Philippe gaubert biography of william
by Eileen Gilligan
It all started with the Boehm system flute and the French School of flute playing. The Boehm system made from metal and with larger tone holes enabled a bigger tone and more resonance than the Baroque wooden flute with few keys.
The French School with Taffanel and Gaubert explored timbre, vibrato and a lyrical singing approach to tone and playing. Every note was important and needed to sing through.
Madrigal played by Philippe Gaubert.
This was carried on by Marcel Moyse, no doubt the greatest influence on playing this century. He has written over 32 tutorial books to impart his thinking, musicality, and technical finesse to generations of flute players. His recordings are a legacy to be treasured.
Evening Primrose played by Marcel Moyse. Probably my favourite of his recordings.
Moyse produced some wonderful students such as William Bennett, Trevor Wye, James Galway, Paula Robison etc. I was truly fortunate to spend two years with William Bennett, and these two years changed everything for me.
J. S. Bach Harpsichord Concerto played by William Bennett.
It was the first time I heard a tone on the flute that was so rich and intense I thought the flute was going to jump out of his hands, amazing!! This was the start of my never-ending journey to get the flute to sing like a voice and to pursue other instruments characteristics like string players.
To bridge the gap between the inner musical expressive soul and the physical instrument has been my focus every day and has led to the website series The Flautist.
All of Moyse tutorial books are fantastic but he has two books, 24 Little Melodic Studies and Tone Development Through Interpretation that are an amazing resource for players to build a strong foundation on. These books approach expression, articulation, tone, and dynamic control as well as developing the players musical intelligence from two different perspectives.
24 Little Melodic Studie
Person
Philippe GaubertComposer , Conductor
Life
Born: 1879-07-05, France
Died: 1941-07-08, France
Information: Wikipedia
This article was originally published in the Fall 2022 issue of the classical music online quarterly, Liner Notes. I have been given permission to reproduce it by the editor and founder of the magazine, Joe Moore.
With much appreciation to Joe, enjoy Thomas Wolf’s wonderful examination of the lives and careers of two of the most influential flutists of the 20th Century. Also, please consider subscribing to Liner Notes for only $20/year: https://www.joffewoodwinds.com/woodlinks/liner-notes.
William Kincaid and Marcel Moyse
Flutists Who Changed the World
by Thomas Wolf
Introduction: Musical Geneology and the Flute
Great instrumentalists generally have distinct musical personalities. Such is certainly the case with William Kincaid and Marcel Moyse who many regard as two of the greatest flutists of the twentieth century. Through their performing and teaching, individuals of such stature establish unique playing traditions that are carried forward by their pupils into subsequent generations. Often, a lot can be gleaned by considering their forebears as well—those who teach great instrumentalists like Kincaid and Moyse. One can learn much about how musical style, technique, and repertoire selection came about. Differences in traditions and performance practice were definitely more prevalent a hundred years ago before recordings led to more uniform ways of playing. But recordings have been extremely valuable in documenting traditions laid down in earlier eras and happily with Kincaid and Moyse and even some of their teachers, there are plenty to choose from. Looking back, we can actually trace musical lineages. But with these two great flutists, there is a certain irony. Given how different Moyse and Kincaid were as musicians, it is hard to believe that they emanated from a single musical tradition associated with a definite country, a certain city, a particular conservatory, and specific influential teachers.
Two giants at the Paris Conservatory—Paul ProfileArticles
William Bennett in conversation with Edward Blakeman
William Bennett was born in London. His parents were both artists (his father worked as an architect) and he had early ambitions to follow in their footsteps. At the age of 12, however, he began to play the flute and went on to become a pupil of Geoffrey Gilbert at the Guildhall School of Music. In 1958 he won a French Government Scholarship to Paris, where he studied with Fernard Caratge and Jean-Pierre Rampal, and at the end of his time there won a medal at the International Music Competition in Geneva. During the 1960's he also studied with Marcel Moyse.
He began his orchestral career as a member of the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra. He later joined Sadlers Wells Orchestra and was then principal flute for some years in the London Symphony Orchestra. He now plays with the English Chamber Orchestra and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and devotes much of his time to his solo career and to chamber music. He has played in the Prometheus and Vesuvius Ensembles, been a frequent guest artist in the Melos Ensemble and is now a member of the newly formed Dartington Ensemble. He also had duo partnerships with Clifford Benson (piano), George Malcolm (harpsichord), and Osian Ellis (harp).
William Bennett has made numerous recordings and given master-classes in many countries. Since 1983 he has been Professor of Flute at the Hochschule in Frieburg im Breisgau. His many experiments in improving flute design have resulted in instruments now being produced with the William "Bennett Scale" by various makers in the USA, Great Britain and Taiwan.
William Bennett is one of life's enthusiasts and an altogether larger-than-life character! (If you look him up in the International Who's Who you will find his hobbies listed as "winemaking and cockroach-baiting"!) I spent a v