The British Flute Society President William Bennett OBE Honorary patrons Sir James Galway and Lady Jeanne Galway Vice-president Albert Cooper flute Chairman Wissam Boustany • flute• The Journal of the 27 John Radcliff and the British Flute Society Antipodes Volume 29 number 3 September 2010 John Wion tells the story of this leading nineteenth-century British flute player who Editor Robert Bigio visited Australia. • Contacting the BFS Secretary and advertising Anna Munks 27 Eskdale Gardens Purley, Surrey CR8 1ET 3 News Telephone and fax 020 8668 3360 Email [email protected] BFS Mini-Festivals at RSAMD and Trinity Laban. Membership secretary BFS Premier Flautist Series. Flute choir news. John Rayworth Letters to the editor. BFS email newsletters. Hardbank Croft February flute days. Handbank, How Mill Brampton, Cumbria CA8 9LL Telephone 0845 680 1983 33 Flute players of the Email [email protected] regions of Britain: the Editorial north-east of England Robert Bigio 1 Doveridge Gardens London N13 5BJ Arthur Haswell interviews players from Telephone 020 8882 2627 Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the surrounding Fax 020 8882 2728 area. Email [email protected] • 45 Taking exams Editorial committee Robert Bigio, Simon Hunt, Mike MacMahon Tony Ovenell explains how to make exams a • more enjoyable musical experience. Copy editor Christopher Steward • Design and typesetting Robert Bigio 49 Composer focus: • Michael Colquhoun Cover Performers at the BFS Convention: Mike Mower, Samuel Coles, Katherine By Carla Rees. Bryan; Alena Lugovkina, Emmanuel Pahud, Paul Edmund-Davies; Jean-Louis Beaumadier, William Bennett, Silvia 53 Reviews Careddu. Photographs: Carla Rees Dawson • CDs, music, books and software. Printed by The Russell Press BFS convention Listings Views expressed by contributors are their own and do 13 62 not necessarily reflect the official view of the British Flute Society. All copyrights reserved. Registered charity No. 326473 News and reviews of the BFS convention in 64 The Last Word… ISSN 1360-1563 Manchester, with photographs by Carla Rees Dawson. Anna Pope on teaching talented pupils. www.bfs.org.uk Trevor James New Performers Series ‘step-up’ flutes Flutes TJ Privilege Silver-plated throughout with optional 925 lip and riser TJ Cantabile 925 head with silver-plated body and mechanism TJ NewVirtuoso 925 head flute with 9k riser,brochure 925 body with silver-platedavailable mechanism now! www.trevorjames.com for your free brochure and 3D glasses contact [email protected] Untitled-1 1 05/07/2010 09:18:27 News • News • The BFS-RSAMD Mini-Festival By Mike MacMahon and Alastair Learmont This summer the BFS initiated a series of mini flute festivals, not unlike mini flute conventions, to be held throughout the UK. The first, held jointly with the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, took place in Glasgow on Sunday and Monday, 6 and 7 June. Over forty flautists participated, mainly drawn from the Central Belt of Scotland but also as far afield as Ireland and the North of England. Members of the public as well as members of the profession also attended con- certs and masterclasses to listen and watch. One notable Jacques Zoon. Photograph by Colin Hind. absence through ill health was that of David Nicholson, His closing concert on the Monday evening was a for over forty years professor of flute at the RSAMD and mixture of the familiar (Bach’s BWV 1016, for violin, but so much part of the flute scene, both in Scotland and just as good on the flute, and Gaubert’s Nocturne) and the further afield. These are two days he would have loved. unfamiliar (Rietz’s Sonata in G minor, and Geraedts’s Sonatina). The mini-festival was a stimulating synthesis This was truly stylish playing. He plays with a wooden of masterclasses, performance and participation. flute and headjoint, and certainly gives the up-market International soloist Jacques Zoon joined us from metal flutes a run for their money. His breath control Geneva to give a series of masterclasses as remarkable and range of articulations are quite simply phenomenal. as much for their insight as their sheer musicality. Tone colours? Jacques has them, by the flutecase-ful. For Zoon an overall musical conception—however Ruth Morley, well-known performer, teacher simple—is essential. The opening of the Martin and member of the Scottish Flute Trio gave a series Ballade had a searching ‘Hitchcock’ feel to it. Thinking of masterclasses including a session on modern of the Dutilleux Sonatine he advocated a simple music, drawing on works from students at the approach. ‘Don’t let too many considerations crowd RSAMD and acting as a springboard for discussion in’; the ‘music is beautiful in itself’; ‘let the music do on contemporary work. Her recital with Scott the talking’. His approach to the CPE Bach D Minor Mitchell on Sunday afternoon again concentrated on concerto was robust, exuberant, even deliberately modern music, including two premieres, by Shona exaggerated. This was not ‘museum music’; this MacKay and Wei Zeng, and Thief, a work by Gordon was life itself. To achieve absolute clarity, he has the McPherson, head of the composition department at knack of taking not just phrases or bars apart, but the RSAMD. Ruth is a persuasive performer, with even notes themselves, for example the bottom C absolute control over the flute, from the bottom to sharp in the opening phrase of the Mozart D major the top. It was instructive to hear her demonstrate concerto. ‘Mozart,’ Zoon remarked laconically, ‘is how to practise—not just to play—modern (in fact, not soup’. very modern) music. www.bfs.org.uk 3 flute• • News And one’s lasting impressions of this Festival? There is some very fine flute-playing going on, both at RSAMD and amongst the wider non-Academy based flute-players in the UK. The standard is high, far higher certainly than twenty years ago. Would you stand up in front of an unfamiliar audience and do the first movement of the Nielsen concerto without music? Alex Leese did. The Festival was also an opportunity for the RSAMD students to show their abilities and interests. There was a lot to hear, watch, and think about—perhaps too much for even a two-day event. The traders in the main foyer area seemed to do better when the modern music was being performed. The piano accompaniments, most of the time by Scott Mitchell, were exemplary. Time-keeping in the masterclasses was sometimes erratic. Watches should be an obligatory item of apparel! Hearing the ‘masters’ wasn’t always easy: there was no amplification, and talking to the back wall was frequent! That said, the architectural acoustics of the RSAMD main buildings are good, and suit the sound of flutes very well. Ketherine Bryan. Photograph by Colin Hind. Quantz Sonatas Another highlight was hearing Katherine Bryan, the principal flute of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the soloist in Mike Mower’s Flute Concerto, accompanied by the Scottish National Wind Orchestra. This was one of those performances that can only be described in superlatives: brilliant, mind- blowing, stupendous, scintillating. To pull off this sort of performance when a sizeable chunk of the audience were either flautists or knew a thing or two New cd about flute-playing, was a real achievement. Forthcoming Urtext and facsimile edition Flûtes en Route, a fine flute quartet from the RSAMD, Performance guide by Rachel Brown played a short programme of the familiar and the not-so- Keyboard realisation by Terence Charlston familiar, with ease and insight. In a very busy schedule, Lecture recital launch Sheena Gordon conducted BFS and RSAMD flute choirs Royal College of Music, London in performances of Bartok’s Romanian Dances and Fauré’s 6pm Friday 19th November 2010 Cantique de Jean Racine. For the Fauré there were twenty- seven C flutes and a piano assembled on stage. It was note- To listen to tracks from the cd and place orders, and breath-perfect, only missing alto and bass flutes. How to subscribe to the edition the flute choir parts disappeared and were rediscovered please visit in black bin bags minutes before the performance began www.rachelbrownflute.com is an experience that Sheena will surely not wish to relive! by September 17th 4 September 2010 flute• News • BFS and Trinity Laban Mini-Festival Old Royal Naval College and St. Alfege Church Greenwich, London 28 and 29 October 2010 The British Flute Society and Trinity Laban to be able to bring this festival home to this special Conservatoire of Music and Dance are delighted to conservatoire and look forward to creating many present a collaborative Flute Festival in the stun- more inspired opportunities through the British Flute ning baroque setting of the Old Royal Naval College Society, for students and teachers alike, in the future.’ in Greenwich. Across two days in October, the site Ian Mitchell, Head of Wind, Brass and Percussion will be a hub of activity for classical music and flute at Trinity Laban, says: ‘We’re thrilled to be present- enthusiasts, with a programme of performances, ing this festival in partnership with the British Flute masterclasses, talks and trade stands culminating in a Society. It will provide a creatively stimulating meeting rare UK performance from the festival’s guest inter- point for flautists who are at the forefront of their field national artist, acclaimed Dutch flautist and com- and the next generation of performers and teachers, poser Wil Offermans. while hopefully opening up flute music to a wider Wil Offermans is known for his creative and con- audience with a programme that embraces everything temporary approach to performance and teaching. from classical to contemporary via Cuban repertoire.’ His compositions have been performed by renowned Advance tickets for the festival are available from the flautists and flute ensembles around the world, and British Flute Society website www.bfs.org.uk or by while his music is quickly entering into the main- calling 020 8668 3360.