Great principal flutes - the Americans #5
Episode 5: Sharp, Peck, Kincaid, Dwyer, Baker
In the next four episodes from Au coeur de l’orchestre we’re moving beyond France to survey the historic orchestral flutists of America, Britain, Germany, Israel, Russia and beyond. This week we hear five great American players and their orchestral colleagues, and learn more about the influence of Georges Barrère on the American flute scene.
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My translation and notes for Ep. 5 begin below.
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—the Americans (episode 1 of 4)
Programme ident 00:00. Content commences 00:29
Presenter: Christian Merlin
Hello everyone, and welcome to At the Heart of the Orchestra. A month or so ago, I began the new season with a series devoted to orchestral principal flutes of the past. [In that series] I concentrated on the French school. Now it's time to explore other horizons, this time starting with the United States.
It has to be said that the United States was also influenced by the French school, thanks to one man: Georges Barrère, from Bordeaux, who premiered Debussy's Prelude à l'après-midi d'un faune [at the age of 18] and Edgar Varèse's Densité 21.5 [which he commissioned]. He settled in 1905 in New York where he trained generations of American flautists who were to be found in all the major orchestras.
The first of these, Maurice Sharp, born in 1908 [died 1986], joined the Cleveland Orchestra in 1931, where he remained for 35 years. [Ed. note: a reader who was a student of Maurice Sharp tells me that in fact he was principal for 50 years; an amazing contribution to flute playing.] He is the very elegant and virtuosic flutist on all George Szell's recordings, for example, in this ethereal scherzo from Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Recording 1: 01:29 to 05:41
Felix Mendelssohn
Midsummer Night's Dream, Scherzo
Flute solo : Maurice Sharp
Cleveland Orchestra
Direction George Szell
Label: CBS. / Recorded 1967.
Where does Maurice Sharp breathe in that perpetual motion scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream with Georges Szell? I always wonder whether it's the individuals who make the sound of an orchestra, or whether the collective sound of the orchestra influences the sound of the individuals. Probably a bit of both. Maurice Sharp's playing was ideally suited to Cleveland's particular sound—a clear, chiselled, elegant orchestra.
From the next generation we have Donald Peck [1930-2022], principal flutist in Chicago for almost 40 years, from 1957 to 1999. In Chicago, the sound was always more demonstrative than in Cleveland. Here's how Chicago Tribune critic John von Rhein described Peck's playing, and I quote: "lustrous and penetrating, tender and lyrical, charming and sensual, its hues would put a chameleon to shame. It is one of the most distinct voices in the orchestral choir, blending well with any ensemble even as it serves a key role within the woodwind section.”
John von Rhein isn't the only one to have expressed admiration for Donald Peck; the same is true of his illustrious fellow flutist, Julius Baker, whom I'll tell you about in a few minutes. He called Peck "the greatest flutist I've ever heard."
We’ll hear him with the French music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jean Martinon. Listen as Donald Peck melts in and out of the sound. This is the Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments, Timpani and String Orchestra by composer Frank Martin.
Recording 2: 7:16 to 13:10
Frank Martin
Concerto for 7 wind instruments, timpani, and string orchestra, 1st mvt Allegro
Donald Peck (flute)
Ray Still (oboe), Clark Brody (clarinet), Willard Eliott (bassoon), Dale Clevenger (horn), Adolph Herseth (trumpet), Jay Friedman (trombone), Donald Koss (timpani)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Jean Martinon
Label: RCA. / Recorded 1966.
I chose [this recording of] the Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments by Frank Martin for Donald Peck's flute playing, but we also heard the other members of the wind [and brass] section in the Chicago [Symphony] Orchestra...
When I mention the French influence on American flutists, it's sometimes indirect. Donald Peck, whom you heard just now, studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia with William Kinkaid [1895-1967]. Kinkaid was principal flutist in Philadelphia for 40 seasons from 1921; 14 of those under Leopold Stokowski and 26 under Eugene Ormandy. He was also a pupil of Georges Barrère, and it just so happened that William Kincaid's playing, once again, fitted perfectly with his Philadelphia colleagues. He had a creamy, velvety tone and a magnificent legato, capable of rivalling that of the violins. Ormandy often featured him not only in the great solos, but also in concertos, including those by contemporary American composers, [which he] sometimes premiered.
But here, I'd like you to listen to Kincaid in one of the most beautiful musical moments perhaps ever written for the orchestral flute: the Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.
Recording 3: 14:28 to 18:30
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice
William Kincaid (flute)
Philadelphia Orchestra
Conductor Eugene Ormandy
Label: Sony Classical. / Recorded 1949.
What a gift for flutists. That was Gluck's Orfeo with William Kincaid, principal flute of the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy.
Next, on to Boston, with the sensational arrival of Doriot Anthony Dwyer [1922-2020] as principal flutist in 1952. This was a major event because she was a woman and, in fact, the first woman to hold a principal position in a major American orchestra. Doriot is her first name, and Anthony is her maiden name. And then she married a Mr. Dwyer in Boston. She succeeded Georges Laurent, another Frenchman—and here let me remind you that the Boston Symphony was the most French of American orchestras.
When she joined the orchestra, there were no separate dressing rooms for men and women, so she had to have her own dressing room, while her 104 male colleagues changed in the green room. She was a leading figure in the Boston Symphony, where she remained principal flute until 1990. She passed away in 2020 at the age of 98. A musician of absolute professionalism and purity of playing, perfectly suited to French music, as we hear when she plays Debussy's Syrinx.
Recording 4: 19:49 to 22:27
Claude Debussy
Syrinx
Doriot Anthony Dwyer (flute)
Label: Pentatone / Recorded 1970.
With her expressive vibrato, that was Doriot Anthony Dwyer in Claude Debussy's Syrinx for solo flute.
So, we've looked at Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia; we've just looked at Boston, so we're going for the complete Big Five. All that's missing now is New York. For a long time, the most influential flutist in New York was John Wummer [1899-1977]. [He was] also a pupil of Georges Barrère, playing first at Toscanini's NBC, then from 1942 at the New York Philharmonic. Then, in 1965, Wummer retired and the post became vacant.
Leonard Bernstein, who was Director of the New York Philharmonic, recruited a star: Julius Baker. [Baker was] born in Cleveland in 1915 [died 2003], and like Bernstein was the son of Russian émigrés. He trained at the Curtis Institute, and was initially second flute in Cleveland, then principal flute in Pittsburgh and Chicago. He remained a studio musician for quite a long time, which was very lucrative in those days, until the call came from the New York Philharmonic.
He was also an exceptional teacher and, in his spare time, a top radio amateur, long before the Internet and fiber optics. [In those days] you needed lots of equipment at home to connect to the other side of the world.
The great Marcel Moyse said of Julius Baker that no Frenchman played like him. It was like a dream come true and made him famous. Apart from his innate musicality, he was notable for the breadth of his powerful, voluptuous sound, which was quite new at that time when the flute was seen as rather graceful and delicate. One of his greatest recordings is the solo in Daphnis et Chloé in the version by Pierre Boulez, but I’d prefer to let you listen to him in the Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune conducted by Stokowski.
Recording 5: 24:18 to 27:28
Claude Debussy
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Julius Baker (flute)
Leopold Stokowski Orchestra
Label: EMI. / Recorded 1957.
Julius Baker's magical sound in Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune brings this overview of American orchestral flutists to a close. The programme was made possible by the patience and professionalism of producer Marie Groulx and technical director Bruno Mourlant. We'll be back tomorrow... crossing the Atlantic to take a look at the British flutists.
Broadcast October 2, 20231
Academic citation style: Radio France Musique, Oct 2, 2023, Grandes flûtes solos II—les Américains (1/4), Christian Merlin; tr. and ed. Elisabeth Parry, 2024. Accessed [date]. <https://elisabethparry.substack.com/p/great-principal-flutes-the-americans-ep5>
Thanks for sharing Elisabeth!