The New York Flute Club N E W S L E T T E R February 2001 Meet Ransom Wilson Interview by Ann Cecil Sterman ansom Wilson’s career highlights are too numerous to list, and span several idioms. Ann Cecil Sterman explores both what makes this bril- R liant man tick, and his view of the current state of the art of the flute. ANN CECIL STERMAN: With the this point. I think people are just death of Rampal so recent— beginning to respond to the fact that what were your impressions of the man responsible for all of it is no the Master? longer with us. RANSOM WILSON: Well, he was What I found out when I went to my teacher and I was very close France to study was that what he to him; I was at the funeral and represented technically and flutistically I’m still very close to the family. was actually quite common in France— It’s hard to assess what this loss there are many people who play the means to the flute world at instrument in the same style, with the same kind of technical brilliance that he did; from that standpoint he wasn’t that uncommon. But what was uncom- In Concert mon was his amazing, almost God-like spirit. He could touch people because Ransom Wilson, flute he was carrying this incredible soul. James Lent, piano ACS: What was his teaching like? February 25, 2001 Sunday 5:30 pm RW: It was inspiring without ever CAMI Hall being specific. If you asked him about breathing he would just say, “Breathe!” He wanted everything in life to be a Program natural expression. Sonata in F major, K 377 (Cont’d on page 4) W. A. Mozart _______ I N T H I S I S S U E Introduction and Variations on “Trockne Blumen” Franz Schubert _______ Ransom Wilson Flute Sonata (NY Premiere) Interview by Carl Vine Ann Cecil Sterman .............. 1 _______ From the President ..................... 2 You are invited The High and the Mighty, New Work in the Works to a for piccolo and piano Eleanor Lawrence ....................... 2 (NY Premiere) Pre-Concert Ensemble Gathering (1936–2001) Michael Daugherty on Sunday, February 25, 2001 _______ Member Profile ........................... 3 at the Un joueur de flûte berce Marya Martin les ruines, for solo flute Kaplan Space at Carnegie Hall, Member Perspectives ................. 5 Francis Poulenc Unpublished practice drills from 3–5pm, prior to the 5:30 recital by _______ Ransom Wilson at CAMI Hall. Introducción y Allegro Announcements Carlos Guastavino _______ Flute Happenings.............................3 Contact Ardith Bondi Carmen Fantasy Member Announcements ................3 if you plan to attend: Bizet/Borne/Wilson Classifieds .......................................4 [email protected] or _______ Flute Fair Masterclass ......................5 212-724-3869 (phone). Program subject to change Burkart-Phelan Theft .......................7 2 — NYFC Newsletter From the President: New Work in the Works THE NEW YORK FLUTE CLUB INC. by Patricia Spencer 2000–2001 n the space below you will read about the untimely Board of Directors death of an exemplary past president of the New Patricia Spencer, President York Flute Club. Eleanor Lawrence will be mourned— Rie Schmidt, First Vice President I .. and celebrated—in all of our hearts, and her guiding Barli Nugent, Second Vice President Jan Vinci, Recording Secretary influence will be felt for many years to come. I know she Michele Smith, Membership Secretary would be pleased to hear this announcement about our Ardith Bondi, Treasurer commissioning program. The New York Flute Club announces the selection of composer Colin Homiski Darla Dixon Katherine Fink to write a commissioned work to be premiered in the 2001–02 season. The new Susan Friedlander piece will be scored for flute, piccolo, slide whistle and piano. A special part of Rochelle Itzen this commission will be the inclusion of a “companion” piece suitable for perfor- Svjetlana Kabalin mance by an elementary level student. Sue Ann Kahn Colin Homiski was chosen through an anonymous listening process from Gerardo Levy nominations submitted by members of the NYFC last season. His previous awards Nancy Toff include the Tindall Hutchinson National Composers Prize for Dance of the Broken Patricia Zuber Puppet (scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano) and the Debussy Trio Advisory Board Foundation International Competition for Igor’s Firecracker (flute, viola, harp), Julius Baker among many others. Jeanne Baxtresser We thank all of you who submitted nominations, and advise everyone to be on Harold Jones ❏ Eleanor Lawrence the alert for announcements about the next round of commissioning. Laurence Libin Past Presidents Eleanor Lawrence Georges Barrère .................. 1920–1944 (1936–2001) John Wummer ...................... 1944–1947 Milton Wittgenstein ............ 1947–1952 e are sad to announce the death of Eleanor Lawrence, who Mildred Hunt Wummer ...... 1952–1955 served the club ably and loyally as three-term president, Frederick Wilkins ................. 1955–1957 member of the board of directors and advisory board, and Harry H. Moskovitz ............. 1957–1960 W frequent performer at our concerts over a period of some thirty-five Paige Brook ........................... 1960–1963 Mildred Hunt Wummer ...... 1963–1964 years. Eleanor died on January 16 after a long battle with brain Maurice S. Rosen ................ 1964–1967 cancer. A graduate of Radcliffe College and the New England Harry H. Moskovitz ............. 1967–1970 Conservatory of Music, she studied flute with James Pappoutsakis, Paige Brook ........................... 1970–1973 William Kincaid, and Marcel Moyse and was one of the founders and Eleanor Lawrence ............... 1973–1976 a past president of the Marcel Moyse Society. She taught at the Harold Jones ........................ 1976–1979 Manhattan School of Music and played with the Metropolitan Opera Eleanor Lawrence ............... 1979–1982 Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra. Eleanor was the Paige Brook ........................... 1982–1983 John Solum ........................... 1983–1986 founder and artistic director of the Monomoy Chamber Ensemble on Eleanor Lawrence ............... 1986–1989 Cape Cod and for the last two years presented the ensemble in a Sue Ann Kahn ...................... 1989–1992 series of New York concerts. She also performed as soloist with the Nancy Toff ............................. 1992–1995 Boston Pops and at Alice Tully Hall. Rie Schmidt ........................... 1995–1998 Eleanor produced a two-hour videotape on which she teaches Newsletter all of Moyse’s 24 Petites Etudes Mélodiques. Her recordings include Katherine Saenger, Editor French Music for Flute and Voice (with Bethany Beardslee), The 115 Underhill Road Complete Flute Works of Paul Hindemith, and Music for Flute and Ossining, NY 10562 Piano (including the Aria and Passacaglia by Dohnanyi, which are (914) 762-8582 dedicated to her). Her last CD, Flute Favorites, includes a selection [email protected] of short pieces from the teaching repertoire. Eleanor coordinated Alice Barmore, Layout/Production The Best of Marcel Moyse, a CD soon to be released by the Marcel 125 Christopher St., #4H Moyse Society. New York, NY 10014 Also active in the National Flute Association, she was for many (212) 675-9706 years the editor of the National Flute Association Newsletter, for [email protected] which she conducted now-historic interviews with many of the Copyright © 2001 by The New York Flute Club Inc. leading flutists of our time. ❏ —Nancy Toff All rights reserved. February 2001 — 3 FLUTE Current flute: Gold Brannen Cooper HAPPENINGS Member Profile #188 (made by Bick Brannen and Marya Martin purchased in 1979), used with a Rainer F E B R U A R Y NYFC Member Lafin gold headjoint (purchased in 1983). February 4, 2001 since 1990 Sunday 4:00 pm Influential teachers: Thomas Nyfenger, Employment: Solo Jean-Pierre Rampal and James Galway. Recital by Ana Berschadsky, piano; Joanna Hoty Russell, mezzo-soprano; Virginia flutist and chamber Schulze-Johnson, flute. Works by Bach, musician; artistic High School: Epsom Girls Grammar Bizet, Hoover, Schumann, and Strauss. director of the Bridgehampton Chamber School, Auckland, New Zealand. • Brothers College Chapel, Drew University, Music Festival; member of Windscape Madison, NJ • Donation at the door. Degrees: B.M. [University of Auckland, (a woodwind quintet); teacher at the New Zealand, 1976] and M.M. [Yale February 25, 2001 Manhattan School of Music and Boston University, 1979]. Sunday 5:00 pm University’s School for the Arts. “UpTown Flutes” (a flute octet with Carla Most notable and/or personally satisfying Auld, Elise Carter, Melissa Chiarolanzio, A recent performance/recital: accomplishments: Spending an entire year Patricia Davila, Jeanne Fessenden, Marcia Performing with Windscape on Novem- studying with Rampal at the Hankle, John McMurtery, and Virginia ber 17–19, 2000 at the Metropolitan Schulze-Johnson) performing “20th Century Conservatoire National Superieur de Museum of Art (in NY) and the Freer Blowout,” featuring works by Hoover, Bozza, Musique in Paris; founding the Bridge- Boone, Wells, Schocker, and more. Gallery (in Washington, D.C.). The hampton Chamber Music Festival, now • Nicolas Music Center, Rutgers University— program, called “The Floating World,” in its 18th year. On a more personal Douglass Campus, New Brunswick, NJ was made up of French and Japanese • Donation at the door. level, the birth of her two daughters, music (arranged by members of the now twelve and fifteen, which she says group) chosen to illustrate