence so the young man delib- erately sabotaged the plan by writing things that were unprintable.2 The letters between father and son during Mozart’s sixteen-month absence document the pressures on their ever more strained relationship. The embittered man with no control over his son at the end of 1778 is a far cry from the doting father-manager who had meticulously engineered every stage of his wunderkind’s career. From his earliest boyhood, Mozart had been paraded around Europe as a child prodigy, welcomed, in fact adored by the nobility, performing on the fortepiano, harpsichord, organ or violin and presenting his compositions. These tours and public appearances were arranged by Mozart’s highly ambitious father, Leopold, himself a notable violinist. Leopold was employed as deputy Kapellmeister of the archbishop’s orchestra in Salzburg. He enjoyed considerable freedom of leave to undertake these lengthy concert tours promoting his son’s miraculous talent.

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 17 However, in 1771 Archbishop Schrattenbach died and was replaced by Count Hieronymus Colloredo who, far from indulging the Mozarts, expected them to fulfil their duties as servants at home. The situation became intolerable and in August 1777 Mozart applied for leave. Both he and his father were dismissed but eventually Leopold was forced to stay and so for the first time, Wolfgang, aged twenty-one, set off, accompanied only by his mother, to seek his fortune. Little did any of his family know what awaited him. Mozart’s genius as a performer and his gifts as a composer were more mature than ever, yet, as a grown man he commanded none of the attention to which he was accustomed. No longer a freak child to be petted and admired, he was quite unprepared for the general indifference he was to meet. Mozart’s first port of call was Munich, to the court of Elector Maximillian III of Bavaria, where he had performed many times and had given the first performance of his opera La finta giardiniera. His reputation must have been outstanding and he should have needed no introduction, yet the Elector himself casually brushed him off with ‘but my dear child, there is no vacancy’ as he strolled away. In Augsburg (Leopold’s birthplace), despite much fun with his cousin and cordial reception, he was teased on account of his Order of the Golden Spur, a gift of the Pope (perhaps he had worn it too publicly)3 and was anxious to leave. Mannheim, the next destination, held much more Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a promise. The court orchestra was renowned for its young boy with a bird’s nest, excellent standard, remarkable discipline, dramatic performances and particu- painted in London by Johann larly electrifying crescendos. Many of the orchestral players were virtuoso per- Zoffany, 1764–65. Zoffany was formers and accomplished composers in their own right, notably court composer a favourite painter of George III and Queen Charlotte. Mozart and Kapellmeister Ignaz Jakob Holzbauer, violinist and Konzertmeister Christian was living in London when he Cannabich, oboist Friedrich Ramm, flautist Johann Baptist Wendling and several dedicated to Queen Charlotte members of the Stamitz, Danzi and Lebrun families. Here at last was a fine orches- his sonatas for piano and tra whose musicians received Mozart with open arms, and he was optimistic that a flute, Opus 3 (K.10–15). Image: position would be forthcoming. Yet after his first couple of concerts he was merely Lebrecht Music & Arts. presented with a gold watch, admittedly a beautiful one, but hardly what he had hoped for: What one needs on a journey is money. Now I own, con permissione, 5 watches. I have a mind to have an extra pocket watch put on each of my trousers, so when I come before one of these great lords I can wear two watches (which is the fashion anyway), so that they don’t get the idea of bestowing on me yet another watch… Leopold was quick to see that Mannheim held no prospect for his son, advised him to move on and assumed his advice would be taken. A week later, his impatient

the 18 pan • flute magazine September 2006 letter reads: ‘For heaven’s sake—you must try to earn some money.’ His subsequent letters become ever more angry and frustrated: ‘The purpose of the journey, that is the necessary purpose, was, is, and must be to find employment or earn money. So far there doesn’t seem to be a prospect for one or the other.’ Leopold was infuriated that his son and wife remained in Mannheim, that they were running into debt and obliged to borrow money without his permission. To him, Mozart seemed to be squandering not only his money but his time in late night revelry and bawdy joking sessions in unsavoury company. One of Mozart’s letters, written as an irreverent confession was perhaps a little too frank; he admits to roistering with Cannabich’s family and others including Ramm, the oboist. I, Johannes Chrisostomus Amadeus Wolfgangus Sigismundus Mozart, am guilty of not coming home until 12 o’clock midnight, the day before yesterday and yesterday, and often times before and that from 10 o’clock until said hour at Cannabich’s…I must also confess that I thoroughly enjoyed it all. I confess all my sins and transgressions from the bottom of my heart, and in the hope that I confess them more often, I am fully committed to perfecting the sinful life I have begun. After this, Mozart learnt to be a little less candid about his activities, but the unspecific reports and vague half-truths only irritated Leopold all the more. He urged his father not to think badly of him and to trust that everything would turn out well. However, it seemed that the time was never right; hunting parties or gala celebrations, the extended carnival period, were forever on the agenda. Despite earnest attempts by Holzbauer and Cannabich to petition the Elector on his behalf, it was only on 8 December, after pestering Count Savoli for information and after he in turn had pressed the Elector for a decision, that Mozart was finally informed that there would be no place for him in Mannheim. He was dismayed and resentful that he hadn’t have been told earlier.4 Cannabich and Wendling, by now Mozart’s very close friends, rallied round, finding him pupils and obtaining a commission for him from Ferdinand De Jean, a wealthy Dutchman working as a doctor with the East India company who offered Mozart 200 gulden for ‘3 short, easy concertos, and a pair of quartets for the flute.’ Wendling was determined to keep Mozart in Mannheim until Lent, when he planned to take him to Paris. He appeared to know the French capital well and had ideas on what Mozart should do there to promote his music and earn his keep. Time passed and Mozart was finding it difficult to apply himself. The next few months see a catalogue of excuses for his lack of progress on the commission, his supposed laziness, his behaviour, his failure to move on in search of a position and anything else his father could possibly nag him about. On 20 December he wrote home at 11pm: …for there’s no other time. We can’t get up before 8 o’clock, because we have no daylight in our room until half past 8, since it is situ- ated on the ground floor. I get dressed quickly, at 10 I sit down to Compose until 12 or half past 12 o’clock; then I go to Wendling’s, where I write a little more until half past 1 o’clock, after that we take

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 19 our noon meal, which lasts until almost 3 o’clock when I have to go to the inn Mainzischer Hof, in order to give lessons to a Dutch officer in galanterie playing…At 4 o’clock I need to be back home to give a lesson to the daughter of the house; although we never begin before half past 4 o’clock because we have to wait for the lights to come on. At six o’clock I go to Cannabich’s to give a lesson to Mad.selle Rose; I stay there for supper; after which we talk—or sometimes they play a game; and when that happens, I pull a book out of my pocket and read—just as I used to do in Salzburg. The D major quartet is dated Christmas Day, 25 December 1777.5 This commission was turning into something of a chore. However, there was a far more compelling reason for Mozart’s remaining in Mannheim, and a most welcome distraction from the task in hand. He had met and fallen deeply in love with a talented young singer, Aloisia Weber, aged sixteen. He first casually slipped a description of her into a letter to his father in mid January 1778, after reference to her worthy father: ‘I’m not sure whether I have mentioned his daughter to you.’ Mozart described her accomplishments, both musical and social and her family’s poor state; one man, a wife and six children on a paltry income. Subsequent letters show Mozart’s total infatuation with her. He praises her beautifully clear voice, her exquisite rendition of his aria, her superb cantabile, the quality of her singing which he would guarantee with his life, her respectable piano playing, and above all her manners and the high regard with which she was held by all in Mannheim, in short a perfect friend and companion for his own dear sister ‘for she has the same Reputation here as my sister enjoys in Salzburg on account of her proper behaviour.’ Herr Weber is portrayed as a good honest German, just like Leopold; in fact the whole family was just like his own. Meanwhile, work on the flute commission was obviously not uppermost in his mind. On a short trip to perform for the Princess of Oranien he sent a typically scatological poem to his mother, part of which reads:

Herr Wendling has reason to be angry with me, For I haven’t written any of the quartetti; But when I get back to the bridge o’er the Rhine, I will travel homeward in one straight line, And write four quartets without any sass, So he has no reason to call me an ass.

The Concerto I’ll write him in Paris, it’s fitting, For there I can dash it off while I’m sh**ting… À dieu Mamma Yours, With deep Respect and Allegiance, And full of scabs and obedience Trazom.’18

Mozart’s mother, incidentally, was not averse to this kind of humour herself, but complained to her husband ‘…when Wolfgang makes new acquaintances, he

the 20 pan • flute magazine September 2006 promptly wants to give everything he has to such people…as soon as he got to know the Webers, he changed his mind [about travelling to Paris with Wendling]. In a word, he endears himself to other people more than to me, for I raise objections with him about this and that which I do not approve of; and he does not like this.’6 Mozart’s new plan from this time was to take Aloisia to Italy, to establish her as a prima donna, and presumably make her his wife. To explain his change of heart to his father, he wrote a rather more formal letter to his father than the one to his mother in which he was at great pains to emphasize ‘the indescribable pleasure of having become acquainted with such thoroughly Honest and good Catholics and Christians.’ The flautist Wendling and his family had been most generous to Mozart and whatever their ways, had certainly not offended him until he needed a virtuous excuse for taking Aloisia to Italy. Leopold reacted with amazement and horror. It took him some days to reply, haranguing him with a tirade of fury and emotional blackmail: I have not slept all night and am so weak that I have to write very slowly, word by word…Your pro- Mozart’s great love, Aloisia posal to travel with Herr Weber and, Nota Bene, 2 of his daughters Weber. When Aloisia rejected has almost driven me to insanity…How can you have let yourself be him Mozart married her sister, taken in even for an hour by such a repulsive idea! Your letter reads Constanze. Aloisia later married like nothing other than a romance – and could you really decide to Joseph Lange, who painted portraits of Mozart and of go schlepping around the world with these strange people? To set Constanze. This picture is of aside your reputation – your aging parents, your beloved sister? Then Aloisia in the role of Zémire in cause me grief, if you can be so cruel!… Off with you to Paris! Grétry’s Zémire et Azor, painted Leopold even harked back to Mozart’s childhood when they had sung together in 1784 by Johann Baptist von at bed time; clearly here was a father finding it very difficult to allow his son to Lampi. From H.C. Robbins grow up. Landon Mozart: The golden years. Reproduced by permission Mozart’s letters of the next few weeks attempted to pacify his outraged father of the publishers, Thames & with an acknowledgement of Leopold’s paternal authority, a reiteration of his Hudson. loyalty to his family, an acceptance that he could not marry until he was financially self-sufficient and with a chain of yet more excuses for still not having completed his commission and still not having left Mannheim:

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 21 The fact that I could not finish the assignment can easily be explained. I never have a quiet hour round here. I cannot compose, except at night; which means, I also can’t get up in the morning. And then, one isn’t always in the mood to write. Of course, I could scribble all day long, and scribble as fast as I can, but such a thing goes out in the world; so I want to make sure I won’t have to feel ashamed, especially when my name appears on that page. In the rush to complete the obligation before De Jean left Mannheim Mozart unfortunately presented him with the autograph scores to the commissioned works; normally he kept these himself and had copies made for the recipients. De Jean, in his turn, packed the music in the wrong trunk, which was left behind. Wendling was supposed to have forwarded them to Mozart, but whatever happened, the scores to the concertos are now lost. De Jean only paid Mozart 96 gulden, just less than half the agreed sum, since he had only received one new complete concerto (in G major K. 313), one transcription of the existing oboe concerto (in D major K. 314),7 a single Andante movement (in C major K. 315) which was perhaps the slow movement of the expected third concerto, and two of the quartets.8 Finally Mozart left for Paris in March, but he never completed De Jean’s commission. He did, however, compose a Sinfonia concertante for flute, oboe, horn and bassoon with orchestra to be performed by his Mannheim friends Wendling (flute), Ramm (oboe), Punto (horn) and Ritter (bassoon). The manuscript was given to Le Gros, who was to arrange for the parts to be prepared, but he delayed inexplicably. Mysteriously the music disappeared before the performance. Ramm exploded with fury in the concert hall, accusing Le Gros of dirty tricks. Mozart, however, suspected Cambini had been implicated, in retaliation for offence he may have caused. The Paris sojourn did not go well. Mozart’s lodgings were cramped, dark and without a piano. The Parisians were preoccupied with an ongoing controversy between rival supporters of Piccini’s Italian opera buffa and Gluck’s French tragédie lyrique and paid little attention to the newcomer, Mozart. He had used up much of his father’s and his sister’s money. As this wasn’t bad enough, his mother con- tracted typhus and died on 3 July 1778. Leopold urged him to return to Salzburg, but he spent almost four months en route when the journey should have taken about a fortnight. Predictably, Leopold erupted: Mon très cher Fils! I really don’t know what to say anymore – I will either lose my mind or die of exhaustion…Your whole intent is to ruin me so you can build your castles in the air…I hope that, after your mother had to die in Paris already, you will not also burden your conscience by expediting the death of your father. Mozart spent some time in Mannheim on his return, but the Weber family had, along with most of the musical establishment, moved to Munich. The unsuccess- ful and frustrating tour culminated in heartbreak; he had never given up hope of marrying Aloisia but at their eventual reunion she disowned him. Mozart was devastated; the flautist Johann Baptist Becke described trying to console him as he wept for over an hour.9 Dejected, he returned to Salzburg, at the end of an unhappy chapter of his life. Despite everything, Mozart held fond memories of Mannheim: ‘as I love Mannheim, Mannheim loves me.’

the 22 pan • flute magazine September 2006 Mannheim: Paradeplatz. Given that at that time Mozart was in love, experiencing his first taste of freedom Coloured engraving by Johann and wanting to be out socialising and that he was very frustrated, strained and Anton Riedel, 1779. Courtesy of defensive on account of the constant badgering from his father, it is understandable Stadtarchiv, Augsburg. that he was not in the best frame of mind for composing, and it is probable that his remark about the flute was made on the spur of the moment. However, Mozart may have had grounds for not liking the flute of course. Radical changes were made to the instrument during his lifetime, but at this point, many players (Wendling and De Jean probably among them) would still have been using one-keyed flutes. Such instruments were well suited to the baroque music for which they were invented, and a good flute in the hands of a skilled and flexible player with an intuitive, sen- sitive composer could use the brighter tonalities and upper register to sound strong and happy and the delicate colours of the flat keys to great effect. Whilst these colours could and should be brought to classical repertoire, much dramatic orchestral music used the flat tonalities for powerful impact and consequently the flute is often absent in so many works of the Sturm und Drang type. Classical orchestral flute parts often lie in the high register and though many one-keyed flutes ascended at least to A3, the high F3 was frequently either non-existent or barely acceptable. In a few exceptional one-keyed flutes 3F was a good, strong note. By the last quarter of the eighteenth century flutes with more keys were becoming popular, though were by no means standard. These keys provided the flute with one tone hole for every note (or most), albeit holes of uneven size and spacing on a tapering bore, and brought a new-found degree of sonority and evenness to the flute. The combined use of one-keyed and multi-keyed fingerings offered a wider palette of colours. However, pitch was never standardized so wind players frequently had problems adjusting to a higher or lower pitch, particularly if they travelled. Flutes were

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 23 constructed with interchangeable centre-pieces (corps de rechange) of slightly different lengths, extendable foot registers and moveable corks but whilst sometimes partially successful, this method was often a poor substitute for having a well-tuned instrument at one agreed pitch. Prior to taking on the commission from De Jean, Mozart had actually written very little featuring the flute. The early sonatas, opus 3, for harpsichord with violin or flute accompaniment and ad lib. cello were composed in London in 1765 (at the age of eight) and dedicated to Queen Charlotte. These six sonatas are charming but clearly not conceived primarily for the flute since much of the violin part contains double stopping, pizzicato and notes on the G string, below the range of the flute.10 Perhaps the designation for flute was added to the title page as a gesture to King George III, who played the flute, or more likely, in order to increase sales, particularly in England where the flute had become so popular. Most of Mozart’s choral works, early symphonies and operas contain either nothing for flute or else small parts, which in some cases may have been played by oboists doubling on flute. If flutes are present, they rarely have independent lines but are written in unison or octaves with violins, or they shadow them with sim- plified parts. They generally appear in only a few numbers in each work, almost exclusively in safe keys (D, G, A and C majors) with very simple figures. Fast passages are limited to easy scales and the highest note is E3. Mozart may never have met many really fine flautists at this stage in his life. The symphonies from the early 1770s show a marked development in his flute writing and the little cameo obbligato parts in La finta giardiniera (1775) must have had a startling effect. This may have been performed by the flautist Johann Baptist Becke, for whom a little part was included in his next opera Il Re Pastore. Despite his close acquaintance with Wendling, there is no record of Mozart actually praising his playing, though he apparently orchestrated one of his concertos and Leopold had admired him some years earlier. De Jean requested some easy pieces, so Mozart may have felt that to be a limiting factor. In Paris, on the other hand, he approved of the Comte de Guines, an amateur player who had acquired a flute with several keys in England, and was pleased to make use of the added low notes in the Concerto for flute and harp. Whatever Mozart’s feelings about the flute, one could understand if he were irritated by certain flautists. De Jean (perhaps justifiably) short-changed him and even the Compte de Guines took advantage of him. Mozart protested: …Monsieur le Duc has no honour either;—he must have thought: this is a young fellow and a stupid German besides—that’s just how all the French speak if the Germans—he will be quite content with this—but the stupid German was not content—and didn’t accept the money either—in other words, the Duc wanted to pay only one lesson for 2, and this although he has had a Concerto for flute and harp from me already for 4 months without paying for it…. What annoys me most is that these stupid Frenchmen think I’m still just seven years old—because that was my age when they first saw me— it’s absolutely true… In this respect, the flautists were no better than many of Mozart’s other patrons but all this points to a certain naivety in making financial arrangements.

the 24 pan • flute magazine September 2006 Despite the emotional turmoil he was experiencing and despite the reluctance to get on with the job, Mozart seems to have taken some pride in the finished articles. Wendling’s close involvement in the project, and indeed, Mozart’s contact with all the other inspirational wind players from Mannheim proved to be pivotal in unleashing his imagination. Idomeneo, his next big opera, displays an extraordinary emancipation of the wind section from its hitherto purely accompanying role. It was as if the floodgates had opened and his creative powers were given free rein; he could use his wind players as both as soloists and as a team. All of Mozart’s large-scale operas, late piano concertos and some of the late symphonies have glorious flute parts. His altogether new expectations, both technically and musically, are unmistakable in the chromaticism of Don Giovanni, the quartet of obbligato instuments in the aria in Die Entführung and the beautiful trio in the Et incarnatus est of the C Minor Mass. It is difficult to single out just a few highlights when all his late works are wonderfully rewarding. In the context of this article, however, Mozart’s use of a magic flute in Die Zauberflöte to protect Tamino from all danger and guide him through fire and water in his initiation to Sarastro’s sacred temple symbolized purity, honour and the power of good over evil. Surely, we can ask for no greater testament than this. It is a shame that Mozart’s solo flute works exist under the shadow of his youth- ful remark, but even if they were not composed in the happiest of circumstances, to have them at all, we must surely feel as Ramm did on being presented with a copy of the oboe concerto: ‘the man is beside himself with joy.’ •

1 Unless stated, all quotations from Robert Spaethling: Mozart’s Letters, Mozart’s Life. London: Faber & Faber, 2000 2 David Schroeder: Mozart in Revolt, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1999. 3 He had worn the cross on Leopold’s advice. 4 Shortly after this Maximillian of Bavaria died; the Elector of Mannheim suc- ceeded him and united the two courts. The musical establishments merged and were based in Munich. Thus there was already a superfluity of musicians without Mozart. 5 If the admission that he had not written any of the quartets in his poem of 31 January is correct, this date is either wrong or falsely backdated. Perhaps it is poetic licence. 6 Letter from Maria Anna Mozart to Leopold Mozart, MBA ii 255, quoted in David Schroeder, Mozart in Revolt. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1999. 7 The D major concerto is transposed from the oboe concerto in C with a few interesting changes. 8 There is some doubt over the date of the C major quartet, K. 285b. 9 Aloisia married Joseph Lange in 1779 and in 1782 Mozart married her younger sister, Constanze, with whom he appears to have been very happy. Mozart and Aloisia continued to work together occasionally. She sang the role of Donna Anna in the first Viennese production of Don Giovanni. 10 Most modern editions transfer some of the melodic right-hand piano part to the flute.

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 25 oto © David Williams 2006 oto © DavidWilliams Ph

Williams Flutes, Boston, MA USA phone: 1-781-643-8839 or visit: williamsflutes.com The flutes of Mozart’s day By Peter Spohr

et us define ‘flutes of Mozart’s day’ as those instruments which Mozart expected Lto be used when his compositions scored for flutes were performed in his lifetime. In the history of the transverse flutes of Western cultural origin there have been times of faster or more substantial changes, for example the transition to the one- keyed flute or to Boehm’s design, alternating with times of slower or more subtle changes. On the other hand recent research in the development of the baroque flute has suggested that the so-called Hotteterre flute was probably not the only concept or invention of a baroque transverse flute in the second half of the seventeenth century. In the case of the Boehm flute, it was fifteen years before Boehm transferred his mechanism and fingering system with more evenly spaced large tone holes from a conical wooden to a cylindrical metal flute body. Furthermore marked regional differences in flute design were increasingly common in the nine- Peter Spohr performs on baroque, teenth century and changes or inventions were sometimes accepted in different keyed and Boehm flutes. About thirty countries at different times. years ago he started to build up a Mozart‘s compositions demanding a flute comprise a period of just twenty-five collection of transverse flutes and since then has organised several exhibitions years (or twenty-eight if the early sonatas K.10–15 are regarded as flute works). of historic flutes with accompanying Though the 1760s mark the beginning of the common use of flutes with more than catalogues. He has given lectures and one key in England, where the additional keys had probably been invented in the written articles about the history of the flute, flute making and flute acoustics late 1750s, this development did not influence the ‘flute of Mozart’s day’ as defined as well as about musical interpretation above because Mozart expected his works to be performed mainly in continental and performance practice. His main Europe where the flutes with multiple keys only became more common about occupation is as managing director of a the time he died. Tromlitz in Leipzig, in his 1791 book Ausführlicher und gründlicher company manufacturing groundwater instrumentation. Unterricht die Flöte zu spielen, described Quantz’s E and D keys only as sufficient, and Devienne in Paris did the same in his method of 1794. The changes in transverse flutes with time in continental Europe between the 1760s and the 1780s which are relevant when describing ‘the flutes of Mozart’s day’ were probably not marked and were much smaller than the regional differences in this period. Only Mozart’s flute and harp concerto K.299 was obviously written for a flute with a C foot and most probably for a six-keyed one of English make, as will be discussed below. An extensive international trade in musical instruments had developed in Europe long before Mozart’s time. On the other hand instruments by local makers were also used by soloists and in orchestras. One can see this in numerous existing expert opinions by musicians and conductors about the quality of the instruments of their local workshops (though these may sometimes have been written as a favour). If we search for flute makers in those places where Mozart lived, where he stayed for some time and where his music was performed in his lifetime we cannot

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 27 find many. At that time in Salzburg there were no flute makers of any reputation, and in Vienna there is only a record that Mathias Rockobaur supplied woodwinds to Haydn for his orchestra in Esterhaza in the 1760s, while better-known flute makers like Franz Harrach or Friedrich Hammig only started to make instruments at the very end of Mozart’s life. The famous Viennese flutes by Koch and Ziegler were only marketed in the nineteenth century. If we include makers from other places related to Mozart we can mention Michael Eisenmenger (1723–1788) in Mannheim while the workshops of better known flute makers in Munich and Prague like Gustav Schöffl and Franz Schöllnast again only started to flourish in the beginning of the nineteenth century. Fortunately there is some documentary evidence concerning the relation between Mozart and the well- known flute player and member of the Mannheim court orchestra, Johann Baptist Wendling (1723– 97). When Mozart met him in Mannheim in 1777 Wendling procured the commission of ‘three little, easy, short concertos and some quartets on the flute’ by the amateur flute player Ferdinand Dejean, and the now lost Sinfonia concertante K.Anh.9 (297b), which was composed for Wendling and his colleagues Ramm, Punto and Ritter. Wendling had performed frequently at the Concert spirituel in Paris from 1751 and here he Figure 1: Elector Palatine was a client of the internationally known flute maker Carl Theodor von der Pfalz holding a flute by Thomas Thomas (III) Lot (1708–87). T. Lot was so famous and Lot, painted by Johann commercially successful that his instruments (like those of August Grenser and Georg Ziesenis in 1757. Richard Potter mentioned below) were faked in his lifetime. The flute- and cello- Courtesy of Bayerisches playing Elector Palatine Carl Theodor, who was taught by Wendling from 1754, Nationalmuseum, owned flutes by Thomas Lot. Figure 1 shows a painting of Carl Theodor in his München. chamber in 1757 holding a flute which is most probably one of a pair of Thomas Lot flutes from his estate which are now kept in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich. Like another pair of Thomas Lot flutes in the Horniman Museum in London, Carl Theodor’s instruments are deluxe models in a beautiful case, with five upper joints each; one has a gold key. Another Thomas Lot flute made of boxwood, probably from the 1760s, is shown in Figure 2 with its stamp on Figure 3. Typical features of this flute and contemporary instruments by T. Lot are quite small embouchure holes, a larger bore with a shallow taper, a low pitch (about A=405) and an extreme undercutting of the tone holes causing difficulties when playing some fork fingered notes. The sound is strong, open and clear with an excellent intonation of the basic D major scale in all octaves and with an easy response of the high notes up to A3. Other internationally known flute makers of Mozart’s time in Continental Europe were Carl Augustin (I) Grenser (1720–1807) in Dresden, Friedrich Gabriel August

the 28 pan • flute magazine September 2006 Kirst (c.1750–1806) in Potsdam and Johann George Tromlitz (1725–1805) in Leipzig, although Tromlitz may have had only a very small production of instruments. Famous London makers like Thomas Cahusac Senior (1714–98) and Richard Potter (c.1726–1806) were already making keyed flutes for the English market but it was not until shortly before Mozart’s death that these flutes were exported, used and copied on the continent. Figure 4 shows an ebony flute by August Grenser, probably from the 1770s, in its original cardboard case and Figure 5 shows this flute’s maker’s stamp. The flute has seven upper joints for adaptation to different pitch levels (from about A=406 to A=447, a range of a whole tone) and a foot register. As a typical example of Grenser’s work this flute shows a slimmer design and a narrower bore with a steeper cone. The narrowness of the bore which enhances the upper range was often required in Mozart’s orchestral flute parts and was increased further by Johann George Tromlitz who combined it with a thicker tube. The sound of the Grenser flute is less full but very clear and elegant with good carrying power. The intonation is excellent and the response in the third octave is extremely easy. The Grenser workshop probably only started to manufacture flutes with more than one key by the end of the 1880s. On Figure 6 we can see an ebony flute by Kirst, probably from the 1770s, with its original leather wallet and with the Figure 2: Flute by Thomas more popular three upper joints. Figure 7 shows the maker’s stamp. This flute Lot. with a Quantz-type tuning slide looks more old-fashioned (and in fact is) than the Grenser flute though it was probably not made earlier. The three joints are for pitches between about A=413 and A=434. The bore is similar to the Grenser flute above but the wood is considerably thicker. Its sound retains the solidity and warmth of the baroque flute and combines it again with a very easy third octave. The intonation is of the highest standard. As mentioned above there can be little doubt that Mozart’s concerto for flute and harp K.299 was written for an English flute with the additional keys because its commissioner, the amateur flute player the Duc de Guines, had been ambassador 1 to London until 1776. The flute part of the concerto descends to C . One might Figure 3: Lot’s mark. even think that not only with the extended range but also in the rest of the flute part Mozart was taking into account a flute with more than one key with a more balanced sound in the first octave and a wider dynamic range of the previously fork-fingered notes. On the cover of this magazine and on Figure 8 (here together with its mahogany case) we can see a six-keyed ivory flute by Thomas Cahusac Senior with keys for low C, C sharp, E, F, G and B (the long F key and the upper C key had not yet been invented). Close-ups of the maker’s stamp, of the green glass inset in the cap and of the decoration at the lever for the C key are shown on the Figures 9, 10 and 11. The cast silver decoration was also included in the C levers of the ‘Florio’ and

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 29 Figure 4: Ebony flute by the Potter flute described below, each with an individual design (see Figures 15 August Grenser. and 20). Many ivory flutes by Cahusac are preserved which suggest that he had a good reputation which allowed him to sell these expensive instruments. On the trade card with his address since 1755 shown on Figure 12 he claims to work for the Royal Family and even offers German flutes ‘tipt with Gold’. The Cahusac flute discussed here was probably made in the 1760s due to its tiny key holes and key flaps and due to its low pitch ranging from about A=407 to A=438 with the three exchangeable upper joints. The bore is larger and less steep, as on the Thomas Lot flute described above, and the small embouchure hole is rather like the French flute. The walls of the flute are very thin but this is probably Figure 5: Grenser’s mark. caused by the use of ivory, a heavy and expensive material. This is common on flutes of the period. Playing quality is very good with a pleasant, even tone, good intonation and easy high notes. Another English six-keyed flute made of boxwood is shown with details on Figures 13, 14 and 15 (the assembled flute can also be seen on the advertisements for this year’s flute convention in Manchester). The name ‘Florio’ on its stamp stands for the Pietro Grassi Florio, a successful flute player in London, who together with his colleague Joseph Tacet, who also arrived in London around 1760, was credited, incorrectly, with the invention of the additional keys. The flute was probably made by Thomas Collier in London before John Hale became his successor in 1785 though its outer appearance also closely resembles an instrument stamped I.HALE | LONDON in the Dayton C. Miller collection in Washington. The keys of

the 30 pan • flute magazine September 2006 Figure 7: Kirst’s mark.

Figure 9: Cahusac’s mark. Figure 6: Ebony flute by Kirst.

Figure 10: The decorated crown on the Cahusac flute.

Figure 8: Ivory flute by Cahusac. Figure 11: Cahusac’s key design.

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 31 Figure 13: Boxwood flute by Pietro Grassi Florio, London.

Figure 12: Thomas Cahusac’s trade card. Courtesy of Tony Bingham, London.

Figure 15: Florio’s key Figure 14: Florio’s design. mark.

Figure 16: John Hale’s mark. Figure 17: A typical Figure 18: Potter’s mark. Figure 19: Potter’s key key by John Hale. design

the 32 pan • flute magazine September 2006 this flute are stamped IH for John Hale on the bottom side (see Figure 16). Hale made his beautiful keys not only for Collier, with whom he worked from around 1770, but also for other well-known London makers such as Astor, Cahusac, Potter and Proser. The B key from this flute, with the typical chamfers made by Hale, is shown in Figure 17. The bore of this flute is slightly smaller than with the Cahusac and the three upper joints with the usual numbers 4, 5 and 6 of the time give pitches between about A=426 and A=442 Hz. Though the whole flute and not only its keys represent the highest level of craftsmanship the playing qualities are somewhat disappointing. The flute works from bottom to top A3 but the sound is somewhat dull and not very flexible, with a limited dynamic range. One gets the impression when playing on it that all three upper joints are too short for the concept of this flute. This is also confirmed by the somewhat problematic intonation. For the sake of completeness the last flute described is an instrument by the most famous London maker of the time, Richard Potter, though this one was made after Mozart composed his flute and harp concerto (there is no earlier Potter flute with more than one key in my collection). The six-keyed boxwood flute with details is shown on Figures 18, 19 and 20. Potter moved to the Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street address shown in the stamp in 1785 and the flute was probably made very soon after that because 1785 also marks the year of Potter’s patent for pewter-plug keys, as well as other features. The patent model soon became a big commercial success in England and later on the Continent. The flute shown here is still of the type which Potter started to make in the 1770s and so it has nothing of the 1785 patent features like graduated screw- cork, tuning slide, pewter-plug keys or a graduated foot register. Only Figure 20: Boxwood flute by Richard Potter. the shortest upper joint (number 6) survives. This gives a pitch of about A=448 Hz. Even with this joint the flute has a round, colourful and flexible sound with an easy response in the whole range and mostly good intonation. Comparing the three flutes made in London I would say that the Collier or Hale flute represents the best and the Potter the worst (but still acceptable) workmanship while with the sound it is the other way round. This sound quality may explain why Potter had already built up a good reputation before he started new marketing efforts with his 1785 patent. The Cahusac is in between and taking evenness of tone and good intonation into consideration though it may even be the musically best and most versatile instrument. Of course three instruments are not enough to render a general judgement but most of the observations on these flutes have been confirmed by other flutes of the same makers which I have seen. In Mozart’s lifetime the flutes made by Grenser were probably the most used among professional flute players on the Continent and it seems to me that the playing characteristics of the Grenser flute described above are in best agreement with what we think should be the sound and playing qualities of a classical flute today. In any case in the hands of a competent player of historic flutes most of the French, German and English instruments I have described have the capability to convey Mozart’s solo, All photographs by chamber and, for the flute the more important, orchestral music convincingly.• Peter Spohr.

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the 34 pan • flute magazine September 2006 Which Glass is Best for Merlot? Which Flute is Best for Mozart? By Christopher Krueger

enophiles will tell you, and argue among themselves, that the glass you drink from plays an extremely important part in the way you appreciate a Ogood wine. A number of glassmakers make glasses for specific varietals of wine, designed to deliver the wine to a particular part of the tongue first in order to enhance certain qualities and moderate others. Additionally, bowl shapes are designed for particular wines to concentrate certain aromas in the wine’s bouquet. Good wine is good wine, but clearly, how you drink it makes a difference. Mozart is as good as music gets. It will always be that, but the way it is experienced A graduate of the New England by both listener and performer makes a difference, too. Playing Mozart on any Conservatory of Music, Christopher flute or, in fact, on any instrument whatsoever, is simply one of the most sublime Krueger was a student of James things a musician can do. There may be no other composer who combines so Pappoutsakis. He has performed as principal with the Boston Symphony many elements of human experience in such generous ways as Mozart. The exu- Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the berance, depth, and the celebration of life in all its aspects make it as fulfilling Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and to be a part of as any music I know. As the Mozart scholar and pianist, Robert many other ensembles. In the mid-1970s he became interested Levin said, ‘Mozart knew more than anyone who ever lived about what makes us in historical performance. His tick, in all our complexities.’ On modern or historical instruments, all of that is career as a Baroque flute player has there. What I appreciate about playing Mozart on historical instruments, however, taken him throughout the United States, Europe, Eastern Europe, and is the ease with which one connects with those human qualities. Modern instru- Australia. Christopher Krueger has ments, designed for smoothness and homogeneity, can seem overly polished or recently been appointed Assistant airbrushed. Eighteenth-century instruments rather automatically provide a great Professor of Music at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. deal of variety in every aspect of the music: dynamics, articulation, timbre, etc., and, to me, a more ‘real’, less glossy effect that seems to more readily capture the combination of elevated and earthy character of Mozart’s music. The 1980s saw the inauguration of a number of recording projects of Mozart on historical instruments. (See Jane Glover’s ‘Mozart’s Orchestral Music on Record’ for an account of the recordings of that decade and a transcription of a lively discussion following the presentation of her paper.)1 Many saw those recordings as revelatory and the sales figures reflected the excitement with which they were greeted. The Mozart piano concerto recordings with Malcolm Bilson, fortepiano, and John Eliot Gardiner with the English Baroque Soloists caused Richard Taruskin, famous for his cautionary analyses, if not harsh criticisms, of the early music movement, to enthuse, ‘Get out the trumpets and the drums! Calooh, calay!’ And more specifically, ‘The playing of the winds here is the very stuff of legends. Their timbres are so vivid, their intonation so impeccable, their presence so much a part (as we now see) of what makes Mozart Mozart as to put a whole new slant on our concept of color for this music. No one who has heard these recordings will ever be content again with a standard orchestral blend in the Classical repertory. The discovery, or

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 35 rediscovery, of a new color scheme has unquestionably been the major revelation of the “Early Music” incursion into that eminent domain.’2 That ‘color scheme,’ the balances between winds and strings, the transparency and clarity, the variety of articulations and many other details revealed by historical instrument performances and recordings have so generally been adopted by modern instrument ensembles that it is now hard to see what all the fuss was about. Most traditionally-trained musicians now play Mozart in a very different style than was typical twenty years ago. Nevertheless, the experience of playing Mozart on an historical instrument is very different from that of playing a modern one. The balances and blends that are automatic with historical instruments are possible to achieve on modern instruments, and one hears it done beautifully quite often. When I play in an historical instrument ensemble, however, I feel a freedom of expression that is never quite there in a modern group. The fact that I can play to the limits of the instrument both dynamically and timbrally, means I rarely have to be cautious about sticking out of the texture. The entire orchestra, in fact, can play to the extremes without losing transparency. When a modern instrument band does that, clarity is lost in a mass of sound. The feeling of playing a fortissimo or a ‘storm’ scene absolutely flat out is fantastic, and I think it produces an intensity or exuber- ance, as the case may be, that is very difficult to achieve with modern instruments. If the feeling of playing with the fullest possible dynamic range without either producing an impenetrable wall of sound or stepping beyond the boundaries of good taste is fulfilling, so too is the feeling of using the entire tessitura of the instrument. Playing on original instruments, one rediscovers limits of range. Mozart freely uses the entire range of the instrument (from D1 to A3) in the later symphonies. The feeling of playing in the ‘stratosphere’ is dramatic and intense and I think this quality can clearly be heard. There is a big difference between the effect of a mezzo singing a high A and a soprano singing the same pitch. Perhaps to get the proper feel of range when playing eighteenth-century music on a modern flute one should transpose up a fourth. High A3 on many classical flutes is as difficult as D4 on a modern one, but effort aside, the feeling that you are at the top of the instrument makes a difference in the way you play it. Much has been written about the structural and emotional meaning of keys in Mozart’s music. Certain tonalities seem to have a typical affect or set of affects associated with them. This, and the dramatic effects of modulations or surprising har- monies, comes through clearly in Mozart’s music no matter what you play it on. Eighteenth-century instruments, though, really sound different in different keys. Because the scales are not even in sound or volume, and because the registers of older instruments have such different timbres, different keys produce very different effects. Moreover, it feels very different to play in different keys. Modulating to remote keys truly feels like travelling to far-flung lands. In a period instrument orchestra, the role of the winds, as Taruskin notes, is naturally different. The transparency of the strings gives the winds the possibility of far more character. The Harmonie or the eighteenth-century wind band clearly meant something special to Mozart and he achieves remarkably dramatic effects with the wind writing in his operas. It is the same kind of wind writing in the late piano concertos, that, in part, turns these pieces into small but dynamic operas themselves. The interplay between the piano and the winds that is characteristic of these works

the 36 pan • flute magazine September 2006 clearly creates dramatic ensemble scenes when played on historical instruments. A typical modern instrument performance with a piano designed to balance an entire large orchestra played in front of the orchestra with the lid up is not conducive to the kind of intimate connections these scenes require. It is very difficult to play good ensemble, much less project a sense of inter- action and engagement, when you can barely hear or see your colleague. Another word about ensemble playing in concertos. I am completely persuaded by the arguments made for concerto soloists playing in the tutti passages. The solo parts generally contain all the tutti parts as well: the first violin part in the case of the flute concertos and the bass line in the case of the piano concertos, with some interesting exceptions. (See the Bärenreiter or Henle editions of the flute concertos.) The early piano concertos even have continuo figures. This, in addition to the rather closer balances that exist between soloist and orchestra with period instruments (that is, there is not as much differentiation dynamically between soloist and orchestra), make these concertos feel closer to an earlier concerto grosso form than the nineteenth century idea of a concerto for soloist versus orchestra. The soloist is part of the ensemble, who periodically steps Perhaps the most famous forward for a solo and interacts with the orchestra on a more or less equal footing. image of Wolfgang Amadeus For me this changes the nature of these pieces completely. They become more inti- Mozart, painted in 1783 by mate and improvisatory. Imagine Mozart playing his own concertos, without con- Joseph Lange, his brother-in- ductor, a relatively small group of musicians playing together. As Robert Levin says law, who did not complete the work. Constanze Mozart said of these tuttis, ‘… I can’t imagine the world’s greatest keyboard genius, with all we this was the best likeness of her know about him, sitting at the piano for 70 bars plunking chords. I suspect a rapscal- husband. Lange was married to lion glint in the eye; he was probably just jamming like a great Dixieland player.’3 Constanze’s elder sister Aloisia, To speak more specifically about details of flute playing, perhaps the most inter- with whom Mozart had been esting thing to me about historical flutes has to do with articulation. It has always in love. Image: Lebrecht Music seemed to me that one of the strongest expressive elements available to flutists of & Arts all types is the wide variety of articulation possible on the instrument. This is certainly borne out in the literature of eighteenth-century flute methods. The fascina- tion with different tonguing syllables and consonants can be found in flute tutors by Hotteterre (Paris, 1722; Amsterdam, 1728),4 Quantz (Berlin, 1752)5 and Tromlitz (Leipzig, 1791).6 The evidence that this was an important part of a flute player’s expressive arsenal is overwhelming. A discussion of these syllables, their use and their pervasiveness is beyond the scope of this article, but briefly, the above sources all advocate the use of ‘compound’ tonguing, using ‘t’, ‘d’ and a rolled or flipped ‘r’ in notes that are in step-wise motion, especially semi-quavers, and the use of ‘t’ for notes that are more disjunct. Using tonguing syllables this way creates generally legato passagework with a great variety of subtle shapes and connections. Although, it has been said that these syllables went out of fashion in the later eighteenth century,

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 37 and it seems to me that later eighteenth -century flutes generally articulate much quicker and cleaner than instruments from the earlier part of the century, it is interesting that these tonguing techniques were still at least somewhat in use. One might say that there is only one way to connect notes with a slur, but a thousand ways to connect them with the tongue. It is easier to create this variety of tonguing on old flutes than on modern ones, but quite possible with the modern ones. The problem is in our technique: all those hours of practice to get perfectly clean and identical quavers and semiquavers! Sustaining tones evenly on an eighteenth-century flute feels and sounds odd. The sound is pretty, but not, to me, the kind that holds much interest without some kind of shape. By instinct and by instruction from eighteenth-century tutors long notes should be given some kind of dynamic shape and perhaps some vibrato, varying with that shape. (Vibrato, of course, was overwhelmingly talked about as ‘flatte- ment,’ performed with a finger, partially closing an open hole.) Releasing notes rather than sustaining is something that seems more natural and is easier to do on eighteenth-century flutes than on modern ones. The written evidence supports this aspect of style. Slurs might be thought of as a kind of accent, implying a diminuendo. According to Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang’s father writing in 1789, ‘Now if in a musical composition two, three, four, and even more notes be bound together by the half circle, so that one recognises therefrom that the composer wishes the notes not to be separated but played singingly in one slur, the first of such united notes must be somewhat more strongly stressed, but the remainder slurred on to it quite smoothly and more and more quietly.’7 Accent or diminuendo, Leopold Mozart thought of a slur as a gesture. This type of detail in articulation and local inflection feels quite natural on the eighteenth-century flute and one can see similar ten- dencies with eighteenth-century bows, which give an unequal weight throughout their length, and with fortepianos with their relatively rapid rate of decay. A look at Mozart’s slurs in this context reveals a great deal of care in this type of gesture. One can play with this kind of small, quick inflection on a modern flute, but it is a fair amount of work. I am not suggesting that one needs to sacrifice a long, singing line in order to play with this level of nuance. One can play with many subtle but clear inflections in the context of a clearly shaped phrase. Cantabile was an important part of style in Mozart’s day. The idea of absolute progress in the development of instruments has been thoroughly debunked, but it is worth commenting on. One still reads and hears comments something like this: ‘The problems of intonation and unevenness of sound in the one-keyed flute were finally solved in the late eighteenth century by the addition of three more keys, allowing F natural, G sharp and B flat to be produced without cross fingering.’ To believe this, one would have to believe that, after adding one key to a keyless flute in the mid seventeenth century, no one thought of adding another for one hundred years or so, until some Eureka! moment in the eighteenth century. If flute players had really been frustrated by their soft cross-fingerings and the unevenness in tone that they create, keys would have been added much earlier. Clearly, unevenness in sound is undesirable only if evenness of sound is a virtue. The fact that the one-keyed flute survived for so long without the very simple addition of a few more keys suggests that evenness was not a sought-after quality. The exhortations in eighteenth-century treatises to provide a great deal of variety, of light

the 38 pan • flute magazine September 2006 and shade, by using different tonguing syllables, rhythmic alterations, etc., certainly corroborate that. Adding keys really has the effect of making a flute louder since it avoids softer cross-fingered notes. It is surely no coincidence that more keys were added at a time when music was played in larger spaces where the subtle shadings of light and dark that cross-fingerings create tend to get lost and where greater volume is desirable. Although it can be argued that, to an extent, changes in instruments drive changes in music, instruments primarily represent adaptations to their musical environment. Seeing the characteristics of instruments as desirable qualities for their time provides insights into the musical values and aesthetics of the period that can be found nowhere else. Nothing one can read can tell us how things were really played or how things really sounded. Learning the characteristics of an instrument, and in particular how it feels, although it has its limitations (we still do not know exactly how they were played), provides us with as direct a connection to the past as we can get. All these ‘lessons’ from eighteenth century instruments are there to be had from the many fine recordings and, especially, live performances of Mozart’s music on period instruments. They are particularly available by spending some time with a Mozart-period flute, whether or not one then performs on that or a modern one. As for me, I love playing Mozart on both instruments, but I must say that I work much harder on a modern one. All the things that now seem so ‘right’ to me about classical performance style, and that I think serve the music so well, are difficult to realise on an instrument that is designed to be as even in sound as possible, to articulate cleanly and powerfully and to project more than blend. I must say that I prefer Mozart on period instruments. The ‘unfiltered’ quality, the blemishes makes it more intensely present. Sometimes things can be polished away. And, oh yes, I prefer drinking my Pomerol in a crystal Bordeaux glass, but I can enjoy it in a jam jar as well. •

1 Jane Glover: ‘Mozart’s Orchestral Music on Record.’ Early Music, Volume 20, Number 2, ‘Performing Mozart’s Music III.’ (May, 1992), 267–273 2 Richard Taruskin: ‘A Mozart Wholly Ours’. Musical America, May 1990, 32–41, reprinted in Taruskin: Text and Act. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995, 273–275. 3 Bernard D. Sherman: Inside Early Music, Chapter 17, ‘Speaking Mozart’s Lingo: Robert Levin on Mozart and Improvisation’. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, 328. 4 Jacques-Martin Hotteterre: Rudiments of the flute, recorder & oboe (Principes de la flûte), translated by Paul Marshall Douglas. New York: Dover Publications, 1968. 5 Johann Joachim Quantz: On playing the flute (Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen), translated by Edward R. Reilly. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2001 and New York: Schirmer Books, 1985. 6 Johann George Tromlitz: The virtuoso flute-player (Ausführlicher und gründlicher Unterricht die Flöte zu spielen), translated by Ardal Powell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. 7 Leopold Mozart: A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing (Gründliche Violinschule), translated by Editha Knocker, second edition. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 123–124.

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 39

Evenings at the Opera

The flute players of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

o, does playing the same opera night after night get boring after a while? I’m sure it would, but that’s not how it is at the Royal Opera House, which Members of the puts on a tremendous range of repertoire. And not just opera, since the S flute section of the Royal Ballet has its home in the same building and the ROH Orchestra plays for its productions, too. These mingle with our operatic schedule to produce a much Orchestra of the Royal more varied musical life than you might at first imagine. Remember, some of the Opera House, Covent greatest symphonic orchestral scores are actually ballet repertoire, and although a Bruckner Symphony has yet to make it into our pit, it’s surprising how many Garden describe their other ‘concert’ works have, such as Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Mahler’s Das Lied von der working lives. Erde, Rachmaninov’s Paganini Variations, Janacek’s Sinfonietta, Poulenc’s Gloria, and even Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. So there’s something different to play each night, with a constant dovetailing of repertoire as one opera or ballet finishes its run and another passes through its rehearsal stages and into performances. For the orchestra, each opera production begins with rehearsals alone, then the singers and chorus join us, seated, at sitzprobe rehearsals, and finally there are rehearsals ‘with stage’ where all the elements of costume, staging, lighting and voice-to-orchestra balance are brought together and tested. The final, ‘General’ rehearsal is usually run as a performance, before a full audience of ROH staff, friends and members of The Friends of Covent Garden. The flute section comprises two co-principal flutes (Margaret Campbell and Sarah Brooke) and one sub-principal (Katharine Constable), plus two co-principal piccolos (Philip Rowson and one piccolo seat yet to be filled). Obviously, it’s rare for all five of us to be needed on the same piece, so we share out the season’s schedule between us (very amicably), producing a full personal schedule of roughly half the productions, spread more or less evenly across the year. Since 2002 our Director of Music has been Antonio Pappano, an appointment that is working extremely well, with his tremendous energy, international standing, but down-to-earth character, sensitivity to singers and wide repertoire. It has been a particular treat to work with him on the current production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle so soon after joining. It is also a real treat to have the Opera House as our permanent home in the thriv- ing Covent Garden Market in London’s busy West End. There’s a strong ‘family’ feel to the orchestra, especially in the wind section (by no means universal among professional orchestras), and if it’s your birthday, a cake is de rigueur in the tea break.

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 41 We are privileged to work with many of the world’s greatest singers and conductors, playing such wonderful music. The international standing of the orchestra is regularly recognised in the press and if a production draws less-than- favourable words from the critics, they invaria- bly reserve their praise for the players and chorus. (Interestingly, one of last season’s most thrilling and acclaimed performances was when virtually all staging and scenery were stripped away: Wagner’s Die Walküre at the 2005 BBC Proms.)

Sarah Brooke (Co-principal Flute) writes:

When I was a student busking in Covent Garden Piazza, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would spend most of my working life at the Royal Opera House, one of the most glamor- ous venues in London. Margaret Campbell and I started as joint or co- Philip Rowson and principal flutes in 1986 when Oliver Bannister Sarah Brooke. retired after 20 years as principal flute and Pat Lynden decided to leave to join English National Opera. Both were flute-playing heroes of mine and I felt hon- oured to be succeeding them. Twenty years on, Margaret and I are still both here, and although my previous jobs were also in opera, I’m glad it’s worked out like this. The repertoire for flute in opera is wonderful, and helps develop your sound uniquely, as Marcel Moyse showed in his book, Tone Development Through Interpretation. That seemed a bit dry when I first came across it, but when you hear arias by composers such as Massenet, Rossini, Donizetti sung beautifully, you understand Moyse’s inspiration. The Italian repertoire in particular gives the flute many lovely opportunities, including arias (as in Bellini’s Norma), accompanying singers (as in Verdi’s Rigoletto), trying to keep up with singers in their cadenzas (as in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor), or simply setting the scene (as in Verdi’s Aïda). There are numerous Richard Strauss operas where the flute is very busy, particularly in Der Rosenkavalier; the Mozart operas (which are just gorgeous), French repertoire, particularly Massenet and Bizet (Carmen, The Pearl Fishers), Ravel and Debussy—the list is endless. And, after all this time, our young and energetic Music Director, Tony Pappano, keeps challenging us with new and interesting repertoire, such as next season’s La Juive by Fromental Halévy—completely unknown to me. The long runs of ballet performances can wear one down but, quite honestly, there is no better technical workout for the flute than Sleeping Beauty or Swan Lake. Performing hours are long, of course, and at the time of writing we are pre- paring for six-hour performances of Götterdämmerung, with the first act being over two hours long. (We lack a benefit enjoyed at Wagner’s own theatre at Bayreuth,

the 42 pan • flute magazine September 2006 where the orchestra is concealed, perhaps to allow the players to sneak out to the bathroom unnoticed!) Our seasons’ schedules are planned well ahead, which also gives us a chance to organ- ise our lives and perhaps develop other interests. It’s a surprising coincidence that three of my predecessors in the job, Alex Murray, Judy Hall and William Morton, were qualified Alexander teachers. I too managed to fit in a three-year training course in the technique, finishing and qualifying during the closure period of the opera house for refurbishment, 1997-1999. It has helped my breathing and playing tremendously, is very useful in my flute teaching and is something I’m keen to develop, though I’m not ready to hang up my flutes yet. I admit it was not my main ambition to play in an opera orchestra, but opera playing has introduced me to a subtle and more intimate Margaret Campbell and style of music making that can be like the best chamber music, and is probably why Katherine Constable. I’ve grown to love it.

Margaret Campbell (Co-principal Flute) writes:

Before I arrived at the ROH I was principal flute with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and had been enjoying the early years of Simon Rattle’s reign. It was very exciting but I had been there for eight years and knew that a move to London would present new challenges. I prepared as thoroughly as I could for the ROH audi- tion (not easy when you are already an established player). Luckily, all the excerpts were set in advance. These included Leonora 3, the Entr’acte from Carmen, Der Rosenkavalier and Peter Grimes. On trial I played a ballet triple bill that included Stravinsky’s The Fairy’s Kiss, which has a very good flute part. Both Sarah and I were offered principal flute jobs at the same time. Oliver Bannister had retired and at the eleventh hour Pat Lynden decided that she had played quite enough Sleeping Beauties and wanted to move over to the ENO. The contrast was stark. Today the standard of playing at the ROH is terrific. The wind section has remained pretty stable over the last ten to fifteen years, particularly amongst the section principals. We rarely have to discuss intonation and any new players have fitted in brilliantly. In 1986, although the ROH Orchestra could come up with some excellent performances, the standard, particularly in the wind section, was a little patchy. However, it was exciting to learn the new repertoire. I gradually got used to the idea that a lack of flute solos didn’t necessarily mean a dull piece and, to my great surprise, I began to adore the Wagner operas. They can be a test of patience for the flutes (for example, after the first three minutes of Die Walküre there is a tacet lasting almost

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 43 forty minutes) but the musical rewards are glorious. Bernard Haitink was music director for my first fifteen years and he was an absolute master at pacing such long pieces. His control of the tension was incredible and he managed to have something special saved up for the climaxes five hours into the work (such as Siegfried’s Funeral March). The Richard Strauss operas are also wonderful. The flutes have very challenging parts as well as enjoying the most sumptuous music (such as in Rosenkavalier and Arabella). The ballet can be rather a trial. For the operas the music is the most important thing. For the ballet we are of course a vehicle for the dance. We frequently have to play pieces at absurd speeds to accommodate the choreography, The Royal Opera House at even in works that are original dusk. ballet scores (such as Swan Lake). In the Scherzo from A Midsummer Night’s Dream the solo is cut in half (not such a bad idea!) and the whole thing is played at half tempo. The Tchaikovsky ballets are wonderful scores which test your stamina and facility. We also play Daphnis and Chloe and the Stravinsky ballets, plus quite a lot of pieces from the symphonic repertoire, so we get a wide variety, but, sadly, virtually no Brahms or Bach. After almost twenty years I am still coming across pieces I have never played. This season they have included Donizetti’s Dom Sebastien, Nielsen’s Maskarade (which has a good flute cadenza) and (with hundreds and hundreds of notes!) Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage. With visits from the world’s greatest singers and conductors, the operas that we repeat regularly can also become special experiences. What an excellent job.

Philip Rowson (Co-principal Piccolo) writes:

‘It’s the best seat in the House!’ Robin Chapman said to me when I joined the orchestra in April 2003, and he was right—if you’re a piccolo player. (Never a ‘piccolist’: too much like an occupation preserving vegetables in vinegar, just as a ‘flautist’ might work with foam underlay and wood laminates.) More specifically, you have to be piccolo at the ROH, where, more often than not, the whole wind section occupies the far left end of the pit, behind the back desks of the violins. This puts the piccolo player just in front of the first row of the stalls, with a good view

the 44 pan • flute magazine September 2006 of much of what’s happening on-stage, and the surtitles. ‘But surely,’ you say, ‘the leader has an even better view?’ Maybe, but not as many bars’ rest in which to enjoy it! The marvellous thing about opera is the extremes of emotion it demands of everyone, from composer, through singers, conductor, and players to the audience. The problem comes when composers (naturally) look to the extremes of the orchestral palette for their emoting, where, trying to keep a low profile, lies the piccolo. Why be a piccolo player anyway? All that extreme stuff; you’re either destroying your hearing playing alt- issimo fortissimo, or your embouchure (and nerves) trying to play dolcissimo pianissimo. Well, there’s the challenge (constantly!), but also the belief that it too is an expressive instrument, capable of the most devastating and tender effects. You care passionately about bringing its qualities to people’s ears. Then, the more you work at it, the more things start to happen the way you imagine them; you have control, flexibility, power—and responsibility! For me, playing in an orchestra pit after years of freelance work, mostly on the concert platform, needed some careful adjustment. First, with the wind offset far left, the feeling of ensemble with the rest of the orchestra is all the more tenuous. If you’re used to sitting in the middle, roughly equidistant from everyone, it’s discon- certing, literally, not being able to hear clearly across the width of the pit. The reverberation of the auditorium is naturally so limited that you can get only a small sense The Floral Hall of the Royal of the altered balance from it, and, to complete the skewed aural picture, the end Opera House at night. of my piccolo is often less than a foot from the solid concrete pit wall. So initially I had to ignore the immediate bounce-back and make a judgement based on a mixture of general experience (what any particular dynamic feels like to produce) and feedback from colleagues, the conductor and trusted ears in the auditorium. It gets easier, but as a musician you are constantly monitoring everything about anything you play. (And just because the player in front requests an acoustic screen between them and you, it doesn’t mean you’re too loud overall!) I love works that challenge your technique for new solutions, that leave enough space ‘between the lines’ for new ideas to develop, such as Lorin Maazel’s 1984, for its quiet, third-octave-and-beyond solo melodies, Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for its dazzling passage work and ‘sweet and sour’ solos, Daphnis et Chloë for its sumptuousness, La Fille mal gardée for its bumptiousness! My favourite composers? Those whose refined, high-octane scoring lights up the orchestra, like Stravinsky, Webern, Ravel, Puccini; whose melodies flow effortlessly across the bars (Verdi, Massenet, Puccini); whose dramaturgy grips through pace and musical craft (Britten, Shostakovich, Verdi). Never forgetting Wagner, for having all this and more, and for making this article possible: so many bars rest! •

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 45 00000 Ox Flute COL ADVERT 7/06 3/7/06 4:55pm Page 1

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with generous support from A Twenty-first Birthday: Oxford Flute Summer School 1986–2007 By Janet Way

t began modestly enough in 1986. As an adjunct of an orchestral summer course Clive Conway and I spent a few days with seven flute players in a crumbling public Ischool, housed in dormitories, queuing for food, and definitely feeling peripheral to the main events. We tried to make our little group feel that whatever anyone else was doing, they too had plenty to keep them busy. We organised lots of group playing, individual lessons, not too many classes, so that everyone could play as much as possible. This seems obvious now as flute days, weekends and summer schools have pro- liferated and exist in many different formats, but in 1986 flute summer schools were Janet Way studied with William uncommon and were generally of the masterclass model. Ours was a cutting edge new Bennett, Geoffrey Gilbert and Marcel design! Moyse (in classes in Boswil and Canterbury). She won a number of In 1988 Clive and I decided it was time to start our own summer school. We did scholarships and prizes, including the frighteningly little research, talked to a few Oxford colleges and finally found ourselves prestigious Lord Mayor’s Prize during in the rather grand office of the Bursar of The Queen’s College. His usual August (and her final year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. During her long august) conference visitors were High Court judges and Nobel prize-winners but, as he teaching career she has been lucky explained within minutes of our meeting, he was an amateur organist and felt some enough to have seen several of her affinity with two hopeful and inexperienced entrepreneurs in the music business. The pupils go on to play professionally. offer was made: ‘accept today or it will be too late’, and there we were with our own She is a Mentor for the Associated Board’s Professional Development very imposing venue and a course to fill. Course, and a tutor for the LRAM In the early days Pan was our main advertising vehicle and provided most of our course at the Royal Academy of enquiries and visitors. We also worked hard on raising local awareness, and undertook Music. She formerly held a senior position with the Oxfordshire Music some bizarre activities, taking the summer school flute choir to play in the local shop- Service. ping mall and the Playhouse foyer and inviting local radio and television to interview us and the participants in Queen’s during the course. For me the moment when I felt that the summer school had penetrated the consciousness of the flute world was when Jack Frazer, maker of fine headjoints, signed up for the course. He said that his reason for choosing us was that we provided a place for players of less than phenomenal ability. He was an amazing asset to the course and came every year for as long as his health allowed, the first of a long line of true amateurs who still come annually to the course. Some of the real joys of Jack’s visits to Queen’s were his performances with Edmund Nurse of immensely long and obscure nineteenth century duets from the Birmingham Flute Society’s archive, which made everyone, including the players, collapse into giggles. Our idea of providing lots of playing for everyone, together with individual lessons as well as classes, was paramount and clearly appealed. We doubled our numbers for several years. The time had come to invite other players, initially for just a day or two, in order to bring variety to the teaching and to attract a wider ability group. Alex Murray was an inspired choice. He brought so much to the course with his Alexander technique teaching, and interest in baroque as well as concert flute. Two other players

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 47 from those early days, Katherine Kemler and Anders Ljungar-Chapelon, still come to Oxford on alternate years. Both are very fine teachers and players who have contributed enormously to our success and both have made long standing friendships with many of the students. Peter Lloyd joined us in 1991 and is our principal professor. He brings his consummate professionalism to our course and is loved and admired by all the students. As the reputation of the summer school and our teachers has developed so has the standard of the students we attract. It became necessary to devise a strategy where the rising stars did not deter the Jack Frazers of the flute world from coming to Oxford. Now we have a multi-layered course, with several options with provision for the most advanced player as well as the uncertain returner to the flute world. The planning which goes into timetabling over 200 individual lessons, six hours of classes a day, ensembles and concerts, not to mention picnics, punting and sightseeing tours takes a great deal of time, but it is rewarding to see everything fall into place during the week. One of the most gratifying elements of the course is that we are able to include in the final concerts all students who want to perform; without excep- tion they rise magnificently to the challenge. Our students come from all over the world. Friendships are formed; some have lasted for longer than ten years as people return again and again. This also reflects the age range of our visitors. As young as sixteen and somewhat The Queen’s College, Oxford. older than seventy, all are passionate about the flute. In most years there are players from at least fifteen countries, some of whom have made great efforts to reach us. I remember the social worker from Ramallah, who had to wait three days at the border before she was allowed to continue her journey, the young people who came from Eastern Europe (helped by the OFSS Bursary Fund) before there was freedom of movement and a woman in the final stages of a terminal illness who chartered a helicopter to enable her to hear Katherine Kemler play for the last time. Eventually we outgrew The Queen’s College; too many flute players, too many Nobel prize winners. Our move to Worcester College in 1999 has been a great success. The unprepossessing entrance conceals an extraordinarily beautiful college, with huge grounds and lots of space for rehearsals and classes. A small and ornately decorated chapel is perfectly proportioned for concerts. Another change which coincided with the move to Worcester College was the decision of Clive Conway to concentrate full time on his very successful business, Clive Conway Celebrity Productions. Oxford Flute Summer School became my own, with Clive continuing to contribute ideas as a consultant. Inevitably over the years stories accumulate. Alex Murray was the source of one such story. His teaching style was quirky. I remember one student playing through a piece in his class. There was a very long silence as we waited for his pearls of wisdom; finally he said, ‘Play it again, while I think of something to say’. We’ve all been there! One player of international repute asked for as many as eight or nine stu- Peter Lloyd. dents to play in a class lasting an hour. ‘Then they can all put my name on their CVs. That’s what they’ve come for.’ For some it takes time to absorb the summer school ethos…

the 48 pan • flute magazine September 2006 In discussing this article with friends with long experience of OFSS several people have reminded me of Peter-Lukas Graf’s demonstration of the correct way to take a breath. He ripped open his shirt and proudly displayed his chest, demanding that the hapless young girl do the same. Undaunted she followed his advice and managed a huge breath revealing a large pearl in her navel. This was in the very early days of body piercing and left Peter-Lukas Graf completely speechless, with his eyes riveted on the pearl, much to everyone’s amusement. One concert among the many unforgettable concerts which remains in my memory was given by Robert Winn with Christine Croshaw. Robert strode the length of The Queen’s College chapel with a huge pile of scores in his arms. Dumping them on the piano he said ‘What shall we play tonight Christine?’ and proceeded to choose or discard items. The audience thought it was a new presentational ploy and enjoyed some marvellously musical playing from both of them. It was only in a quiet moment in the bar after the concert that Christine explained that it was for real and that in spite of her best efforts their programme had not been agreed in advance. What a star she was. Pianists: in truth I should have started with the pianists, those unsung heroes and often unacknowledged Trojans of the summer school. It saddens me to see young players accept all the applause and fail to thank their partners. The incomparable Christine Croshaw was our principal pianist from the start. Later Christine was joined by Sally Goodworth, Jonathan Katz, Richard Shaw and Russell Lomas. Last year we worked out that almost one hundred different works had been played by just three pianists. Astonishing. In 1995 a recently retired Royal Naval officer came to OFSS. He had played the flute as a boy and decided that it would be his retirement project to get back into practice. Wonderfully, and with great determination, he decided to launch a Bursary Fund to help pay for those young players with potential but who were obviously financially disadvantaged. At first, raising the money was quite difficult—helping young flautists did not have the appeal of a cancer or children’s charity. Nevertheless the fund received donations from people who had attended the course: raffles were held; Christopher Hyde-Smith and Jane Dodds, Clive Conway, Wissam Boustany and I gave concerts in aid of the fund; gardens were opened to raise money and all sorts of philanthropic organi- sations were written to. Slowly the money began to come in. Now the OFSS Bursary Fund is a registered charity and can support two full bursaries a year. The Trustees have so far awarded full or part bursaries to thirty-five young flautists and the fund has as its Patrons the Duchess of Kent and Christopher Hyde-Smith. One of the most rewarding aspects for the Trustees is noting the number of bursary recipients who have subsequently been awarded places at music colleges or are studying music at universities. Other long standing support for the summer school has come from All Flutes Plus, and in different years, Powell Flutes, Miyazawa and now Sankyo Flutes. Nigel James and Jean-Paul Wright have always provided us with invaluable help by discussing ideas, suggesting players, providing contacts and supporting the summer school in any way they can. And what of the future? Are there any players yet to accept an invitation? Some. I would dearly love to see Wibb at Worcester, but must wait until he has fewer com- mitments with his own summer school. There are other international players whose careers are still too time-consuming to spare us a day or two. However I’m not planning on retiring just yet so there is time for persuasion. •

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 49 HALF PAN 4/13/06 9:11 AM Page 1

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LIONS CLUBS INTERNATIONAL EUROPEAN MUSIC COMPETITION FINALS 2006 Instrument – THE FLUTE 19th – 20th October 2006 Punshon Memorial Hall BOURNEMOUTH The first occasion these finals have been held in this Country. The Finals comprise the winners of each country in Europe. Open to Flautists up to 25 years of age. The Final 6 flautists will take part in a concert on the afternoon of 20th October. Entry is free and all are welcome. Judges: William Bennett, Atarah Ben Tovim, Karen Jones, Anna Pyne and Clifford Benson. Tel: Jeff Byers on (01425) 483754

the 50 pan • flute magazine September 2006 Paul Edmund-Davies: Principally a flute player… By Lis Lewis

laying in top orchestras is a major part of Paul Edmund-Davies’s life. Performing and recording his own compositions, and producing his own playing editions are Ppart of the bigger picture. So are driving, jet-setting, quaffing fine wine and eating gourmet food, just to mention one or two extra-curricular activities. Like the majority of classically-trained musicians today, Paul has a portfolio career, and in addition, he has an exciting life doing many of the things that he enjoys most apart from playing the flute. At the British Flute Society convention in York in 2004, you may have been entertained by Paul recounting how he came to learn the flute. (Apparently this story somehow involved his aunt’s violin.) However, he was determined to play the flute. At the age of nine, he was fortunate enough to begin lessons at the choir school of Canterbury Cathedral, where he was a chorister. According to Paul, he had a very good voice, which turned into ‘absolutely nothing’ when his voice broke. Alongside this incomparable train- Lis Lewis is now engaged in research ing as a chorister, Paul had the good fortune to begin lessons with the then little-known for a PhD at the University of London, Trevor Wye, who had a very methodical and constructive approach. This is apparent fuelled by an interest in British flute players of the twentieth century. Lis in Trevor Wye’s many books that we now are familiar with, but which were not pub- first learnt the flute with Atarah Ben- lished then. Lessons with Trevor continued through his time at the choir school and at Tovim before going to Chetham’s the King’s School Canterbury, and later at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in School of Music. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, she won London. Paul feels fortunate to have had such a long lasting formative musical influence. several prizes there and a prestigious After studies at the Guildhall, Paul had some lessons with William Bennett (known Countess of Munster award, going to all as Wibb), and then became co-principal to him in the English Chamber Orchestra. on to freelance as a flute player. Lis When he was there Paul enjoyed playing second flute (‘a treat’), and played principal subsequently taught music in a top independent school. when Wibb was away, teaching in Freiberg. Paul then became principal flute of the London Symphony Orchestra, a position he held for 20 years. The LSO’s work load then included recordings for films, most notably the scores of Star Wars, Harry Potter and Titanic, as well as the standard orchestral repertoire. Paul now has a fifty per cent principal job with the Philharmonia, which leaves more time for expanding his own musical ideas and interests, a development that he is delighted about. Though he obviously enjoys playing both orchestral works and repertoire written for flute, Paul also finds playing and listening to chamber music particularly appealing. On the subject of solo flute repertoire, Paul says that ‘twentieth-century is fine but then it starts going slightly off the rails for me’, recommending both the Sancan and Dutilleux Sonatines, but adding that he has ‘no overriding ambition to explore’ the one written by Boulez. He favours the more conventional sounds of the flute over multiphonics and extended techniques, whilst admiring all those who have made them into a ‘finely tuned art’. The similarities between the flute and the human voice are aspects that Paul explores, having had intense training in both. He remarked that ‘the way I try to produce sound on

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 51 the flute, is very much the way that I would as a singer’. He says that most importantly with flute playing, you need to make sure you’re not restricted in any areas. Flexibility is essential because of the need to change your approach to the flute throughout the three main octaves that are available. ‘I think it is a really difficult instrument to play. It’s an easy instrument to get a sound out of, but I think it’s a viciously difficult instrument to control!’ It is also ‘a fairly flawed instrument’ that in many ways is not really any different to those played 140 years ago. ‘We are still playing antiques’. Reflecting his interest in chamber repertoire is a recent recording called Ball and Biscuit, composed by Paul with Neil Percy (principal percussionist of the LSO and head of percussion at the Royal Academy of Music). It is a fairly eclectic mix of jazz, pop and rock, and is a very pleasant listening Paul Edmund-Davies experience, well crafted and satisfying. Other favourite music has been composed by a fellow musician from Ball and Biscuit, saxophonist, Stan Sulzman. Often played by Paul, the pieces are in the more accessible style of jazz or popular, being ‘good fun for the flute player and pianist to put together, and audiences like them’. Using his compositional skills in a different way, Paul is currently working on a publication with a kind of ‘music minus one or two’ jazzy CD. It focuses on ethnic percussion instruments, such as the Udu, which gives an exotic feel (The Udu is a Nigerian percussion instrument). The backing tracks will provide an opportunity for players to ‘have a go’ at improvising and are a way for Paul to share his enjoyment of more commercial contemporary music with others. Paul’s playing editions of Bach and Handel sonatas and Mozart concertos are of particular interest for the less experienced player, providing a guide through the minefield of period performance. Helpfully, most of these well produced editions provide not only a CD of Paul’s performance, but music minus one tracks as well. Paul explains that the reason for producing this performing edition is to help develop confidence in those who are anxious about interpreting earlier music. Intended as a starting point, he offers sensible advice: ‘Once you’ve done that with the editions I’ve put together, go back to the originals and be creative with your own ideas’. Also notable are his editions of Telemann Partitas and Rabboni’s Sonatas and Studies, which are published by Kevin Mayhew. Other sensible advice offered by Paul, this time on the subject of practising, is not to be ‘brutal on yourself’, explaining that it is ‘important to actually play something in your practice session that you enjoy. It’s nice to get a piece of music out and play it, just for the sake of it.’ Also, he warns that it is imperative to sort out technical issues that are in need of attention, rather than always doing what is easily accomplished.

the 52 pan • flute magazine September 2006 It is interesting that Paul suggests varying the order of practice. Amusingly, he says, ‘Your first practice session of the day is like breakfast. You ask people what they eat for breakfast. They say, “I always have porridge”, or “I always have fruit” or “I always have yoghurt”. I very rarely do have the same breakfast; I’m always eating something different. I treat practising in the same manner. To keep yourself men- tally alert, it’s always very good to put something in that’s going to make you think about what you’re doing, rather than just looking at lines in books… So I love creating little exercises to give myself to do. There are so many different ways of approaching technique.’ Roy Carter and Paul Nerves are often a regular problem with performing musicians, and Paul naturally Edmund-Davies with has some experience of this. Although he usually looks serene, Paul says he rarely feels it, Leonard Bernstein at the and that the internal turmoil can be over-powering. To counter this, he has systems for celebrations following the controlling nerves, usually to do with breathing. Since discovering Alexander Technique, dismantling of the Berlin he has realised that we can be more in charge of our bodies than he thought possible. Wall, December 1989. Controlling breathing is part of this. When we oxygenate the body, including the brain, then there is less chance of adrenaline causing the problems. He believes that we have to be able to learn to handle these things, and advises that as performers we should learn how the organs function, and what adrenaline does to us. ‘It might be Pilates, yoga or it might just be measured breathing—but we’re all different. There’s no one thing that can help.’ He has even found acupuncture to be effective. Inspiring young flute players by sharing his experiences of recording film music is another of Paul’s interests. Working with teenagers in as diverse geographic areas as the US, Japan and Spain, Paul feels that by using the common ground of film music, he can endeavour to interest novice players in exploring the more classical repertoire. In many such classes, he has found that whereas younger players have known little about the LSO and classical music, they could easily relate to his recordings of film scores such as Star Wars and Titanic. He takes the main musical themes, and uses them in enjoyable arrangements for multiple flutes. Luckily, Paul really enjoys travelling, not only because of the associated gastronomic delights but also for the joy of making new friends all over the world. He enjoyed his travelling with the LSO and explained that when on tour, once the concert was over, ‘I tended to go out for a meal and a drink with my friends from the orchestra’. He now finds travelling on his own ‘stimulating in a different way’, because he often gets taken out by local people. A recent highlight was being in the Korean resort of Busan, in a small tent on the shingle beach at two o’clock in the morning. It was freezing. Paul recounted,

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 53 ‘The only heat available was from the red hot stones at the centre of the fire that we were cooking our food on (in the tent). But it was one of the most sensational experiences! And the fish was so fresh…’. Another strong passion in Paul’s life has recently enhanced his travelling itinerar- ies considerably. The unlikely combination of flute and champagne has led to further globe trotting as a duo with pianist John Alley and also with The Deutz Trio. Named after a brand of champagne, The Deutz Trio gives concerts that are combined with an introduction to the story of champagne told by one Mr. Edmund-Davies. Did you know, for instance, that champagne, by accident, was an English invention? Happily for wine- lovers everywhere, the manufacture of stronger (English) glass bottles and availability of cork in this country began the development of champagne as a sparkling wine. And finally, to complete this portrait of a successful, jet-setting flute player, we need to consider the cars: a Porsche convertible for fun and an ageing BMW for winter! He said that he ‘loves speed from the point of being able to get out of trouble quickly, rather than just driving fast for the sake of it’. Fantastic holidays have been a result of his love of cars, driving through France and Italy. He added that, ‘It’s like a good flute: if it’s well made, every time you play it, it’s a pleasure.’ The trappings of a modern, successful flute player are obvious rewards of more hidden inner qualities: abundant imagination, creativity and charm are all words that attempt to describe the person of Paul Edmund-Davies. Paul’s splendid portfolio career is undoubt- edly helping him develop his resourcefulness, and we, as flautists are lucky to have him around. Let’s hope he spends enough time in this country so that we too can get the benefit of his originality. •

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the 54 pan • flute magazine September 2006 Music Exams — here for good?

By C. Peter Lynch

assions about music exams are as unbridled as ever if this year’s effusions in the press are anything to go by. This is hardly surprising as they have such Pa significant effect on so many of our lives. For this reason it is worthwhile occasionally to step back and at least try to take a less than inflamed look at what purpose, if any, they serve. How often does one hear aversion expressed towards them, and then the sole justification being some personal misadventure or secondhand anecdote, rather than balanced reasoning? Certainly, there are those who should not go near an examination room; it does no good for those of a feeble dis- position, or those with a deficit of preparation, to be impelled into such an environment. Equally obviously however, the vast majority do profit from the experience. As an examiner I am more likely than most to encounter whatever mishaps do occur. If I still have faith, perhaps I also have just cause. So, who does benefit? Everyone, if the system is used sensibly. That is: candidates; parents; teachers; schools; anyone who is involved. The tremendous sense of achievement, as well as relief, that candidates of all ages feel on the completion of a demanding job done to the best of one’s ability Peter Lynch is a flute player who lives in Leeds. should not be regarded indifferently. This elation, part of the reward for all those He teaches, composes, writes, hours of often frustrating practice, can be the spur to even greater efforts. One examines and is a member of reason why playing a musical instrument is such a valued activity is because of Mensa. its difficulty. The extra stress intrinsic to performing under exam conditions only His website is heightens this. Nonetheless, as the exam progresses, most candidates do relax to a www.music-for-flute.com notable extent and leave the room with a smile. Meeting a stiff challenge head-on develops character; coping with the dreaded event increases self-esteem and confidence. Indeed, some of the more cocky characters one encounters (in apparent disdain for the refined sensitivities of the politically correct) positively relish the competitive element inherent in exams. Parents’ sense of pride in their children’s achievements is no less real. Many take a profound interest in the proceedings and some of the more intrepid amongst them are even sufficiently motivated to take exams alongside their progeny. Music teachers generally value the feedback and reinforcement that exams furnish. One hopes they see examiners as allies, rather than as adversaries, since we all have common cause in wanting to do justice to the candidates. Most examiners are teachers anyway, though they forgo this function when wearing their examining hats. Teachers need, in any case, have no fear of criticism or contradic- tion of their methods; there is more than one way to crack an egg. On the contrary, grade examiners, certainly the ones I know, are only interested in the musical end, not the means by which it is achieved (except in those rare cases where technical

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 55 elements do affect the music so causally, for good or ill, that comment becomes essential). A teacher may have been harping on about intonation and tone quality for ages; if the examiner also comments on this the teacher naturally feels vindicated. Or, as also happens, if the examiner suggests that the tempo feels too slow (or fast) for a true reflection of a piece’s character, the teacher is happy to have this reaffirmed. Admittedly, sparks can fly when a teacher disagrees with an examiner. However, there are complaints procedures for serious cases and, elsewhere, teachers could do worse than to pause and reflect on what has been written. I know examiners do not always get it right, but they are qualified, experienced and conscien- tious professionals. Moreover, all facets of their work are frequently and intensely scrutinised by moderators; this involves detailed discussions in which comments and marks have to be minutely justified. Consistency, if not absolutely achieved, is always the goal. Some people criticise exam syllabuses for being restrictive of choice. Actually, and especially nowadays, they give tremendous scope for variety in teaching and performing. The singing lists read more like a library catalogue and even we humble So, who does flute players are generously served. It is a pity that a few well-placed individuals benefit? Everyone, if cheapen the syllabuses by using them apparently as their own private market stalls the system is used but, this apart, music exams are based on graded syllabuses which seem to be con- scientiously chosen. This grading also guides teachers in the selection of pieces of sensibly. a suitable level. Far from being constraining, when teachers choose imaginatively, the lists of pieces and studies can lead in new directions and to surprise discover- ies. Many school bands, youth orchestras and so on stipulate that a certain standard be reached before acceptance is considered. This lets potential members know precisely what degree of expertise is expected and reduces time wasting in audi- tions. Thus, in rehearsals, are embarrassments avoided and tensions reduced due to too widely varying capabilities. Graded music exams are used as a yardstick for all sorts of other reasons, from the modest and personal goals beginners might set for themselves to the points system used by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service for entry to higher education. It is a symptom of our age that people who have high expectations of themselves (and others) are often censured, because not everyone is equally gifted—or diligent. Mercifully the dumbing-downers, who have blighted education for more than a generation, have damaged the music exam system rather less than school music. It is, after all, impossible to hide incompetence on a musical instrument! If music exams are here for good then they must remain sheltered from ill political winds. If their objectivity is distorted or their currency devalued they become pointless. To use them wisely is to maintain a sense of proportion, employing them as one amongst an array of aids. A music exam is merely a record of a particular moment in a long journey. The examiner is merely a disinterested observer whose rôle is to give an accurate account of that moment. •

the 56 pan • flute magazine September 2006 Thumb rests: do we need them?

By Margaret Ogonovsky

lthough I have been playing the flute for forty years and teaching it for more than thirty, it is only since I was asked to write this review that I have con- Asidered using a thumb rest, for myself or for my pupils. As any flute teacher knows, various sizes of hands, fingers and arms contribute to very individual needs of pupils. Some small players try to wrap their right thumb under the flute, causing crowding of the mechanism by the base of the index finger, with fingers overhanging the keys. Others want their thumb to travel Margaret Ogonovsky studied at towards the headjoint, and some go the other way towards the foot, causing the the Royal College of Music with hand to tilt as if holding a violin bow. Our aim as teachers is to encourage our John Francis and Christopher Hyde-Smith. She has freelanced pupils to get into the habit of keeping the thumb under the index finger without with various orchestras including pressing upwards, having the side of the thumb (where the nail meets the skin) in the City of Birmingham Symphony contact with the flute. Orchestra, Festival Ballet, the Ulster Orchestra and Welsh National At this late stage of my teaching life I was not totally convinced that beginners Opera. Margaret has taught the or intermediate pupils would benefit from using a thumb rest, whichever model. flute since 1969 in several schools Good habits can be formed without the use of gadgetry attached to the flute. More and at the Roehampton Institute advanced pupils could find using a thumb rest helpful to assist playing extremely of Higher Education, as well as privately. She currently teaches at fast music, as their fingers have more freedom of movement. Westminster Abbey Choir School, Older players, like myself, who have experienced various muscular and trapped privately and, since 1981, at the RCM nerve problems, could find any aid worth trying, as I have done. Junior Department, where her most successful pupil to date is Emily I have been given three very different thumb rests to try: Bo-Pep, Thumbport Beynon. and Prima. Bo-Pep, by Bo-Pep, Inc. (£7.50) Bo-Pep is a moulded piece of plastic, easily attached to the flute by pushing it into place. On the packaging it states, ‘Stays in place during performance’. When one of my pupils tried using one in an informal concert it did not stay in place, causing distraction and embarrassment. When I tried the Bo-Pep I was impressed with its simplicity of design and ease of application, but my thumb did not feel securely in place, and it occurred to me that it was possible for a pupil’s thumb to settle at other angles than the correct one. What did not impress me was the excessive packaging: a wedge-shaped cardboard box 120mm long by 80mm wide and 60mm deep, enclosing a drawstring bag in which was the rather small Bo-Pep. Thumbport, by Solexa (£9.85) Thumbport comes with an explanatory illustrated leaflet which is clearly written and easily understood, even by me, an admitted technophobe. The introduction states, ‘The Thumbport aids the balance in holding the flute, which is comprised of a C-shaped shell and a thumb-like extension. This

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 57 thumb-like extension is towards the flute player when the C-shell is clamped on the flute. The Thumbport helps the player to place the right thumb at an efficient location and provides additional support’. The Thumbport attaches easily to the flute and does not slip at all. I found the Thumbport gave me more freedom in my right fingers instantly. Having read various enthusiastic comments on the Thumbport on the web site from eminent players and teachers, it is obvious they are convinced of its benefits, with perhaps particular reference to advanced players. My pupils include absolute beginners aged seven to eighty-four, up to post-diploma level, and I would need more careful consideration before advocating the use of the Thumbport in the early stages of playing. I think it could be more of a distraction than a help unless there is a hand position problem that cannot be solved by reminding and persuasion. (By which, of course, I mean nagging!) Unlike the Bo-Pep, the packaging of the Thumbport is simple in the extreme: a very small drawstring bag. Prima, by Ton Kooiman (£19.60) ‘The Prima Thumb Rest makes it easier to The Thumbport, by Solexa balance the flute. It reduces the flute’s pressure against the lips, and allows for a more relaxed hand position,’ says the literature that accompanies this gadget. Despite the insistence that you do not need to be a technician to assemble the Prima Thumb Rest, I postponed trying it for some time as I found the thought of reading technical-looking instructions, and fiddling with bands going round the flute between the keys, somewhat daunting. My dear husband, who actually enjoys technical instructions and gadgets, attached the Prima to my flute in next to no time. Once on the flute, I was surprised by how comfortable and easy it felt. As I said in my introduction, I have never considered using any gadget for playing or teaching (apart from cut-out feet for young pupils who constantly need to be reminded of the very important position of the feet when playing), but with the Prima there is gentle support from the moulded plastic without hard ridges or any temptation for the thumb to move to one side or the other. I wonder if the supporters of the Thumbport have considered trying the Prima. It may be more expensive than the other two in this review, but for my own personal needs, as a middle-aged teacher who tries to play, trapped nerves allowing, the Prima would get my preference. There is a lot of literature about the Prima, mostly on Ton Kooiman’s web site, which is informative and not too technical. There are also recommendations by several players for the Prima. For the technically-minded, mention is made that, ‘The design of the Prima has been the subject of a Masters Thesis of the Department of Bio-Mechanics of the Erasmus University in The Netherlands. Of this research a The Prima thumb rest by report will be published this year in the renowned Journal of Ergonomics.’ Ton Kooiman. Having tried these three thumb rests, I would suggest to any teacher or player that they are worth considering. The choice is varied, in shape, ease of attachment and price. You may deduce which one I would prefer to use: whether I need to is a matter of further deliberation. •

www.thumbport.com www.tonkooiman.com (No web address can be found for the Bo-Pep.)

the 58 pan • flute magazine September 2006 Reviews •

waste of his talents than because he really did hate the flute). The Oboe Quartet is splendidly played, by CDs the way. Julian Coward

Prosper Amtmann: Works for Flute and Piano. Zoltan Gyongyossy flute, Andras Kemenes piano. Hungaroton HCD23290 Mozart : Flute and Oboe Quartets. Samuel Baron flute, Ray Still oboe with the Fine Arts Quartet. Prosper Amtmann (1809–1854) was a Hungarian Boston Skyline BSD 142. virtuoso who became principal flute in the Vienna opera orchestra at twenty-one but resigned five years It’s understandable that flute players treat anything later to make a living as a virtuoso soloist. Remind by Mozart like gold dust, but by his exalted stand- you of anyone? Amtmann, however, died when only ards his flute quartets are pretty uneven. They range forty-five, perhaps reflecting the stressful demands from the near-sublime to the frankly forgettable, of a virtuoso flautist’s lifestyle. These pieces were and this means that to stand up to being listened written to display his virtuosity in recitals, and very to critically at a single sitting they should ideally effective they are: attractive, rewarding and chal- be performed by a wonderful musician. Here they lenging, though most of the tunes are from operas are, stylishly and neatly played forty-six years ago, written by popular composers of the time, with a by one of the most distinguished American players dash of Scottish folk tunes. Gyongyossy is well up to and teachers of the last generation. The recording is their demands, though I find his sound can harden outstanding even by current standards. Baron plays in the top register as recorded here, and although he with great sensitivity: I particularly liked his way spins a tune well, some of the bravura sounds less with the Adagio of K.285, which is rather less with- than ideally spontaneous. All the music is easy on drawn than usual. But the shallow, fast vibrato can the ear, but in the last resort it’s hard to differentiate cloy after a time where the music begins to reflect it from the welter of similar material being turned Mozart’s attitude to the chores of churning out com- out at the time by Boehm and others, and its real missions ‘for an instrument I cannot bear’ (though place is for consenting adults in private rather than I’m sure he said this more in a fit of pique about the for public consumption. Julian Coward

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 59 • Reviews

Dedication in Time. The Chamber Music of Beltane: Music from Scotland. Margaret Preston Margaret Hubicki. Various artists including Daniel flute; Joseph Long piano. WJL2 (MCPS), 2006. Pailthorpe flute. Chandos CHAN 10322. The first word in the title may puzzle you. Eventually Only one of the pieces on this Chandos disc features at the sixth piece on the CD, the notes explain it as the flute, though all of it is interesting. Margaret ‘a Celtic May Day festival in which men and cattle Hubicki was a well-loved composer and teacher, are driven between two fires to symbolise the pro- ninety-one last year, who has influenced some of the motion of health’. Apart from one particular piece, most outstanding musicians of our generation. This the music has nothing to do with Beltane. The tribute to her is beautifully performed by a group composers happen to live in Scotland (and not all of her own pupils, and the music is clearly heart- of them are native Scots), and the two soloists are felt and often very beautiful. From the Isles of the Sea from Scotland. What matters is that we get the first was written in the early 1950s and is her evocative recorded performances, in most cases, of various portrayal of the Western Isles of Scotland. Daniel modern compositions for flute. Pailthorpe finds an absolutely appropriate response There are five pieces for flute and piano, one for to this atmospheric eight minute piece. Julian Coward flute and tape, one for solo flute, and two for solo piano. Two of the five composers are well-known Eddy McGuire: Music for Flute, Guitar and Piano. flautists: George MacIlwham and Edward McGuire. Nancy Ruffer flute, Abigail James guitar, Dominic The others are John Hearne, Ronald Stevenson and Saunders piano. Joseph Long. The programme notes are pitched at a fairly rec- I greatly enjoyed Nancy Ruffer’s individual and ondite level, and are generally helpful and illumi- musical playing on her old Haynes flute on the nating—even though we are told next to nothing Eddie McGuire disc. The composer, a prolific Scot about the two performers. For more information, who studied in Sweden, can play all the instruments you need to Google to the websites of the compos- represented on the disc, so it’s unsurprising that he ers and Margaret Preston . writes idiomatically and affectionately for each of The most approachable music, with its strong them. Ms. Ruffer skips nimbly from the solo pic- emphasis on melody, is MacIlwham’s Lyric Sonata colo writing of Prelude 13 to the multi-tracked version (1960). McGuire’s Sonatina—edgy and spikey in qual- of Celtic Knotwork for four flutes, via solo flute pieces, ity—is performed here in the revised version of duets with piano or guitar and an invigorating trio 1978, and is followed by his Prelude No. 3 (1985). for all three (Resistance Movement, partly reflecting his Hearne’s Thaisa (1985), an expansion of an earlier lifelong interest in political activism). There is plenty version for oboe and tape, is an attractive piece, and of interest and variety here and the music is well depicts a ‘solitary mythological piper’ on the shore- worth investigating. Julian Coward line, with the sea ‘present in all its moods’.

the 60 pan • flute magazine September 2006 Reviews •

Stevenson’s Fugue on a Fragment of Chopin (1949) and home performance of excerpts from the hugely-pop- Beltane Bonfire (1990) are for solo piano. The first is ular Handel operas. On this disc Rachel Brown and based on Chopin’s Fourth Ballade, with a strong touch the London Handel Players give performances that of Busoni. Interesting! Beltane Bonfire is rather differ- are perfection itself, with a dazzling beauty of tone ent. Despite the composer’s admonition not to delib- and of phrasing, a breadth of colours and a range of erately read resonances of Celtic rituals into it, the dynamics that are employed to serve the music and to concept of ‘purification by fire’ is supposedly here. entertain the listener. More than that, this recording The three works for flute and piano by Joseph Long is full of the most delicious music you could ask to are his Lullaby on a Theme of Mussorgsky (the ‘Gnomus’ hear, and the players give every indication of loving section from the Pictures at an Exhibition), the Arietta, every note they play. I have recently joined the masses and the Sonata for flute and piano; all are undated. and acquired a portable music player. From my entire The Lullaby, a quiet, measured piece, quickly loses collection, this disc was the first thing I copied onto contact with Mussorgsky’s theme. I liked it. In the it. Buy this recording. Robert Bigio Arietta, the flute plays contrasting styles: from the impassioned and combative to the thoughtful and subtle. The Sonata is in three movements: the first witty and jaunty; the second reflective; and the third a set of variations. Margaret Preston is active in music-making cir- cles in Aberdeenshire. She gives a fine performance of the McGuire Sonatina, with a rich and strong tone throughout, and with a precise and well-controlled rhythmical drive. In Thaisa, there is a wide range of tone colours. Her performance of the McGuire Prelude was recorded in a different location from that for the MacIlwham, and the miking sounds unsympathetic. The miking too in the three pieces by Joseph Long is not always in her favour. Mike MacMahon Mostly French. Robert Willoughby flute; Wilbur Price and Julian Martin piano. Works by Ibert, Roussel, Debussy, Poulenc, Honegger, Fauré, Milhaud and Martinů. Boston Records BR1070CD. (www.bostonrecords.com)

Robert Willoughby is less well-known in Britain than he should be. This is one of the great flute players and teachers of the twentieth century. For most of a decade from just after the second world war Robert Willoughby was assistant principal flute in the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. In 1955 he chose to become a teacher at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he had time to play Handel at Home. London Handel Players with chamber and solo music, and where he remained a Rachel Brown flute. Somm SOMMCD 055. much-loved teacher for thirty-seven years apart from a brief leave of absence to play principal flute in the This review could be reduced to just three words: ‘Buy Cincinatti Symphony Orchestra under Max Rudolf. this recording’. In the eighteenth century the London He also became one of the first modern players of publisher John Walsh produced arrangements for the Baroque flute.

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 61 • Reviews

The French works on this disc were recorded in 1973. The playing is exemplary: cool, restrained, musicianly, unfussy and unshowy. The Martinu˚ Sonata was recorded live in 1989. Robert Willoughby studied with Georges Laurent, for whom this work was written. Quite apart from the beauty of the playing, this performance must stand as a record of a performance style that the composer might have expected and admired. This is a wonderful disc. Robert Bigio Music

pieces for the alto flute, it really does make use of the low register of the instrument. Allan Blank’s Falls House Press Four Bagatelles for flute, clarinet and bassoon are much more demanding, especially rhythmically. However, Falls House Press is an American flute-music pub- they are extremely interesting and well worth learn- lishing company dedicated to reproducing out-of- ing. This is really exciting three-part writing. There print music, as well as new top-quality repertoire. are several new works by Gary Schocker: Mitzvah Bars It is owned by Linda Beck True, who is herself a for two flutes, Pas de Deux, a small gem for flute and flute-player and teacher. She was inspired to start the cello, and A Dream for flute and piano. This last is company by her teacher, Douglas Worthen, who had another small, but attractive piece. Another interest- found various out-of-print works in yard sales and ing piece is The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Suite for who was interested in commissioning new works. flute, piano and narrator by Erik Whitehill. This is a She started the company in 1992 and since then it programme piece telling the story based on Aesop’s has amassed an impressive catalogue of publica- fable of the same name. The text could be printed tions for solo flute, flute and piano, flute duets, trios, in the recital programme, but it is actually intended quartets, other chamber works containing flute to be recited by a narrator before each of the four and flute choir. There are some wonderful oddities, movements of the piece. This is an ideal work to per- such as a Boismortier Sonata arranged for flute, oboe form at children’s concerts, as it is tremendous fun. and clarinet, and arrangements by Popp of works Among the works for flute and piano is a volume of by Meyerbeer, Mendelssohn and Schumann for pieces associated with the Paris Conservatoire. While flute, violin, cello and piano. If you need a work for the concours pieces are well known today, many of a really strange combination, this catalogue is the the other pieces written by members of the faculty place to look, for example Singletree 1 and 2 by Gary have been forgotten. Within this volume are really Schocker for flute, marimba and tuba ensemble. attractive works by composers such as Jean-Louis I have been looking at some of the most inter- Tulou, Adolphe Hennebains and Emile Pessard. It esting recent additions to the catalogue. Anthony is wonderful to find such a treasure-trove of music McDonald’s Wondrous Love for alto flute and piano is a that has not been available before. There is also a big fairly simple, but very attractive piece. Unlike many romantic concerto by Aleksandr Nikolsky, who was

the 62 pan • flute magazine September 2006 Reviews • a contemporary of Tschaikovsky. No orchestral score Flute choirs and ensembles was found for this work and it is concluded that it was intended to be played with piano. It is extremely dif- Kathleen Mayne: The Balcony for flute choir. ficult, but well worth the effort. Snowcrest Publishing. Many of the other additions to the catalogue are for flute choir, and indeed music for this combination The American composer Kathleen Mayne is well makes up quite a large part of the company’s output. known to flute choir enthusiasts, and The Balcony is an Quite a number of the works require a contrabass flute, imaginative programmatic suite in seven movements, which is still a very rare instrument in this country and inspired by the wildlife which visits the balcony of probably almost non-existent in amateur flute choirs, her home. The minimum ensemble is flute 1 (with but a friendly cellist or bassoonist could perhaps be piccolo), Flute 2, flute 3 with B foot extension, two imported. One of the very best works, Reflections on Bonnie flute 4s with B foot extension, two alto flutes (or two Doon by Darlene Dugan, actually has a part for cello or more C flutes with B foot extension), and two bass bassoon as an alternative to the contrabass flute. It is flutes. The opening piece is ‘Hummingbird’, which is scored for piccolo, three flutes, alto, bass and contra- fast and busy with semiquavers, tremolandi and flut- bass flutes. It is really a set of variations on this lovely ter-tonguing, and it is the most technically demand- tune and the third of these is a beautifully written trio ing of the suite. The bass flutes are required to play for the three bass instruments. Another innovation is exceptionally high at one point, up to third octave the arranging of the orchestral part of flute concertos B flat, but little would be lost if these bars were per- for flute choir. So far I have seen a version of Mozart’s formed down an octave. In contrast, ‘Leaf Critter’ D major concerto, one of Frederick the Great’s concer- is unhurried and peaceful, like the Katydid which tos and Vivaldi’s La Tempesta di Mare. Alisha Latif-Zade’s inspired it (this insect is a kind of cricket with very Eastern Sad Humoresque for flute, two alto flutes and two long waving antennae). The ‘Praying Mantis’ is a bass flutes is an unusual and attractive ensemble, while more aggressive creature, which can move very fast two of my favourites are Sammartini’s Symphony No. 12 indeed when prey is spotted. The music reflects this, arranged for two flutes, alto and bass flutes and Allegro and the long runs of semiquavers would be much Molto from Haydn’s Symphony No. 8 for piccolo, four more easily managed in a large ensemble, where the flutes, alto and bass flutes. breathing could be staggered. ‘Miss Lady Bug’ is writ- It can be seen from this sample of the catalogue ten in the style of a baroque Bourrée, to suggest the that Falls House Press is set to become an important royal red and black colours of the beetle’s wingcases. part of our lives. Much more can be learned about Predictably, the ‘Tree Frog’ hops about with short their publications on www.fallshousepress.com and phrases appearing all over the flute choir; it is great if you contact the website you can request that their fun and not difficult, as long as everyone can count biannual ‘New Publications’ be emailed to you. rests! It is appropriate that the shortest piece in the Brenda Dykes suite (only twenty-eight bars long) should be the

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the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 63 • Reviews

‘Lizard’, which is a particularly active little creature; Gounod, arranged by Sylvia Fairley: Ballet Music no sooner have you seen it, than it is gone. Perhaps from Faust. Deben Music £10.50. a little disappointingly, the final piece is ‘Mr and Mrs Mourning Dove’, which is slow and mournful, and These three movements are arranged for four flutes rhythmically repetitious, no doubt to imitate their (the third flute doubles on piccolo), alto flute and cooing song, but it fails to make a substantial ending. bass flute. As Sylvia Fairley states in her preface, this Maybe the composer would not mind if the pieces music translates very effectively to this combina- were played in a different order. Performers would tion and it is particularly pleasing to have such an need to be Grade 8 standard or more to play the entire attractive piccolo part. Even the bass flute has some suite, but some individual pieces, such as ‘Miss Lady part of the melody and the blend of instruments is Bug’ are considerably more straightforward. Alison Uren very effective. The phrasing and dynamics in the score work well. Brenda Dykes Andrew Downes: Song of the Eagle Op.71 for flute choir. Lynwood Music. Luigi Gianella: Quartet in G major, Op. 52. Billaudot £38.95. The tone poem Song of the Eagle was commissioned by the James Madison University Flute Choir, to This quartet is one of the best of the many late clas- celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of their foun- sical and romantic works for four flutes. It is tech- dation by Carol Kniebusch Noe. It is an extraordi- nically challenging, especially the first movement narily beautiful work, marked Andante Spirituale, and the set of variations on ‘Nel Cor Più Non Mi with moods alternating between calm reflection Santo’, and it needs to be played with great preci- and wilder moments of joy. Piccolo solos float above sion, but it is extremely rewarding to play, with all the lower flutes, suggesting the freedom of the four parts being equally important and demanding. eagle soaring above the vast open spaces of America. Although rather expensive, it is the only edition I There are amazing rhapsodic arpeggio figures in have come across that includes bar-numbers, which the main body of the choir. The effect is continu- are really necessary when rehearsing. It is also well ous flowing sound, apparently without a moment edited by John Clinton. Brenda Dykes to breathe, but the phrases are so well dovetailed between the parts that no-one has to last for more Tony Radford: Transverse Blues. Deben Music than two bars at a time. The scoring is for piccolo £11.50. solo, four C flutes, two alto flutes and one bass, but of course the desired sonority is only achieved with In the foreword, Tony Radford says that this piece more than one player to a part. It is suitable only was written for three flute players of equal standard for very experienced flautists, and is highly reward- to play for a GCSE ensemble performance with bass ing both to play and to listen to. It appears on the and rhythm guitar, but it can equally be played with Flute Choir’s CD Sounds and Colors II, made in 2000, also featuring other music for flute choir by Andrew Downes. Alison Uren Richard Mattingly Woodwind Technician Gossec, arranged by Robin Soldan: Tambourin. Debden Music. £10.00. Specialist repair and restoration of flute, clarinet, saxophone & oboe This arrangement for five flutes, alto flute and bass flute formerly of all flutes plus & howarth’s is one of Robin Soldan’s best. Every part has melodic Studio E2G cockpit arts 0207 419 0038 interest and it is full of musical detail. My flute choir Cockpit yard, 07986 811 373 loves playing this work and no one minds playing the Northington st richardmattingly.co.uk London WC1N 2NP fifth flute part. I thoroughly recommend it. Brenda Dykes

the 64 pan • flute magazine September 2006 Reviews • keyboard. It is an attractive jazz piece, starting with trio; it is charming and of its time, with more flam- a sixteen bar section with all three flutes playing boyance than profundity. Of the two sons of Berks, the same rhythm. The middle section involves all one was perhaps a better player than the other as three players having a solo line, with accompanying all the melodic line is in the first two parts, with interjections from the other two, while in the last the third having an accompanying role. There are part they come together again. Any Grade 6 standard four movements: Allegro, Andante (G major outer sec- players would enjoy this. Brenda Dykes tions framing a G minor centre), Menuetto and Trio and a lively Polonaise which also visits the enharmonic Joseph Küffner: Trio Op.34. for three flutes. minor before ending back in a brilliante D major. This Zimmermann ZM35290. £12.71. music is pleasant, well crafted and not too lengthy. Once again Zimmermann presents beautifully, with Joseph Küffner (1776–1856) was from a musi- fold-outs provided to ease page turning difficulties cal family and held positions in the court chapel and lovely clear print. Beethoven or Brahms it ain’t, in Wurzburg, as a theatre musician, and as musi- but as a piece of light-hearted nineteenth-century cal director of the Bavarian Regiment. In his long music it is certainly making a good claim for our career he wrote many works using flutes along with attention. Hannah Lang strings and guitar that were used as serenades and notturnos for domestic performance. This trio was Solo Flute dedicated to Franz Berks, first flute in the orchestra of the Grand Duke, and to his two sons. Küffner Mary Karen Clardy (editor): Classic Solos for Flute described his compositions thus: ‘I have strived to (with CD). J.S. Bach: Partita in A minor BWV 1013; combinePiccolo artad withPan theCrown fashionable 5/22/06 tone 8:36 of our PM time.’ Page 1C.P.E. Bach: Sonata in A minor Wq. 132; Kuhlau: This quote gives a very good idea of the style of this Divertissement 1 in G major Op. 68; Debussy: Syrinx; Karg-Elert: Caprice No. 30, Op. 107; Hindemith: Acht Stücke Nos. 1–4; Thomas Heinisch: No. 2 from Fünf PICCOLO TUNES Zaubersprüche. Universal Edition UE70 079. £13.95. ORIGINAL WORKS FOR PICCOLO AND PIANO This volume of solo works provides an interesting Peter Verhoyen piccolo overview of solo flute pieces across the ages. There Stefan De Schepper piano are many similar collections which include the Works by pieces by Debussy, J.S. and C.P.E. Bach, so I assume Francis Poulenc • Darius Milhaud • Georges Auric • Mike sales of this particular one will depend on looks Mower • Raymond Guiot • Gary Schocker • Jan Huylebroeck • rather than content. Marc Matthys With that in mind, I found the inclusion of the ET’CETERA KTC 1296 Kuhlau to be refreshing. This piece serves as a good 16 euro incl. postage and handling introduction to his works and may well inspire Available by contacting our website www.peterverhoyen.be players to investigate more music by both him and or sending an email to [email protected] his contemporaries. I am not so sure about includ- Pay through account nr. 738-0177838-59 ing fragments of copyright works; while they IBAN BE84 7380 1778 3859 may encourage people to try music ‘just because BIC KREDBEBB it’s there’, serious students of these works would Peter Verhoyen ’t Kloosterhof 67 be frustrated that they would have to go and buy B-8200 Sint-Michiels a copy of Hindemith’s Acht Stücke just for the final For more info, four. However, I welcomed the taster of Thomas call +32/50 67 81 63 Heinisch’s work. He is a living Austrian composer born in 1968 and, from the glimpse of his work in this volume, could be worth exploring further.

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 65 • Reviews

The visual arrangement of this volume is good. work is clearly notated and fun to play. With sections Clardy’s mostly logical editorial suggestions are clearly in ‘standard’ notation interspersed with passages presented in parentheses, and the print is clear and in proportional notation, there is a good balance quite big. Page turns are well thought out. between rhythmic flexibility and precision, which The collection includes composer biographies and maintains the interest of the listener. ‘performance suggestions’, which mostly provide inter- The piece opens with a repeated motivic idea, with esting background details to the works, rather than normal notes and key clicks in unpredictable alter- practical hints on performance. These are provided nation. The effect is fantastic and it is very satisfy- in a range of languages and are a useful introduction ing to play. The music becomes more lyrical towards to the pieces, which would be particularly valued by the first proportional notation passage, and the ideas anyone who needed to compile programme notes for then alternate and develop throughout the remain- performances. der of the work. John Van Buren was born in the USA The accompanying CD, performed by Mary Karen and educated in Europe. His music demonstrates an Clardy, is a mixed bag. Having heard her perform live, interesting combination of the two cultures; it con- I was expecting great things, but was somewhat disap- tains elements of European avant-garde complexity pointed. Her performance of the J.S. Bach was not to alongside American approachability. Carla Rees my taste, particularly the Allemande, which seemed to be rushed, with predictable fermatas at the end of each Andreas Mazur: Sénanque. Zimmermann ZM phrase. She is free in her interpretation of this work, 35070. £11.21. and it provides an interesting viewpoint, nevertheless. She plays the Bourée anglaise with energy and spirit, and This solo piece is described as ‘for Solo Flute with I enjoyed this very much. The sound seemed to be use of Pars-pro-Toto-playing techniques’, something fuzzy in places, but this may have had more to do I have not encountered before. It transpires that with the technicalities of the recording rather than the these ideas are outlined in a book by the composer, quality of her playing. The C.P.E. Bach performance is Andreas Mazur, which at present is only available well thought out and beautifully played, though I per- in German, so it is therefore unsurprising, perhaps, sonally find some of the ornamentations to be over- that this may be a new term to many of us. The con- done, particularly in bar 72 of the second movement. cept is that the flute is used as three separate instru- I preferred the recordings of the later pieces: Syrinx is ments: with sounds produced using the footjoint passionate and dramatic, the Hindemith is performed alone, with the footjoint and main joint combined, with clarity and understanding, and it is here that and using the flute as a whole. When the flute is Clardy shows her real strength as a performer. The used without a head joint attached, the sound is cre- Kuhlau, Karg-Elert and Heinisch are omitted from ated by playing it like a Shakuhachi. I experimented the recording, which is a shame as I was particularly briefly with this, and found it to be quite difficult interested to hear the effects of the quarter tones in the to achieve much of a sound, but I think it could Heinisch, and I think a demonstration of this would well be worth persevering with. The score gives an have been highly useful to players who may not have explanation of how to create the required sound, encountered quarter tones before. but, like anything, it takes practice. Alongside this This is a good volume of works, which is reason- unusual method of playing, the piece uses tongue ably priced and should compete well with the other clicks, wind sounds, key clicks, multiphonics and similar volumes already on the market. Carla Rees harmonics, all of which are also explained in a relatively clear and succinct manner. All the notational John Van Buren: Incandescence. Zimmermann ZM symbols are also explained. 35190. £5.96. It is difficult to get a clear impression of the music itself without taking many months to master all the I very much enjoyed this piece, which was composed relevant techniques (Pars-pro-Toto goes beyond in 1980. Using many contemporary techniques, the ‘conventional’ contemporary techniques), but from

the 66 pan • flute magazine September 2006 Reviews • initial explorations it seems interesting. The open- than others. A few could be played by flute-players ing section, on the foot joint alone, has different of about Grade 3 standard, but most would be suit- versions for C and B foot. The music is for the most able for someone of Grade 5-6 standard. One or two part melodic and slow, in an attempt to recreate the are a little more advanced. However, this is the kind atmosphere at a Cistercian monastery in Provence. of music that can appeal to players of any level. A CD There are elements of plainchant, and much of the comes with this volume, with lovely performances final section is played in a conventional manner on by Elena Duran and Catherine Ramsden, as well as the whole flute. play-along tracks. Brenda Dykes The composer is a flute player, who obviously has approached the instrument in an open-minded and Flute and piano innovative way. His ideas are fascinating, and I am interested to find out more about both him and his Joseph Makholm: Sonata. Billaudot G 7883 B. works. I would certainly not hesitate to recommend this piece to anyone interested in finding the full This piece is graded in the French system as 7 to 8, potential of the flute. Learning this piece would be which probably equates to Associated Board Grade a real voyage of discovery and may well assist with 6 to 7; it is considerably simpler than the Rutter Jazz elements of standard playing techniques, through Waltz on the current Grade 8 list. The Sonata is just enhanced control and a greater understanding of the under fifteen minutes in duration, and is composed capabilities of the instrument. Carla Rees in the jazz style. The outer movements are fast and have some moderate technical demands. The central movement, entitled Iris, is probably more diffi- Flute duet cult musically, as the jazz flavours are mingled with impressionistic French style. Predominantly in four Elena Duran: Mexican Folk Tunes. 14 Dances for flats, this movement contains many tuplets which Flute Duet. Schott ED 12767. £10.99 add to the free-flowing romantic style. The final movement looks back on various different jazz tradi- This is a wonderful collection of tunes, which show tions, including swing and hard bop. The large note the huge variety of styles to be found in Mexican folk values go by quickly at the indicated metronome music. I have been using these duets to play with speed, but keep things visually simple, making the pupils as a treat at the end of their lessons and they piece more approachable to the player. The piano have all asked to play more of them. Elena Duran’s part includes a performance note, explaining in note at the end of each duet explains its origin and detail how best to approach the required stylistic gives a sentence or two of advice on how to approach elements in the piece. A copy of this would also playing it. Her enthusiasm is infectious and the have been useful in the solo part. This is an interest- advice is always helpful. Some of the duets are easier ing piece, which would make good ‘between grades’

FLUTE REPAIRER Summer was in August by Paul Carr (fl & pno) from the CD reviewed in the June issue of Pan Arthur Haswell Full list & online sales at www.phylloscopus.co.uk Top-quality repairs to all fl utes and piccolos Specialist in the repair and restoration of old wooden and metal fl utes Next day courier collection and delivery K. Rachel Malloch 92 Aldcliffe Road West Wharmley, Hexham, Northumberland NE46 2PL Lancaster, LA1 5BE www.fl uterepairer.co.uk tel. 01434-674408 Tel: (01524) 67498 + answerphone

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 67 • Reviews repertoire; it is entertaining and light, while at the same time serving as an excellent introduction to jazz for classical players. Carla Rees

Raffaello Galli: Fantasie su arie di Verdi e Bellini. Ricordi. (With CD). £17.30.

Raffaello Galli, born in Florence in 1819, dedicated most of his 400-plus works to the flute, and they were nearly all arrangements of popular opera arias. This volume concentrates on Verdi’s Il trovatore and Bellini’s Norma, and includes piano accompaniments as well as a CD. The CD is nicely recorded by flautist Luisa Sello and pianist dinner can result where all the wonders of desktop Johannes Kropfitsch and presents each arrangement in publishing are indiscriminately sampled. three ways: flute and piano, piano with flute in the back- This is a shame, as every so often one comes ground, and piano alone. The flute part is about Grade across a valuable nugget of advice by dipping into 7 or 8, but the pianist has to be a whole orchestra. If its visually crowded pages at random. But actu- you like a good nineteenth-century opera, then this is ally tracking down something specific isn’t merely the piece for you. There are lots of lovely melodies and hit-or-miss—it’s all but impossible. After a general enough technical challenges to keep you on your toes. introduction, the text has been filed alphabetically Ann Cherry like any dictionary as a series of chapter headings. If the author had been dealing with technical terms in common use (Arpeggios, Breathing, Nerves, etc.) this would have been perfectly understandable; at least we would have some idea where to go first in our search. But instead he has chosen to Books call the alphabetical sections by rather twee little tropes devised by himself (‘Blinkers’, ‘Bug Spotting’, ‘Chaining’, ‘Marathon Week’), which means you Philip Johnston: Practiceopedia: The complete have to be psychic to know where—if at all—he has guide to mastering music’s greatest challenge. chosen to treat your particular problem. This is just Unveiling the new 600 series PracticeSpot Press. 376pp. plain barmy, and the index is little help. The bizarre definition of Practice (see the head- There are some happy souls, particularly early in ing of this article) is not the only contentious state- from Mirage their careers, who find practice a stimulating process ment on the cover of this tome. It is crawling with of discovery which never loses its allure, or who are such little saws, one of which describes it as ‘An A–Z so disciplined that its demands never cause resent- of everything students (and parents) need to know ment. For those of us who are less fortunate, a book about …PRACTICING’ (sic). If you persist, ignoring such as this ought surely to be of interest: any help the confused jumble on its pages, you discover that with the humdrum aspects of musical life must be much of it is aimed at children at a fairly elementary an enticing prospect. stage, and although there is plenty that is applicable Unfortunately, Practiceopedia turns out to be the type further up the scale, it is presented in a style likely to Only £?99 on the road of work which often results when a self-publishing alienate or bore the serious student. In fact, it is only enthusiast is let loose with a copy of Quark Xpress a parent obsessed with pushing his (or her) little and a computer, and—possibly more relevant— ‘genius’ onward and upward who would have the with no experienced editor on hand to remind time or the patience to persevere with such a book. the (in this case) Australian author what a dingo’s A missed opportunity, I’m afraid. Julian Coward Test drive one today at a Dawsons store near you. the 68 pan • lute magazine September 2006 Branches at: Altrincham, Abingdon, Bangor (N. Ireland), Basingstoke, Chester, Liverpool, f Manchester, Reading, St. Helens, Stockport & Warrington. See www.dawsons.co.uk for details Unveiling the new 600 series from Mirage

Only £?99 on the road

Test drive one today at a Dawsons store near you. Branches at: Altrincham, Abingdon, Bangor (N. Ireland), Basingstoke, Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, Reading, St. Helens, Stockport & Warrington. See www.dawsons.co.uk for details The Council and Officers of the British Flute Society Atarah Ben-Tovim MBE Chairman Anna Munks Secretary and Advertising Manager Irene Barnes Rachel Misson Treasurer Simon Hunt Albert Cooper Honorary Vice-president Mike MacMahon Susan Bruce Legal Representative Ian Mullin Robert Bigio Editor Tony Ovenell John Rayworth Membership Secretary Hugh Phillips Nick Wallbridge Webmaster and Software Consultant Julie Wright Trevor Wye Archivist Full contact details for all council members and officers are available from the BFS web site (www.bfs.org.uk) or from the secretary: Anna Munks Secretary, 27 Eskdale Gardens, Purley, Surrey CR8 1ET. 020 8668 3360. [email protected] Area representatives Avon & Somerset Carole Jenner-Timms 01761 233982 London (North West) Patricia Clelland 01895 437570 Birmingham Margaret Lowe 0121 474 3549 London (South East) Susan Mary Whittaker Devon (South) Garth Freeman 01626 865653 Oxford Carolyn Whiting 07785 370822 Devon (Okehampton Kym Burton 01837 861138 Norfolk Elaine Smith 01508 538704 East Central Scotland Irene Barnes 01577 862433 Suffolk Sylvia Fairley 01394 386876 Hertfordshire Wendy Walshe 01707 261573 Surrey Jackie Cox 020 8773 0436 Hertfordshire (Hitchin) Liz Child 07711 080275 Swansea Hugh Phillips 01792 865825 Lancashire Mark Parkinson 01257 410856 Twickenham Julie Wright 020 8241 7572 London (East) Kate Cuzner West Sussex Lindy Thwaites 01243 553623

France South West Atarah Ben-Tovim, 2 Le Bosc, Juillac 33890, Gensac, France 00 33 5574 74428 [email protected] International Representative Julie Wright, 41 Devon Avenue, Twickenham, Middlesex TW2 6PN 020 8241 7572 [email protected]

Full contact details from Irene Barnes, Broughton, 28 Station Road, Kinross, Scotland KY13 8TG. 01577 862433 (Area Representatives Coordinator) The Association of Flute Traders

All Flutes Plus 60–61 Warren Street, London W1T 5NZ 020 7388 8438 www.allflutesplus.co.uk Arista Flutes 10 Railroad Avenue, Bedford MA 01730, USA +1 781 275 8821 www.aristaflutes.com Bärenreiter Burnt Mill Elizabeth Way, Harlow, Essex CM20 2H 01279 828930 www.baerenreiter.com Bill Lewington Unit 8, Hornsby Square, Southfields Industrial Park, Laindon, Essex SS15 6SD 01268 413366 www.bill-lewington.com Burkart Flutes & Piccolos 2 Shaker Road, #D107, Shirley MA 01467 USA +1 978 425 4500 www.burkart.com Chapel Digital Music Publishers 1 Southfield Avenue, Leeds LS17 6RN 0113 2663994 www.music-for-flute.com CMA Publications Strawberry Holt, Westfield Lane, Draycott, Somerset BS27 3TN 01934 740270 www.cma-publications.co.uk Dawkes Music Reform Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 8BT 01628 630800 www.dawkes.co.uk Dawsons Music Ltd. 65 Sankey Street, Warrington, Cheshire WA1 1SU 01925 622197 www.dawsons.co.uk Emanuel Flutes 1001 Great Pond Road, North Andover MA 01845 USA +1 978 686 6009 www.emanuelflutes.com Jupiter/Di Medici c/o Korg UK Ltd. 9 Newmarket Court, Kingston, Milton Keynes MK10 0AU 01980 857100 www.korguk.com Eva Kingma Flutes, Hoofdstraat 10, 9444 PB Grolloo, The Netherlands +31 592501659 www.kingmaflutes.com Lopatin Flute Company, 122 Riverside Dr., Studio C, Asheville, North Carolina 28801 USA +1 828 350 7762 www.lopatinflutes.com Mancke Flutes Dürsitter 1, D-54597 Lünebach, Germany +49 6556 900858 www.mancke-flutes.com Kevin Mayhew Publishers Buxhall, Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 3BW 01449 737978 www.kevinmayhew.com Jonathan Myall/Just Flutes 46 South End, Croydon CR0 1DP 020 8662 8400 www.justflutes.com John Myatt Woodwind 57 Nightingale Road, Hitchin, Hertfordshire SG5 1RQ 01462 420057 www.myatt.co.uk Pearl Flutes c/o Gareth McLearnon, Pearl Music Europe 07771 880462 www.pearlflute.com Sheehans Music Services 50-52 London Road, Leicester LE2 0QD 0116 2557492 www.sheehans.com Schott Music Ltd. 48 Great Marlborough Street, London W1F 7BB 020 7534 0700 www.schott-music.com Studio Music Ltd. 2 Bridge Road, Bridge Works, London NW10 9BX 020 8830 0110 www.studio-music.co.uk Top Wind 2 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7RJ 020 7401 8787 www.topwind.com Trevor J. James Worldwind House, Ashmill Park, Ashford Road, Lenham, Kent ME17 2GQ 01622 859590 www.trevorjames.com United Music Publishers Ltd. 33 Lea Road, Waltham Abbey, Essex EN9 1ES 01992 703111 www.ump.co.uk Williams Flutes 1165 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 201, Arlington MA 02476-4331 +1 781 643 8839 www.williamsflutes.com Windstruments 1 Ryshworth Bridge, Crossflats, Bingley, Bradford BD16 2DX 01274 510050 www.windstruments.co.uk Wiseman Cases 7 Genoa Road, London SE20 8ES 020 8778 0752 www.wisemancases.com Yamaha-Kemble Music (UK) Ltd. Sherbourne Drive, Tilbrook, Milton Keynes MK7 8BL 0870 4445575 www.yamaha-music.co.uk

the 70 pan • flute magazine September 2006 The National Flute Choirs List Announcements compiled by • Margaret Lowe GET AHEAD THIS AUTUMN ~ Take your playing to a new level will be published in the Do Come for a Consultation December issue of Motivation and Inspiration from Nicholas Vallis-Davies Pan—The Flute Magazine (EMI soloist, principal LSO, Philharmonia) and is now available on in London or Somerset the BFS web site: VISIT: www.OpenAcademy.info 01458 860006 www.bfs.org.uk • For sale. JACK MOORE flute, hand made, o/h, C foot. Superbly maintained from new. £7000. Tel: 01727 840187 Index of • Advertisers Copies of Jan Willem Nelleke’s Stack Overflow for flute Abell Flute Company 54 and piano and Lureley’s Delight for flute solo and flute choir are available from www.jwnelleke.nl ABRSM 2 • All Flutes Plus IBC Two flutes, Three flutes, Four and More! Brannen Brothers 54 Visit music-for-flute.com British Suzuki Institute 12 • Chetham’s School of Music 13 Dawsons Music 69 Ely Flute Festival 50 Georgetown University 10 Membership of the BFS Arthur Haswell 67 Jupiter Flutes (Korg) 14 UK Individual £20.00 Just Flutes 16 Two members at the same address £25.00 Eva Kingma 63 Student (under 26) £13.00 Bradley Leighton 34 Pensioners £13.00 Lions Clubs International Competition 50 Schools and flute clubs £20.00 London College of Music 34 Europe Mancke Flutes 63 Individual £25.00 Richard Mattingly 64 Student (under 26) £18.00 Miyazawa (Trevor James) 40 Musicians Benevolent Fund 10 Worldwide Individual (air mail) £30.00 John Myatt Woodwind 50 Student (under 26) £18.00 Oxford Summer School 46 Pensioner £18.00 Pearl Flutes IFC Schools and flute clubs £25.00 Phylloscopus Publications 67 Piccolo Tunes 65 Life membership Individual £300.00 Sankyo (Trevor James) 9 Joint £350.00 Top Wind OBC Membership Secretary John Rayworth Williams Flutes USA 26 The Nook, How Mill, Brampton, Cumbria CA8 9JY Windstruments 34 Telephone 01228 670306 Email [email protected]

the www.bfs.org.uk pan • flute magazine 71 Richard Stagg has…The Last Word

e are all proud of our traditions, and traditions die hard; nowhere, perhaps, as hard as in family life. An orchestra, one is bound to assume, Wis one big happy family. Much like a Japanese business company, it has a promotional scale for its lifelong employees, looks after their social lives, organises outings, sport and holidays, health and safety, finds them marriage partners and provides them, possibly, with pensions on retirement. In any decent family there is a solid old tradition of celebrating its members’ birthdays in song, a noble one that goes all the way back to the...nineteenth century. Oh, dear. This is done by means of a tune dreamt up to accompany the words of the poem Good Morning To All (greeting teacher). The song, nowadays called Richard Stagg studied music Happy Birthday, shares the distinction, along with Auld Lang Syne and For He’s A and modern languages at Jolly Good Fellow, of being one of the three most popular in the English language. Cambridge. He has been a pupil Popularity is the criterion, you understand. Forget the Beatles, forget Frank Sinatra, of Gareth Morris and James forget Vera Lynn, all hail to two Sunday-school teachers from Louisville, Kentucky, Galway, and is sub-principal flute of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. for inventing words you can’t forget and setting them to a tune you can’t forget! Now, faced with a family the size of an orchestra, it doesn’t take much to work out that one is potentially committed to between fifteen and thirty renditions of this deathless dirge per annum. (Even Bach wouldn’t have had to put up with this, either at home or at work.) To work out an accurate figure, you would need the services of an actuary to calculate the probability of coincidence, i.e. several birthdays occurring on the same day, which Sod’s Law dictates is bound to happen on all the occasions on which you wish it not to. This means in practice that, while the string players are pointing their bows at the lucky person, another two or three unlucky ones will be sadly forgotten in the background. Where is the justice Now, faced with a family in such a system? To ensure fairness, orchestras would need to appoint a birthday the size of an orchestra, it monitor, who would have the duty of allocating moveable birthday slots to all doesn’t take much to work members (excluding extras) and the right to waive slots as requested. out that one is potentially I propose sweeping reforms which will breathe new life into the system. A com- committed to between petition must be held. Competitors will be required to provide their own original fifteen and thirty renditions words and original music which, if successful, will banish the existing ones, and of this deathless dirge per should fall within one of the three following categories: (a) a lithe, contrapuntal annum. madrigal in five-part harmony, in Italian, in the style of Monteverdi; (b) a semi- wordless chant in the style of a Polynesian battle-song, to the beat of drums, with text in Central American English; and (c) an aleatoric, post-Webernian, post-struc- turalist essay of one minute’s duration, involving the use of microtones, glissandi and a minimum of seven percussion instruments, to be sung in Kitchen Swahili. The successful entrant will be awarded a prize of 100,000 lire; the judges reserve the right to withhold this award at their discretion. By way of example, here is one I made earlier (to be sung to the tune of It’s A Small World, accompanied by vamping double basses): It’s a long, long time since we sang this song, | If you thought we’d forget, you would be so wrong, | Thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty- three, thirty-four, thirty-five, six, seven!* | One year older, yes you are! | One year older, yes you are! One year older, yes (s)he is, | (s)he’s a di-no-saur!

*Adjust to the known figure.

the 72 pan flute magazine June 2006