Great principal flutes - Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Russia, Israel #8
Episode 8: Barwahser, Cambursano, Schulz, Trizno, Shoham
This week Au coeur de l’orchestre surveys some of the great 20th century orchestral principals from around the world—from the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Israel, and Russia. All this week’s recordings are quite early: the earliest is by Boris Trizno in Russia and dates from 1949. We also hear Glauco Cambursano, the principal of La Scala, Milan from the 50s to the 90s in the great ‘Casta Diva’ flute solo. And from 1955 we have Hubert Barwahser from the Netherlands playing the Bach Badinerie at a tempo that sounds very slow to modern ears.
This episode also uses the three movements of the Mozart concerto for flute and harp to showcase three different players—an interesting opportunity to compare and contrast as we hear the complete performance patchworked together.
Next week I’ll be taking a break from translating while I run some courses in the UK, but I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with a five-part series on Jean-Pierre Rampal. This series was created in honour of his centenary and includes nearly 10 hours of his legendary playing—not least, in a duet with Miss Piggy—illustrating different periods of his career. Subscribe below to make sure you receive every episode.
If you’re a new subscriber to the French Flute podcasts you can catch up with previous episodes in the series here. You can also read my posts on other topics on the Flutes Inspired page.
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Au Coeur de l’Orchestre | At the Heart of the Orchestra
A Radio France Musique podcast series presented by Christian Merlin
Great principal flutes II—from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv via Vienna and Leningrad (episode 4 of 4)
Programme ident 00:00. Content commences 00:29
Presenter: Christian Merlin
Hello everyone, and welcome to At the Heart of the Orchestra. This is the fourth episode of my survey of historic principal flutes in orchestras outside France. There are still some countries, such as the Netherlands, missing from my overview. As you can imagine the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam has had some top-class principal flutes—although the first of them is actually German, so we won't be too disoriented [after finishing last week’s episode in Germany].
Hubert Barwahser was recruited by Willem Mengelberg in 1936; before that he was principal flute at the Hamburg Opera. He stayed in Amsterdam until his retirement in 1971, so he lived through the end of the Mengelberg [era], the [Eduard] Van Beinum years and the first 10 years of [Bernard] Haitink. He has a very sober, unshowy style. It's clear that musicality is more important to him than virtuosity.
Recording 1: 1:18 to 3:01
Johann Sebastian Bach
Suite n°2 in B minor BWV 1067, Badinerie
Hubert Barwahser (flute)
Concertgebouw Orchestra
Conductor Eduard van Beinum
Label: Decca / Recorded 1955
[That was] the Badinerie—at a very sedate tempo—from Bach's 2nd suite for orchestra, in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw version conducted by Eduard Van Beinum with Hubert Barwahser on solo flute.
I know you might think I have a strong Germanic bias, and I can hear you ask: "What about Italian orchestras?” Well, if I look at the principal flutes at La Scala in Milan, I have to mention Abelado Albisi, who was principal flute during the [Arturo] Toscanini years. He even invented an instrument that bears his name, the Albisiphone, a kind of bass flute used by certain Italian opera composers such as Mascagni.
From the 1950s, the point when most La Scala operas started to be recorded on disc, it’s also likely that you’ll have heard Glauco Cambursano. Born in Turin in 1936, he was principal flute at La Scala from 1954 to 1996, and was co-founder of what is known as the Filarmonica, the association that enables the La Scala orchestra to give a season of concerts and tour as the Philharmonic Orchestra of La Scala. But when you're principal flute in an Italian opera orchestra, you're expected above all to be able to sing--whether in the mad scene in Lucia di Lammermoor, where you compete with the soprano, or in the introduction to the aria ‘Casta Diva’ in Norma, where the flute sets the scene for the soprano.
Recording 2: 4:39 to 6:23
Vincenzo Bellini
Introduction to the aria Casta Diva from Norma
Glauco Cambursano (principal flute)
Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
Conductor Tullio Serafin
Label: Warner Classics / Recorded 1954.
I’ve been a little naughty here! Everyone's waiting for [Maria] Callas to sing the aria 'Casta Diva', and I’ve taken the floor just as she starts to sing because what I wanted you to hear was the flute solo. There's every chance, even if it's not written on the sleeve, that in this version with Tullio Serafin and the Orchestra of La Scala, it was Glauco Cambursano.
So far I’ve mentioned Germany, but not Austria. As you can imagine, the Vienna Philharmonic has also had its notable flutists. In the 1900s Gustav Mahler was not satisfied with the standard of Viennese flutists and brought in foreigners, in particular the Dutchman Ary Van Leeuwen, who did not stay because he was criticised for being too much of a star. The two principal flutes who shared the desk in 20th-century Vienna were Josef Niedermayr and Hans Reznicek; they were more orchestral players than soloists.
Things really changed in 1970 with the arrival of Wolfgang Schulz. Schulz was at the forefront, with a breathtaking sound as enormous as his stature. We usually think of the principal oboe as the leader of the winds, but when Schulz was there, it was the flute that drew the attention. I remember a programme called 'Comment l'entendez-vous' on France Musique with Claudio Abbado. He was asked: "But what do you think it is about the Vienna Philharmonic that sets it apart from other orchestras?" And he replied, "Listen to Wolfgang Schulz on the flute and you'll understand."
Karajan in an interview explains, and I quote: "Well, there's something about Schulz. When he's around, not only do the flutes play better, but so do all the winds." I should point out, however, that Schulz liked to play practical jokes. One day, he had a solo in the pit, and he played it so thunderously that his colleagues wondered if he’d gone mad. In fact, it was Mother's Day, his mother was in the audience and he wanted her to hear him. Above all, he had a style of playing that wasn't typically Viennese. Typically the Viennese school has a straight sound without vibrato. But Schulz used vibrato. Once again, it has to be said that he claimed to be influenced by his friend Jean-Pierre Rampal and the French school.
Recording 3: 8:40 to 16:36
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for flute and harp, 1st mvt, Allegro
Wolfgang Schulz (flute)
Nicanor Zabaleta (harp)
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor Karl Böhm
Label: Deutsche Gramaphon / Recorded 1973.
[That was] the first movement of Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp, with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Karl Böhm, Nicanor Zabaleta on harp and Wolfgang Schulz on flute.
Schulz was a very great orchestral principal, but he was also a difficult person for conductors to deal with, the kind who didn’t hesitate to show that he knew everything by heart and wasn't going to be taught his job. One day, I asked him if he'd ever been tempted to become a conductor, and he replied: "Oh no, I'd be far too worried about having a Wolfgang Schulz in the orchestra.”
Now I haven’t said anything yet about the Russians. In the Leningrad Philharmonic conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, to whom we owe so many legendary recordings—and not just of Tchaikovsky—the principal flute was Boris Trizno, who was renowned for the radiant clarity of his playing. Here, I invite you to meet him, joined by harpist, Elena Sinitzyna. It's the Concerto for Flute and Harp again, the 2nd movement this time, and Rostropovich is conducting.
Recording 4: 17:38 to 21:49
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for flute and harp, 2nd mvt, Andantino
Boris Trizno (flute)
Elena Sinitzyna (harp)
Leningrad Phiharmonic Orchestra
Conductor Evgeni Mravinsky
Lable: Hänssler Profil / Recorded 1949.
Marie Groulx and Bruno Mourlan [the technical crew] kindly didn't point out to me that the sound recording of this 1949 recording is showing its age. It's true, but it’s an opportunity to hear Boris Trizno on flute here with Elena Sinitzyna on harp.
Finally, a word about one of the orchestras whose history is most marked by the tragedies of the 20th century, the Israel Philharmonic—which I would remind you was founded in 1936 as the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, that is, 12 years before the proclamation of the State of Israel.
The first to hold the post of principal flute in this Palestinian orchestra, whose inaugural concert was conducted by Toscanini, was Uri Toeplitz, a German born in 1912 who emigrated to Palestine in 1936. He had been a pupil of Marcel Moyse, making him yet another example of musical interculturality between the German school and the French influence in Tel Aviv.
Toeplitz taught himself and his successor Uri Shoham, a child prodigy who made his radio debut at the age of 7 in 1938. He was the first Palestinian-born player to hold a solo position in the orchestra. He joined in 1951 at the age of 20 as principal second flute, and it was in 1969 that Zubin Mehta promoted him to principal flute, to succeed his master Toeplitz. Uri Shoham remained with the Israel Philharmonic for 48 seasons, from 1951 to '97. So to bring things full circle, we end with the Concerto for flute and harp, this time the finale. Paul Paray conducts, Judith Liber plays the harp and Uri Shoham plays the flute.
Recording 5: 23:42 to 27:39
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for flute and harp, Rondo
Uri Shoham (flute)
Judith Liber (harp)
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor Paul Paray
Label: Helicon / [No date]
The finale of Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp, performed by flutist Uri Shoham and harpist Judith Liber, and conducted by Paul Paray with the Israel Philharmonic, brings the second part of my panorama of the great orchestral flutists of the 20th century to an end. It's inevitably incomplete, but I've got to stock up [on some new episodes]… Marie Groulx was the producer with Bruno Mourlan on the desk [and] production assistant Soizic Noël.
In my next series of podcast translations we’ve got five episodes devoted to Jean-Pierre Rampal.
Broadcast October 5, 20231
Academic citation style: Radio France Musique, Oct 5, 2023, Grandes flûtes solos II—d’Amsterdam à Tel Aviv en passant par Vienne et Léningrad (4/4), Christian Merlin; tr. and ed. Elisabeth Parry, 2024. Accessed [date]. <https://elisabethparry.substack.com/p/great-principal-flutes-other-countries-ep8>