Meet Ransom Wilson

The New York Flute ClubN E W S L E T T E R

February 2001

I N T H I S I S S U E

Ransom WilsonInterview byAnn Cecil Sterman .............. 1

From the President ..................... 2New Work in the Works

Eleanor Lawrence ....................... 2(1936–2001)

Member Profile ........................... 3Marya Martin

Member Perspectives ................. 5Unpublished practice drills

A n n o u n c e m e n t sFlute Happenings .............................3Member Announcements ................ 3Classifieds .......................................4Flute Fair Masterclass ...................... 5Burkart-Phelan Theft .......................7

(Cont’d on page 4)

Interview by Ann Cecil Sterman

Ransom Wilson’s career highlights are too numerous to list, and spanseveral idioms. Ann Cecil Sterman explores both what makes this bril- liant man tick, and his view of the current state of the art of the flute.

this point. I think people are justbeginning to respond to the fact thatthe man responsible for all of it is nolonger with us.

What I found out when I went toFrance to study was that what herepresented technically and flutisticallywas actually quite common in France—there are many people who play theinstrument in the same style, with thesame kind of technical brilliance thathe did; from that standpoint he wasn’tthat uncommon. But what was uncom-mon was his amazing, almost God-likespirit. He could touch people becausehe was carrying this incredible soul.

ACS: What was his teaching like?RW: It was inspiring without everbeing specific. If you asked him aboutbreathing he would just say, “Breathe!”He wanted everything in life to be anatural expression.

ANN CECIL STERMAN: With thedeath of Rampal so recent—what were your impressions ofthe Master?RANSOM WILSON: Well, he wasmy teacher and I was very closeto him; I was at the funeral andI’m still very close to the family.It’s hard to assess what this loss means to the flute world at

In Concert

Ransom Wilson, fluteJames Lent, piano

February 25, 2001Sunday 5:30 pm

CAMI Hall

Program

Sonata in F major, K 377W. A. Mozart

_______Introduction and Variations on“Trockne Blumen”

Franz Schubert_______

Flute Sonata (NY Premiere)Carl Vine

_______The High and the Mighty,for piccolo and piano(NY Premiere)

Michael Daugherty_______

Un joueur de flûte berceles ruines, for solo flute

Francis Poulenc_______

Introducción y AllegroCarlos Guastavino

_______Carmen Fantasy

Bizet/Borne/Wilson_______

Program subject to change

You are invitedto a

Pre-Concert Ensemble Gatheringon Sunday, February 25, 2001

at the

Kaplan Space at Carnegie Hall,from 3–5pm, prior to the 5:30 recital by

Ransom Wilson at CAMI Hall.

Contact Ardith Bondiif you plan to attend:

ardbon@worldnet.att.net or212-724-3869 (phone).

2 — NYFC Newsletter

THE NEW YORK FLUTE CLUB INC.

2000–2001Board of Directors

Patricia Spencer, President

Rie Schmidt, First Vice President

Barli Nugent, Second Vice President

Jan Vinci, Recording Secretary

Michele Smith, Membership Secretary

Ardith Bondi, Treasurer

Darla DixonKatherine FinkSusan FriedlanderRochelle ItzenSvjetlana KabalinSue Ann KahnGerardo LevyNancy ToffPatricia Zuber

Advisory BoardJulius BakerJeanne BaxtresserHarold JonesEleanor LawrenceLaurence Libin

Past PresidentsGeorges Barrère .................. 1920–1944John Wummer ...................... 1944–1947Milton Wittgenstein ............ 1947–1952Mildred Hunt Wummer ...... 1952–1955Frederick Wilkins ................. 1955–1957Harry H. Moskovitz ............. 1957–1960Paige Brook ........................... 1960–1963Mildred Hunt Wummer ...... 1963–1964Maurice S. Rosen ................ 1964–1967Harry H. Moskovitz ............. 1967–1970Paige Brook ........................... 1970–1973Eleanor Lawrence ............... 1973–1976Harold Jones ........................ 1976–1979Eleanor Lawrence ............... 1979–1982Paige Brook ........................... 1982–1983John Solum ........................... 1983–1986Eleanor Lawrence ............... 1986–1989Sue Ann Kahn ...................... 1989–1992Nancy Toff ............................. 1992–1995Rie Schmidt ........................... 1995–1998

NewsletterKatherine Saenger, Editor

115 Underhill RoadOssining, NY 10562(914) 762-8582saenger@us.ibm.com

Alice Barmore, Layout/Production

125 Christopher St., #4HNew York, NY 10014(212) 675-9706abarmore@compuserve.com

Copyright © 2001 by The New York Flute Club Inc.

All rights reserved.

..

From the President:

New Work in the Worksby Patricia Spencer

Eleanor Lawrence(1936–2001)

We are sad to announce the death of Eleanor Lawrence, whoserved the club ably and loyally as three-term president,member of the board of directors and advisory board, and

frequent performer at our concerts over a period of some thirty-fiveyears. Eleanor died on January 16 after a long battle with braincancer. A graduate of Radcliffe College and the New EnglandConservatory of Music, she studied flute with James Pappoutsakis,William Kincaid, and Marcel Moyse and was one of the founders anda past president of the Marcel Moyse Society. She taught at theManhattan School of Music and played with the Metropolitan OperaOrchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra. Eleanor was thefounder and artistic director of the Monomoy Chamber Ensemble onCape Cod and for the last two years presented the ensemble in aseries of New York concerts. She also performed as soloist with theBoston Pops and at Alice Tully Hall.

Eleanor produced a two-hour videotape on which she teachesall of Moyse’s 24 Petites Etudes Mélodiques. Her recordings includeFrench Music for Flute and Voice (with Bethany Beardslee), TheComplete Flute Works of Paul Hindemith, and Music for Flute andPiano (including the Aria and Passacaglia by Dohnanyi, which arededicated to her). Her last CD, Flute Favorites, includes a selectionof short pieces from the teaching repertoire. Eleanor coordinatedThe Best of Marcel Moyse, a CD soon to be released by the MarcelMoyse Society.

Also active in the National Flute Association, she was for manyyears the editor of the National Flute Association Newsletter, forwhich she conducted now-historic interviews with many of theleading flutists of our time. ❏ —Nancy Toff

In the space below you will read about the untimely death of an exemplary past president of the New York Flute Club. Eleanor Lawrence will be mourned—

and celebrated—in all of our hearts, and her guidinginfluence will be felt for many years to come. I know shewould be pleased to hear this announcement about ourcommissioning program.

The New York Flute Club announces the selection of composer Colin Homiskito write a commissioned work to be premiered in the 2001–02 season. The newpiece will be scored for flute, piccolo, slide whistle and piano. A special part ofthis commission will be the inclusion of a “companion” piece suitable for perfor-mance by an elementary level student.

Colin Homiski was chosen through an anonymous listening process fromnominations submitted by members of the NYFC last season. His previous awardsinclude the Tindall Hutchinson National Composers Prize for Dance of the BrokenPuppet (scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano) and the Debussy TrioFoundation International Competition for Igor’s Firecracker (flute, viola, harp),among many others.

We thank all of you who submitted nominations, and advise everyone to be onthe alert for announcements about the next round of commissioning. ❏

February 2001 — 3

Member ProfileMarya Martin

FLUTE

HAPPENINGS

F E B R U A R YNYFC Membersince 1990

Employment: Soloflutist and chambermusician; artisticdirector of the Bridgehampton ChamberMusic Festival; member of Windscape(a woodwind quintet); teacher at theManhattan School of Music and BostonUniversity’s School for the Arts.

A recent performance/recital:Performing with Windscape on Novem-ber 17–19, 2000 at the MetropolitanMuseum of Art (in NY) and the FreerGallery (in Washington, D.C.). Theprogram, called “The Floating World,”was made up of French and Japanesemusic (arranged by members of thegroup) chosen to illustrate the influenceof the East on the West, and vice versa, inboth art and music. The music (whichincluded Takemitsu’s Rain Sketch #2 andDebussy’s Piano Preludes, La Pagodes)was accompanied by projections of over200 thematically-related Japanese andFrench art works.

Career highlights: Winning the YoungConcert Artists International Competition(1978), the Concert Artists Guild Compe-tition (1978), and being a top prizewinner in the Naumburg Competition(1977), the Munich International Compe-tition (1978), and the Jean-Pierre RampalInternational Competition (1979). Later,performing duos and trios in AveryFisher Hall with Rampal and Julius Baker(in 1980), and performimg the CimarosaConcerto for two flutes with JamesGalway for eight performances touringNew Zealand (in 1983). A joint perfor-mance with Rampal in 1990 at theBridgehampton Chamber Music Festival(which she founded). Commissioningand playing the world premieres ofworks by Ned Rorem, Bruce Adolphe,Kenji Bunch, Bruce MacCombie, DerekBermel, David Shoal, and Paul Moravec.

Current flute: Gold Brannen Cooper#188 (made by Bick Brannen andpurchased in 1979), used with a RainerLafin gold headjoint (purchased in 1983).

Influential teachers: Thomas Nyfenger,Jean-Pierre Rampal and James Galway.

High School: Epsom Girls GrammarSchool, Auckland, New Zealand.

Degrees: B.M. [University of Auckland,New Zealand, 1976] and M.M. [YaleUniversity, 1979].

Most notable and/or personally satisfyingaccomplishments: Spending an entire yearstudying with Rampal at theConservatoire National Superieur deMusique in Paris; founding the Bridge-hampton Chamber Music Festival, nowin its 18th year. On a more personallevel, the birth of her two daughters,now twelve and fifteen, which she says“was (and continues to be) the mostamazing experience of my life.”

Favorite practice routines: To warm up,she plays soulful melodies to encouragethe air to flow freely. Then she plays acouple of long tones to rein in the soundand fine-tune the control. She alsoenjoys creating drills that will challengeher—a current favorite concentrates ondouble-tonguing groupings of five andseven. She explains that groups of two,three, four, and six have all become anautomatic technical and rhythmical partof our playing. However, playing thesame scales (be they Moyse or Taffanel)at the same speed, but grouped in fivesor sevens, is more difficult, and leads toa stronger and more flexible technique.

Interests/hobbies: Traveling with herhusband and two daughters—going tonew places, meeting new people andabsorbing new experiences. Entertaining(casual style preferred!) and spendingtime with the interesting people she’smet. She also loves fashion design (pastand present) and vintage textiles.

Advice: Find your own voice and follow it.❏

February 4, 2001

Sunday 4:00 pmRecital by Ana Berschadsky, piano; JoannaHoty Russell, mezzo-soprano; VirginiaSchulze-Johnson, flute. Works by Bach,Bizet, Hoover, Schumann, and Strauss.

• Brothers College Chapel, Drew University,Madison, NJ • Donation at the door.

February 25, 2001

Sunday 5:00 pm“UpTown Flutes” (a flute octet with CarlaAuld, Elise Carter, Melissa Chiarolanzio,Patricia Davila, Jeanne Fessenden, MarciaHankle, John McMurtery, and VirginiaSchulze-Johnson) performing “20th CenturyBlowout,” featuring works by Hoover, Bozza,Boone, Wells, Schocker, and more.

• Nicolas Music Center, Rutgers University—Douglass Campus, New Brunswick, NJ• Donation at the door.

March 9, 2001

Friday 8:00 pm

The OMNI ENSEMBLE continues its 18thseason with a concert featuring music bySchickele, Haydn, Barber, and Wechslerperformed by David Wechsler, flute/midiwind controller, Sara Wollan, cello, andMichael Rose, piano/synthesizer.

• Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, 58 7thAvenue at Lincoln Place in Park Slope,Brooklyn, NY • Admission $10 general; $8students/seniors • Info: 718-859-8649.

ANNOUNCEMENTSM E M B E R

Patricia Harper is hosting a guest master-class by Mary Karen Clardy on Wednesday,February 21, 2001 from 4–6 pm at Evans Hall,Connecticut College, New London, CT. Info,call 860-739-2719.

The 7th Annual New Jersey Flute Choir Dayfor flutists of all ages will be held onSaturday March 24, 2001 from 9:30 am to6 pm. The commissioned work, Renaissancefor a New Millennium by Ricky Lombardo,will be premiered at final concert. $60 for theday (includes T-shirts). Drew Universityand Grace Church, Madison, NJ. Contact:Virginia Schulze-Johnson, director,973-408-3428 or vschulze@drew.edu.

Deadlines for Flute Happenings

Issue Deadline Mail DateMarch 2001 02/08/01 02/26/01April 2001 03/22/01 04/09/01May 2001 04/19/01 05/07/01

M A R C H

4 — NYFC Newsletter

(Cont’d from page 1)Ransom Wilson

ACS: How would you compare theFrench style with the American style offlute playing today?RW: I just gave a big masterclass atJuilliard the day before yesterday, andthat was exactly the theme of the wholeclass. I’d chosen all the French Conser-vatory pieces as the theme, because thosepieces and the way they were intendedto be played are so little understood inthis country. That is radical to say. But Iparticipate in many international juries—I’m going to be at Kobe this summer, forexample—and I feel a lot of patrioticpride about Americans and Canadians.I’m always hoping that there will be aNorth American who will wow every-body [and] be better than everybodyelse, but there never is.

ACS: What do you attribute that to?RW: They always—and I’m sure that Iseemed this way when I first arrived inFrance as well—seem under-educated.They seem incredibly talented but veryinconsistent and undisciplined and willful.

ACS: How would you remedy that?RW: Well, at Yale I remedy that! I hadhad the best training available in the

like coming unprepared to lessons—things that I expect from the Americans.

ACS: And when they return to France?RW: Oh, it gets completely beaten outof them.

ACS: But they retain the individualitythey gained.RW: Yeah, and they talk so fondly oftheir time here—they had no idea ofwhat it would really be like. Their

C L A S S I F I E D

New CD—“Sound and Repercussion”Contemporary compositions for solo flutemerging the traditions of European modern-ism and world folk music. Works of Matthus,Takemitsu, Arnaoudov, Vali, and Yunperformed by flutist Linda Wetherill ina recording praised by Fanfare. Orderfrom www.amazon.com or contact LindaWetherill at Muzarte@msn.com.

________

New CD—“CONSPIRARE”—Patti Monsonperforming chamber music for solo flute.Compositions of Steve Reich, RobertDick, Martin Bresnick, Harold Meltzer,Kaija Saariaho, and Jennifer Higdon.Available now from CRI (ComposersRecordings, Inc.) at 212-941-9673 orwww.composersrecordings.com, or fromwww.amazon.com.

________

Members may advertise in this section for $10 forup to 320 characters/spaces. Your ad should besubmitted by hard copy or e-mail. Name and phonenumber are required. Deadline is the same as forHappenings submissions. Ads must be paid for inadvance. Make checks payable to the New YorkFlute Club and mail to the Newsletter Editor.

United States when I went to Franceand I wouldn’t trade that for anythingelse. But what I was lacking, even withall the best available training—I studiedwith Julius Baker and Arthur Lora andPhilip Dunigan—was basic skills.

ACS: Such as?RW: Such as consistency of articula-tion, consistency of dynamics, consis-tency of color, consistency of style andknowledge of style, and all of those

“My biography looks more like that of an

things that are just part of an educationin Europe, particularly in France andGermany. Having said that, very oftenthe French-German players lack anindividual personality, so I really thinkthat the best combination is both. I urgeAmericans who are serious aboutcompeting at an international level togo and study in Europe as I did. I alsourge Europeans to come here and study.

ACS: To get a balance in what respect?RW: So they can find out what itmeans to be an individual. The greatestof them are going to succeed anyway.But the more influences you have, thebetter you’re going to be, particularly ifyou’re going to compete or communi-cate internationally. I have a perfectexample [at Yale]: we have an exchangeprogram with the Paris Conservatory.It’s a pilot program, but we’ve had twopeople on each side go in the otherdirection. So I’ve had two of the ParisConservatory students in my class forthe past two years, which is veryexciting because their basic skills are sowell developed. They can play faster,cleaner, louder, more accurately, morebeautifully than anyone else; it’sastonishing to hear. But when theycome to their lesson and ask whatwe’re going to work on and my answeris, “What would you like to work on?”they have this kind of panic. That’snever been an option for them and sothey learn a great deal from it. Unfortu-nately, I have to say in both cases (andthese are brilliant players—they will befamous), one of the things that hap-pened to them was that they got lazyand they began doing shocking things

impression of America is from film andhowever accurate that might be it isn’tthe same as being here.

ACS: Is there a technical hallmark of theAmerican player?RW: I think one of the things that we doat least as well as anyone else in theworld and perhaps better, is that we pro-duce a really big round sound. I wouldsay that probably comes from Baker’sinfluence. He was the first one to reallydevelop a consistently big, beautiful sound.

ACS: Have you been able to work out theexact technicalities of that? Because weknow that he’s made copious notes on thatvery topic. Are you able to put it on paper?RW: I don’t know about on paper. Ican certainly teach it, and do all thetime—but it’s too long—it would take abook. Maybe when I’m 70.

ACS: Speaking about national charac-teristics, you play a Japanese flute. I wascurious about that.RW: I always have, ever since I was atJuilliard. I had a Powell for a while. I’m notvery flute-centric. There are a lot of goodinstruments out there now and I maychange some day. I’ve played this for along time. I think that Sankyo has perhapsthe most solid mechanism in the world.Nothing ever goes wrong with them. Every-one else I know, no matter how greattheir flute is, [needs] little adjustments madeconstantly, and that never happens to me.

ACS: Can I ask you what head you haveon it, because people often change theheads on Sankyos.RW: Yes, I have the new RS1.

February 2001 — 5

(Cont’d on next page)

ACS: Which has a slight wave in the plate.RW: Yes, very slight. I think the waveis just a hold-over from their basicdesign, because it doesn’t have to bethere any more. [It’s] basically a highchimney which all the companieshave. The Powell Boston is also a highchimney.

ACS: I’d like to ask you about flutecolors. In one web bio you mention yourtime at the Kirov Opera, and how

ACS: How would you change that?RW: I don’t have a solution—it’s justmy observation that the normal audi-tion process for orchestras tends toreduce people to sameness.

ACS: Would you do one eliminationround and then put everyone in thesection?RW: I don’t know—it’s complicated;there’s a whole union issue. But in theold days when it was only the musicdirector making the choices, all theorchestras sounded different. Now it’s acommittee of players and everybodysounds the same. I wouldn’t want asituation where it was only the musicdirector making the choice—that

M a s t e r c l a s sLINDA CHESIS, MARYA MARTIN and ROBERT STALLMAN will be conductinga Rampal-style masterclass at the Flute Fair on March 11, 2001. Anyone inter-ested in playing for the class must contact Rie Schmidt (rieschmidt@juno.com)or Ba

..rli Nugent (212-749-0097) and submit a cassette tape of contrasting

selections up to 10 minutes in length, along with a bio and completed flutefair registration form. Deadline: 5:00pm February 23rd. ❏

2 0 0 1 F L U T E F A I R

doesn’t seem fair to me; it doesn’t seemAmerican, but I don’t know what theanswer is. Certainly this isn’t working.

ACS: I wanted to ask you about[Leonard] Bernstein and whether heshaped your flute playing in any way.RW: Yeah! I think he did! I’ve neverknown anyone like him before. He’sthe most creative person I’ve ever beenaround. When he couldn’t sleep atnight he would get up and writepoetry. Everyone else I know eitherwatches TV or reads a book. He wasalways trying to extend his brain. Heplayed word games all the time be-cause he wanted to keep his brainworking. There is some evidence that

18th century musician than a 20th century musician…”—Ransom Wilson

impressed you were that Gergiev wasvery particular about the delineation ofthe voice of each instrument. Howmight the flute player participate in theworldwide de-homogenization processof the orchestral flute sound, shouldthere be one?RW: I think it’s very interesting that allof a sudden the two major orchestrapositions in America [in the NY Philhar-monic and the Chicago Symphony]are held by French people. I saw itcoming for a long time. Whereas wetalk about the fact that all the Frenchplayers sound alike and you go to theParis Conservatory and you hear factoryof great technicians and nothingmore—here we are in a situation wherethe orchestras can’t seem to find inAmerica a flute player they like andthey want French people instead. Ithink it’s very curious that the Ameri-cans are trying to play the excerptsperfectly and yet [Mathieu Dufour]arrives in Chicago and the only com-plaint about him [is] that he’s neverplayed these pieces before! And he’swonderful—that’s not a criticism at all.I find it curious that things havechanged in that way. I think it’s a goodsign. I wish that it was Americanstaking all those jobs; I don’t like theidea of giving them away to peoplewho are not American. Langevin’sCanadian. (He trained in France.) Ithink that’s very interesting. I thinkthat—this is a bit radical—the wholeprocess of orchestral auditions isflawed, and that it forces us towardshomogenization—towards the lowestcommon denominator.

QUnpublished Practice Drills

IN THIS MONTH’S Member Profile, we learn that Marya Martin enjoyscreating challenging practice drills for herself, and that a current favoriteinvolves double-tonguing groupings of five and seven. That got mewondering about all the other interesting unpublished exercises that mightbe floating around out there. What non-standard drills do you find usefulfor yourself and/or your students? What clever routines are good fornailing down those perennial problem passages that just don’t seem to getgood enough with slow repetitive practice? Submissions can be exercisesyou’ve invented yourself, or ones handed down from a teacher. Let usknow—and send the exercise in on manuscript paper (or as a midi file) ifit makes things easier to explain.

Readers are invited both to submit paragraph-long responses to an existingquery, or to submit discussion-provoking new queries for either the generalmembership or a specific NYFC member. Responses and new questions canbe sent by email to saenger@us.ibm.com.

M E M B E RP E R S P E C T I V E S

6 — NYFC Newsletter

(Cont’d from previous page)Ransom Wilson

active brain work delays the onset ofsenility or Alzheimer’s disease and he wasobsessed with that. I know, because hetaught me those word games so hecould play them with me on the road,and they’re very, very difficult. So withthat in mind I would say, yes, he had ahuge influence and continues to have ahuge influence on me.

ACS: You’re quoted as saying,“…Different timbres, bright, dark,focussed, diffused, produce various tonecolors and subtle shadings that changethe meaning of things, and that becamemy trademark.” Did you consciouslypursue those qualities, or did they arisefrom your training in an unexpected way?RW: I would say both. Maurice Ravelused to say that one learns first byimitation and then if one has somethingto say, it will emerge. I think in the earlyyears I was trying very hard to imitateJean-Pierre. He was a very colorfulplayer but I don’t think the instinct forcoloration comes from imitation. I thinkthat was always there. I have to creditmy very first teacher, Sandra Taylor. Shetalked about color from the first lesson! Ihad no idea what she was talking about.It was something that was very impor-tant to her and she would say, “Nowwhen you play this next phrase, itshould be that if somebody werestanding outside they would think thatthere were two different flute players inthe room.” And that I could understand.I was about twelve years old.

ACS: Was she French-trained?RW: No, she studied with Betty Bang(now Mather) at the University of Iowa.

ACS: What did you commission fromFrancaix?RW: It wasn’t a commission per se; itwas [an orchestration of] theDivertimento for flute and piano whichhe did for me. For some reason [theorchestration] is not well-known,although it’s a much better piece withorchestra. It’s [for] a very small orchestra,and it was done for me and Orpheus; Iwas a member at the time. The flute partis changed slightly. A lot of people havebeen asking me to see if I can get the

RW: Well they’re little pieces. It wasn’tlike trying to do one of the piano worksbut I since did another one: Piece enform de Habanera. I did it for Jean-Pierre to play but he was too sick andnever played it. I was very pleased [that]when we did it the orchestra thought itwas a Ravel arrangement. It was thehighest compliment. Mind you, I don’tpretend to be as brilliant a man as Ravel,but I can do a pretty good impersonationof his orchestrational style.

ACS: You’ve said that Bernstein’s abilityto find a unique point of view wassignificant to you. How do you go aboutfinding a unique point of view whenperforming music by people like Reichand Adams?RW: It’s hard with something brand newto have enough perspective to know.Maybe my approach to the Reich will bedifferent than (for example) RobertAitkens’ approach to the Reich, but I thinkthat’s due to the difference in our viewof music in general. I just conductedEight Lines again for the first time inalmost 20 years (at a school in CA), andbecause of how I feel about the music Iwas able to make it work with 16-year-old kids. They were wonderful kids, butwhen I got there it wasn’t working. WhatLenny was so amazing at [was] finding thekey to a phrase and then working back-wards from that. He would try to findthe big question that a phrase posed, andin performance try to answer that ques-tion. He called it the Talmudic approach.

ACS: You liken your breathing to “sleightof hand.”RW: Well, a lot of people will approachbreathing as an athletic event—you know:“I’ve gotta make it to the end of the firsttwo lines,” and then they stop, takehuge breath a go on. My approach hasalways been to try to sneak them in sothat no one could tell. It’s something Ilearned from Jean-Pierre, who was theMaster. You never, ever heard him breathe.He would take little sips along the way;he rarely would stop and tank up.

ACS: Rampal was a large man—do youthink he gained any advantage from that?RW: Perhaps, although he always wouldsay that he felt that he had a smallcapacity and he certainly didn’t try toextend his capacity very [much]. Very

recording we did for the MusicalHeritage Society re-released.

ACS: You’re quoted as saying, “AMozart piano concerto is the ultimateinstrumental music.” How do youreconcile your fondness for commission-ing with your preference for the classics?RW: It’s not that I prefer the classics—it’s that I prefer great music and fluterepertoire does not have very much ofit so I’m constantly looking (as arepeople like Carol Wincenc) for theopportunity to add another great pieceto the repertoire for future generations.Unfortunately, our Mozart concertos arenot among his greatest concertos.

ACS: Unlike the clarinet concerto.RW: Exactly. We do have the Nielsenwhich I think is a masterpiece. We havethe Martin Ballade, the DutilleuxSonatine and the Prokofiev Sonata, theSchubert…I feel like I haven’t donenearly enough commissioning but whatI’ve done is to try to identify composersthat would add a great piece of reper-toire like Steve Reich did. Aaron Kernisis writing a concerto for me and I thinkthat may very likely be the one that I’vebeen looking for in terms of a concerto.

ACS: How do you think late 20th centurymusic and early 21st century music willbe viewed by future generations?RW: It’s so hard to say because thereare so many different things happeningnow. I think the very end of the 20thcentury might be viewed as a curiositybecause it looks backwards so much.I’m really glad that it does. Things hadgone way beyond my interest; I’ve neverunderstood the necessity for the twelve-tone system—I just always thought itwas a waste of time. The music thatwas written in twelve-tone almost nevertouches me. I’ve said this in Germany,and gotten a lot of heat for it.

ACS: Even the SchoenbergKammersymphonie?RW: They’re OK. I’d much rather listento early Stravinsky or late John Adamsthan listen to that crap. Sorry, but Ican’t stand it.

ACS: Can you talk about your arrange-ments of Ravel’s Greek Songs? Thatsounds like a dramatic undertaking.

February 2001 — 7

often the students in the class couldplay much longer phrases. He justnever developed that. He liked the ideaof deftly fitting the breath into thephrase so that they felt so natural thatno one noticed them. [That’s] what I tryto teach to my students.

ACS: What do you think is your greatestresponsibility as a teacher?RW: I’m lucky that I teach the age groupI prefer…

ACS: College-age, obviously.RW: No, even later. I teach onlygraduate students. I have them at thevery end of their school time and Ilove that because it’s the point whenthey’re having to try to define theirown way of playing and become theirown teachers. Something I can reallyhelp them with [is] the psychology offinding their own voice and thenmaintaining the quality of their playingwithout the help of a teacher. I thinkthat even if I were teaching youngerpeople, my biggest responsibility wouldbe to help them find their individualvoice while meeting the highestpossible standard.

ACS: What aspects of psychology areyou focussing on?RW: I try to help with psychologicalbarriers. I still feel that I’m overcomingbarriers in my own playing, and thatovercoming those things—like fear—has made me get better. So I try tohelp people overcome their fear offailure in a passage, feelings of inabilityto make a long phrase, feelings ofembarrassment in public, problemswith memorizing. One assumes that bythe time they’re 21 years old they’vepretty much learned to play the flute.I can help them to play better, but I’mnot having to teach them their scales.

ACS: What’s your opinion about thestatus of flute teaching in the Statesin general?RW: It seems pretty good these days.I’m receiving students from all parts ofthe country and they seem fairly wellprepared. There’s a lot of good stuffhappening out there. My point of viewis pretty particular, because mostAmericans are not trying to have aninternational career. For those who are,

there’s a particular path I feel they needto follow, at least for a while, to findout what the international standards are.

ACS: Your career has been vast andvaried—I wonder how you’d like to beremembered?.RW: I don’t know. My biography looksmore like that of an 18th century musicianthan a 20th century musician becausethere’s so much specialization now. Butfrankly, I began to get bored. It’s notthat by sticking only to the flute Icouldn’t have played better and better.I don’t play nearly as well as I could…

ACS: Really?RW: No, I’m too lazy. I feel I hadreached the point where I had to dosomething different because I was toobored. Having worked as a conductorhas particularly helped me enrich myplaying. Now I like my playing betterbecause it’s more influenced by otherthings. I don’t mean that to sound likeI’m better than everyone else; it’s justwhat I needed to do for my playingbecause I was bored with my playing.I think [if I were remembered as] anall-round musician that would be fine.

ACS: I’m sure everyone asks you whichyou would choose if you had to.RW: I haven’t had to choose and that’sa good thing. I’m in line for two musicdirector positions right now and if I wereto win one of them I might have toseriously cut back on playing. It hasn’tcome up yet—I’m able to do a lot ofthings and I never get bored any more.

ACS: Have you parachuted yet?RW: I did! One of my former studentstook me skydiving. I don’t think I’ll doit again. I was doing a tandem divewith an instructor and had he not beenthere I’d be dead now because I forgotto pull the cord; I was having too muchfun. There’s no sensation of fallingwhich is interesting, because you haveno horizontal reference until the veryend when the earth suddenly rushes upto you.

ACS: And as a gardener, I have to askyou, what’s in your garden at themoment?RW: Not a whole lot! I have a bonsaicollection that I work on. The Japanese

�

Hawaiians [have] a whole differentapproach to it, and I have severaltropical bonsai going at the moment.I’m always experimenting with differentplants.

ACS: Would you like the reader to hearanything about the February 25thprogram?RW: There are two really interestingpieces on it. One of the composers youwould probably know, Carl Vine.

ACS: Fantastic! He’s my favoriteAustralian composer.RW: I just conducted the U.S. pre-miere of his piano concerto. There’sa new piccolo piece, too, [by] MichaelDaugherty, called The High and theMighty.

ACS: Thanks for taking the time to talk.It’s been wonderful.RW: Thank you. It’s one of the bestinterviews I ever remember having. ❏

Ann Cecil Sterman is a freelance flutistliving in Manhattan. She has four best-selling solo CDs released on the ABC labelin Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

STOLEN: Burkart-Phelan, Inc.had the majority of itsheadjoint stock and a proto-type piccolo stolen while on asales trip. They were checkedas baggage in Boston andnever arrived in Texas. Theheadjoints will probably stillhave the labels at the top ofthe headjoint by the crownstating the styles and wallthickness of the headjoints.

Info, contact Tim Bower(tim@burkart.com):

Burkart-Phelan Inc.20 Main StreetActon, MA 01720PH (978) 263-7177FAX (978) 263-8187.

8 — NYFC Newsletter

Concerts are at CAMI Hall, 165 West 57th Street, unless otherwise noted. All programs are subject tochange. Tickets $10, only at the door; free to members. For more information, call (212)799-0448.

The New York Flute ClubP.O. Box 20613 • New York, NY 10025-1515

N E W S L E T T E R

October 22, 2000 • Sunday 5:30 pmPAIGE BROOK MEMORIAL TRIBUTE

November 12, 2000 • Sunday 5:30 pmROBERT LANGEVIN, flute

December 10, 2000 • Sunday 5:30 pmINTO THE MILLENNIUMThe “Best of the New”—Highlights fromrecent repertoire

January 28, 2001 • Sunday 5:30 pmFLUTE FORCE: Sheryl Henze, Gretchen Pusch,Rie Schmidt, and Wendy Stern, flutes

February 25, 2001 • Sunday 5:30 pmRANSOM WILSON, fluteCAMI Hall, 165 West 57th Street

March 11, 2001 • Sunday 9:00 am–8:00 pmSeventh Annual FLUTE FAIRRemembering JEAN-PIERRE RAMPALUnion Theological Seminary; 100 ClaremontAve. (between 120th & 122nd Streets)

April 22, 2001 • Sunday 5:30 pm2001 NYFC COMPETITION WINNERS

May 20, 2001 • Sunday 5:00 pmENSEMBLE PROGRAM CONCERTBloomingdale House of Music

2000–2001 Concert Season

Best regards,

Katherine Saenger saenger@us.ibm.com

From the Editor:Greetings! February’s concert features flutist/conductor Ransom Wilson. In this news-letter issue, Ann Cecil Sterman probes Ransom’s opinions on the state of American flute playing inan exceptionally stimulating interview (the best he remembers ever having!). Check it out.

Marya Martin is this month’s Member Profile subject. Like Ransom Wilson, she was a student ofJean-Pierre Rampal, and greatly influenced by him. You can hear more from her about Rampal atthe Flute Fair on March 11. And speaking of the flute fair, a few reminders. By now, you should havereceived your Flute Fair program and registration forms, and, in a separate mailing, applications forthe Young Artists Competition (contact: Patricia Zuber at pgzuber@idt.net or 201-750-7989). Partici-pant slots for the Rampal-style masterclass are still open (contact: Rie Schmidt at rieschmidt@juno.comor Ba

..rli Nugent at 212-749-0097). And don’t forget to volunteer as a Flute Fair helper (contact: Renate

Jaerschky at 914-368-1749).I’m in the process of lining up articles for our April and May issues. Please contact me if there’s

a flute-related topic you’d like to read (or write) about. I can always write something myself— butthe topic I have in mind (the real reason why flutes get flat when they’re cold—with just a fewsimple equations) should surely be enough to encourage some alternative suggestions.

On a more somber note, past Flute Club President Eleanor Lawrence died on January 16th (seeobituary by Nancy Toff on p. 2). At the January 28th concert, Nancy spoke of Eleanor’s long associationwith the flute club, and her kindness to newcomers. I became acquainted with Eleanor in the early’70s, around the time she began her first term as president. I was still a teenager, and playing in a NYFC-arranged flute quartet with several of her students. She took our group under her wing— even me, and she didn’t even know me!—and made us feel like we were important to the Club and had something valuable to contribute. That feeling stayed with me for many years, and I like to think that it is one of the reasons that I am your Newsletter Editor today, a generation later.

February 2001