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Flute at the Proms
T
he London Henry Wood Promenade Concerts (Proms)
has a long-standing relationship with new works that
feature the flute as a solo instrument.
Twenty-seven works composed since 1895, the year
the Proms were founded, are the subject of this article. For
clarification, omissions include early works such as the
Mozart flute concertos, chamber works including Crumb’s Vox
Balaenae, and any recurrent performances of the ‘new’ works.
The period between a world premiere and its appearance at the
Proms is not necessarily a good gauge of the works quality, or
disregard by the festival for that matter, however, amongst the
many factors of programming a festival with the breadth of
music that the Proms integrates, it does address the state of the
flute repertory on an international standing.
Sir Henry J. Wood and Robert Newman founded the Proms
in 1895. Chamber music works by performer-composers were
a prominent feature at the start of the 20th century, including a
world premiere by Donjon, and works by Köhler and Taffanel.
The Observer reported ‘Mr Albert Fransella scored tremendous
success, in pieces by Taffanel and Kohler, for flute’.
Lennox Berkeley
By 1926, the BBC had taken ownership of the Proms. Wood
and Julian Herbage programmed three works during their
tenure, including a world premiere by Lennox Berkeley.
The inclusion of a chamber work by Goossens for flute,
strings and percussion was the UK premiere, just three years
after its first performance in Cincinnati.
The Flute Concerto by Ibert received a positive reception,
The Times reporting ‘the unfamiliarity of a flute concerto by
Ibert called every one to attention. Mr. Geoffrey Gilbert gave
an excellent account of the solo part, which is so well written
for the flute and generally agreeable to the ear as to warrant far
more frequent hearings’.
The third work during Wood and Herbage’s tenure is a work
by Lennox Berkeley, and is the first of three world premieres to
date. The Times ran an article on the 1953 season, noting ‘the
high proportion of new and newish works, many by English
composers’.
Concertgoers who attended a Prom earlier in that week
featuring Handel’s Coronation Anthems were absent from the
programme including the Flute Concerto and a contemporary
work by Martinů. A Times journalist commented, ‘but where
is the sense of adventure among promenaders today that
characterized their predecessors in Sir Henry Wood’s time?’.
This view is reciprocated by Eric Blom of the Observer: ‘Prom
audiences no longer include many people who are curious
about recent development, so that there is a case for making
a discriminating choice of comparatively little new music’.
Blom continues to say that ‘the flute concerto is not just new
and delightful music in a casual way, by a happy accident: it is
deliberately made so by a highly civilised composer’.
Robert Ponsonby took over the mantle from new music
pioneer Sir William Glock in 1973, and was responsible for
programming works by Malcolm Arnold and Claude Debussy.
Khachaturian transcription
From 1986 to 1995, John Drummond took up the role of
directing the Proms. Two more works feature during this time,
a work by Sciarrino, his only appearance at the Proms, in 1989
and Jean-Pierre Rampal’s transcription of Khachaturian’s Violin
Concerto, in 1991. The Violin Concerto to this date has never
been performed at the Proms.
Khachaturian encouraged flautist Jean-Pierrre Rampal to
transcribe the work for flute. Gerald Larner’s damning review
in The Guardian, possibly indicates why it wasn’t programmed
sooner:
TheMahlerarrangements[SongsofaWayfarerbySchoenberg]
werenot,incidentally,thelevelofJean-PierreRampal’sopportunist
conversion of Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto into a vehicle for a
star flautist. Given prodigious playing by James Galway in the
previous Prom with Barry Wordsworth and the BBC Concert
Orchestra, that remains an absurdity. Even Galway’s miraculous
breath control, sensitive phrasing, and phenomenal agility cannot
compensate for the flute’s comparatively limited colour resource,
and with this player too uniform vibrato.
Sir Nicholas Kenyon
Seven new flute works were programmed under Sir Nicholas
Kenyon. Below is the transcript of the interview I conducted
with Kenyon earlier this year:
I am not sure it is a useful category to separate ‘flute works’
from other concertos. (As an ex-bassoonist I don’t think we
managed to include a single bassoon concerto in those seasons for
one reason or another.) The nature and size of the Albert Hall is
one reason in relation to the flute as a solo instrument.
Whether, say, the balance of wind or brass concertos against
others was appropriate I find it difficult to judge: that is to partly
do with their prominence in the repertory. It is also partly, as
A history of new music for flute
at the Proms by James Wilson
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Flute at the Proms
you suggest, to do with performers and their wish to perform
these works, and the number of outstanding flute soloists at any
particular time.
I certainly don’t think the length of time between the premiere
of a work and its first Proms performance is a useful measure:
some of the greatest pleasures at the Proms have come from
reviving works neglected for centuries. And it might suggest that
the Proms ought to pick up every work that has been premiered,
which would of course be impossible. We aimed to commission
some new works (like the Bennett, a rare example of one that did
not materialise), co-commission others and give some UK and
London premieres, and above all to have a high quality threshold
through composers’ reputations and the appeal of their music.
Venues
Ten works have been performed in various venues, with 17
appearing at the Royal Albert Hall. Chamber works featured
in the Proms Chamber Music events include Copland, Villa-
Lobos, Messiaen, Martinů, Dutilleux and Prokofiev. Proms
Composer Portrait concerts, highlighted by incumbent David
Pickard as a way of new music gaining a positive reception,
have featured works by Boulez and Hillborg.
‘Liebermann should be writing natty little musicals’
James Galway premiered American composer, Lowell
Liebermann’s Flute Concerto. Seven years later it appeared at
the Proms, unforeseen by Liebermann, who was unaware that
the piece was a substitution.
Kenyon recalls that ‘the Liebermann was there for a different
reason: we had commissioned a flute concerto from Richard
Rodney Bennett, who wanted to write a flute work for James
Galway. This was what was originally advertised for 1999, but in
the event he was not able to complete it, and so we substituted
the Liebermann at Galway’s suggestion’.
Rodrigo
Another work premiered by Galway was Rodrigo’s Concierto
Pastoral, who said, ‘he produced a really fine work, but I have
to warn you that there just isn’t another piece that hard’. Noel
Goodwin described the work as ‘somewhat vapid in character
[…]; lacking nostalgic charm […]; more suited to rustic pan-
pipes’ – perhaps owing to the 23-year wait at the Proms.
The 2001 Proms focus was on pastoral music, which was
the main reason for its selection, and not because it was a flute
concerto. ‘I think in the event it did not make a great impression’
recalls Kenyon.
It indeed did not make a great impression with Geoffrey
Norris of The Telegraph, who described it as ‘insipid’.
Roger Wright
Roger Wright is arguably the most successful director in
relation to pieces programmed for the flute, ten in all, including
two world premieres.
We also see the appearance of soloist Emmanuel Pahud who
was also instrumental to the promotion of new flute works,
along with conductor Thierry Fischer and the BBC National
Orchestra of Wales, all of which performed works by Dalbavie,
Carter and Holt at the Proms.
This is also true in the work by Jorg Widmann, where the
same personnel were present at the first performance as at the
Proms with soloist Joshua Smith.
The second of two world premieres under Wright, Morpheus
Wakes, was performed in 2014, Emmanuel Pahud’s sixth
appearance.
Simon Holt told me about his journey with Morpheus
Wakes, that took three years to realise its first performance:
Thierry Fischer, the former principal conductor of the BBC
National Orchestra of Wales, is a very good friend of Emmanuel
Pahud. Thierry used to be a flautist in a former life and they
became very close friends. He suggested to Pahud that I should
write a concerto for him. The main and, as far as I know, the
only reason as to why it took so long in coming to the Proms
(Emmanuel felt that it could only be a Proms premiere, because
of the coverage) was a question of diaries and availability. It was
difficult for me in some ways not getting to hear the piece for
three years, but I also realised that, as Emmanuel is one of the
most extraordinary flute players working today, that I should be
prepared to wait. The piece is dedicated to him also. He played it
in a way that I think surprised even him! Staggeringly well. One
of the finest premieres I’ve ever had.
Edward Blakeman
Edward Blakeman shares a connection with Thierry Fischer,
as a flautist in a former life. In his interim post he programmed
the long overdue concerto by Carl Nielsen and Boulez’s
explosante-fixe, also performed in 2015 by Viennese ensemble
Klangforum in Salzburg.
25 August 2015 was the ‘first-ever Proms outing for Nielsen’s
1926 Flute Concerto’ (John Allison, Telegraph). The work has
taken the longest of all the works listed here to reach the Proms,
a fact described by Andrew Clements of The Guardian, as ‘quite
a startling omission for 80-odd years.’
Soloist Emily Beynon told me she was ‘shocked to read
that the work had never been performed at the Proms’. She
also comments on the reception of the work: ‘the sempre forte
marking contradicts the natural orchestral diminuendo, making
it a rather uneasy and abrupt ending for the listener, and
secondly, Nielsen’s musical language is not universal’. However,
Beynon does describe it as one of the big five concertos,
alongside Mozart, Ibert, Reinecke and Jolivet. It is worth noting
that the Reinecke and Jolivet are yet to appear at the Proms so
perhaps the length of time as Kenyon described is not such a
useful measure after all.
New territory
David Pickard took up the appointment as director of the
Proms in May 2015. Pickard told me ‘that there were no firm
plans to programme new flute works at present, however a
number of composers are interested in featuring the flute in
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new works, some of which may well find their way into the
Proms’.
Pickard also spoke about the importance of continuing the
tradition of the Proms by ‘featuring the best contemporary
works being written today’.
I asked Pickard what the main factors considered were
when programming a given work? He responded by saying ‘if
a brilliant flautist has a new work being written for them by
an exciting composer, and there is an orchestra and conductor
interested in giving the world premiere at the Proms, it makes a
very attractive proposition’.
Kenyon, Wright and Blakeman combined have programmed
more than double the works by their predecessors. Last year,
Edward Blakeman achieved the best conversion rate, which
may come as no surprise being a flute player himself. Roger
Wright has been the most prolific director, featuring ten works
during his seven year tenure.
The majority of works have taken less than 30 years between
the world premiere and Proms, 21 works in fact. Ten works
appeared within a decade of the world premiere, demonstrating
the importance that new music has, as well as the appeal of the
flute amongst programmers, composers and audiences alike, in
a festival that has a large remit. A number of works that were
delayed to the festival, such as Khachaturian and Rodrigo, were
as outlined, due to negative press.
Select bibliography
Books
Blakeman, Edward, Taffanel: Genius of the Flute (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2005)
Dickinson, Peter, ed., Lennox Berkeley and Friends: Writings, Letters and
Interviews (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2012)
Doctor, Jennifer R., Nicholas Kenyon and David C. H. Wright, ed., The Proms:
A New History (London: Thames & Hudson, 2007)
Galway, James, Flute (London: Khan & Averill, 1990)
Toff, Nancy, The Flute Book: A Complete Guide for Students and Performers
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2012)
Journal article
Stein, Robert,‘Proms 2014: Holt and Widmann’, Tempo, 69 (2015), 78-79
Newspaper articles
Allison, John,‘Prom 54 BBC Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner, Review:
‘A Taut and Transparent Performance’’, Telegraph, 26 August 2015, <http://
www.telegraph.co.uk/music/classical-music/prom-54-bbc-sympony-
orchestra-edward-gardner-review> [accessed 26 April 2016]
Blom, Eric,‘Promenade Novelties’, Observer, 9 August 1953, p. 6
Clements, Andrew,‘BBCSO/Gardner Review - Poetic Rendering of Loss and
Remembering’, Guardian, 26 August 2015, <http://www.theguardian.com/
music/2015/aug/26/prom-54-bbcsogardner-review-poetic-rendering-of-
loss-and-remembering> [accessed 26 April 2016]
Cole, Hugo,‘RAH/Radio 3: BBC Scottish’, Guardian, 29 August 1978, p. 8
Goodwin, Noel,‘Philharmonia/Mata/Galway’, The Times, 18 October 1978,
p. 11
Lambton, Christopher,‘Classical: Lowell Liebermann Flute Concerto’,
Guardian, 12 August 1999, p. 19
Larner, Gerald,‘A Prom Layered with Symmetry’, Guardian, 31 July 1991, p.
31
Murray, David,‘Stretching a Point’, Financial Times, 20 August 1999, p. 10
Norris, Geoffrey,‘Sharp Shots of Adrenalin’, Telegraph, 20 August 2001,
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4725158/Sharp-shots-of-adrenalin.
html> [accessed 27 April 2016]
‘Prom Concert: Two Contemporary Concertos’, The Times, 30 July 1953, p. 10
‘Promenade Concerts’, Observer, 4 September 1898, p. 7
‘Promenade Concerts: Ibert’s Flute Concerto’, The Times, 20 January 1949,
p. 7
‘Promenade Concerts: Syllabus of Fifty-Ninth Season’, The Times, 23 June
1953, p. 2
Performance databases
British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Radio 3 - BBC Proms - Proms
Performance Archive, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive> [accessed 4
October 2015]
Salzburger Festspiele, Salzburg Festival / Archive, <http://www.
salzburgerfestspiele.at/en/archive> [accessed 26 April 2016]
Flute at the Proms
Proms performances of new flute works by venue
Grolloo Flute Session 2
August, 24th
- 28th
, 2016
Matthias Ziegler, Ian Clarke and
Wissam Boustany are presenting
the second edition of this innova-
tive flute course, together with Eva
Kingma, Leon Berendse and Tim
Carey.
Participants will be exploring
many performance and
practice issues in fully
interactive discussions and
workshops. Five full days
of inspired music-making
and vibrant exchanging
of ideas in Grolloo, The
Netherlands.
This course is seeking to give
advanced players an opportunityto
analyse and develop their playing
in an atmosphere of openness,
respect and curiosity.
Price: € 595 (Listeners: € 295)
Check the website for details:
http://www.grollooflute.com
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