Great principal flutes - the French school #2

Episode 2: Pépin, Crunelle, Larrieu, Caratgé

Welcome back to the Radio France Musique flute podcast series which I have translated and annotated for you. This week in Grandes flûtes solos—l’école française (Great principal flutes—the French school) we’ll be hearing about André Pépin, Gaston Crunelle, Maxence Larrieu, and Fernand Caratgé, and once again listening to some historical recordings of these great players.

If you’re a new subscriber, a special welcome and thank you so much for joining me. You can catch up with previous episodes in the series here. My introduction to Episode 1 gives a bit of background information to the series plus notes on my approach to the translation. You can also read my other posts on the Flutes Inspired page.

The play button below will take you to the podcast on the Radio France website. Once there, click on the pink > écouter button to listen.

My translation and notes for Ep. 2 begin below.

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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—the French School (episode 2 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 week, I'm going back to the roots of the French flute school by way of its great orchestral flutists. We left off [in episode 1] with Fernand Dufrêne, principal flute of the Orchestre National from 1934 to 1974.

If I tell you that I'm now going to talk to you about the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, you'll say, “but we're not in France anymore!” and you'd be right. Far be it from me to annex Geneva, however, under the direction of Ernest Ansermet, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR) had a distinctly French aesthetic. Above all, its principal flute, the legendary André Pépin [1907-1985], was indeed French.

Born in Bordeaux in 1907, he too was a pupil of Gaubert, as were Dufrêne, [Marcel] Moyse and [Lucien] Lavaillotte. André Pépin joined the OSR in 1932 and remained there until 1971—during exactly the same period that Dufrêne was at the [Orchestre] National. As a teacher at the Geneva Conservatoire, he too became a legend.

I propose to listen to him, not in one of the orchestral warhorses such as Daphnis et Chloé or [Prélude à] l’Après-midi d'un faune, but in Ballade by the Genevan composer Frank Martin, composed in 1939.

Recording 1:  01:40 to 09:42

Frank Martin
Ballade for flute and orchestra
André Pépin (flute)
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Directed by Ernest Ansermet
Label: Cascavelle. Recorded 1958.

Frank Martin's Ballade for flute and orchestra is at once lyrical and virtuosic, but above all, melancholy.

Ansermet, who conducted the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, also directed the OSR's wind section, known in Switzerland as ‘Les Souffleurs’ [The Blowers]. These principals [of Les Souffleurs] were often also conductors. André Pépin, for example, directed the Ondine wind band, but above all he was a fabulous principal flute, as you've just heard.

I've often referred to the Paris Conservatoire as a nursery for all the great flutists who have played in French orchestras, thanks to its master professors. So, let me recap the teachers: Philippe Gaubert, professor from 1920 to 1932; followed by Marcel Moyse in 1932. When [Moyse] went into exile during the war he was not replaced so that he could be reinstated on his return.

However, another class was created in 1941, which was entrusted to Gaston Crunelle [1898-1990], also a northerner [like Moyse], from Douai. He continued to teach there until 1969. That was enough time to train (hang on to your hats!) Jean-Pierre Rampal, [Sir] James Galway, Maxence Larrieu, [and] Michel Debost—and I'm only mentioning the top of the heap here.

Crunelle was principal flute at the Opéra-Comique, where he had succeeded Marcel Moyse. He played chamber music in the quintet founded by the great harpist Pierre Jamet, about whom I spoke at length in the programme on great orchestral harpists. I mentioned then that he had recorded Mozart's concerto for flute and harp. This time, I invite you to focus on the flute (though, of course, ideally you should listen to both).

Recording 2:  11:29 to 17:31

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for flute and harp, 1st mvt, Allegro
Gaston Crunelle (flute)
Pierre Jamet (harp)
Studio orchestra directed by Gustave Cloëz [Recorded 1957; this recording re-released by] Timpani, 2007

[That was] Pierre Jamet on harp and Gaston Crunelle on flute in the first movement of Mozart's Concerto for flute and harp.

When I touched on Crunelle, the teacher, I mentioned a few names of students who went on to prestigious careers. Among these was Maxence Larrieu, a native of Marseilles, born in 1934, who first studied in his hometown with Joseph Rampal—yes, that’s right, Jean-Pierre's father—before moving to Paris and winning both the Geneva and Munich competitions in spectacular style.

You may have noticed that I like to trace “family trees” in this program, and here's a double one, since Larrieu followed his master, Gaston Crunelle, as principal flute at the Opéra-Comique. He later succeeded André Pépin, whom I introduced earlier, as a professor at the Geneva Conservatoire. He would also later teach at the newly created CNSM [Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse] in Lyon.

Larrieu was at the Opéra-Comique, but he was part of the generation that saw the dissolution of what was known as the RTLN (Réunion des Théâtres Lyriques Nationaux). So, in 1973/1974, the Opéra and Opéra-Comique orchestras merged. Thus we found ourselves with two principals per section.

Larrieu was also a top-flight concert soloist who benefited from the impetus his colleague Jean-Pierre Rampal gave to the flute as a virtuoso instrument. His style was different to Rampal's extravert one, more elegant and sober. Let's listen to him in Beethoven's Serenade with the Trio Grumiaux.

Recording 3:  19:13 to 22:31

Ludwig van Beethoven
Serenade for flute and string trio, 1st mvt, Entrata
Maxence Larrieu (flute)
Trio Grumiaux (Arthur Grumiaux, violin, Georges Janzer, viola, Eva Czako, violoncello)
Label: Philips. [Recorded 1969.]

[That was] Maxence Larrieu, soloist in Beethoven's Serenade for flute and string trio, with the Trio Grumiaux.

I've talked mainly about the Opéra and Opéra-Comique, but not much about other organisations. At the same time, for example, at the Concerts Colonne, we had Gaston Blanquart and Georges Barrère; and at [Orchestre] Lamoureux, there was Jean Boulze [1890-1969],  who was also at the Opéra.

As you know, I like to do my research for this show, and I've found absolutely nothing about Jean Boulze, not the slightest biographical note. So, if you have any information on this flutist, I'd love to hear it. What I do know is that he was succeeded at the Orchestre Lamoureux by Fernand Caratgé [1902-1991], a native of Béziers and a pupil of Gaubert (you must be getting used to that by now!).

[Caratgé] played at the Orchestre Lamoureux from 1935 to 1962 and at the Opéra-Comique from 1951 to 1968. He began his career in Bucharest. He played a silver Powell flute, not a Louis Lot like most of his colleagues. He taught, both as Gaston Crunelle's assistant at the Paris Conservatoire, and [for most of his career] as a tenured professor at the École Normale de Musique.

Fernand Caratgé attached great importance to tone. He used to tell his students not to worry about the sound of air around the embouchure, but to focus on the centre of the sound. He was a marvellous flutist who was without doubt held back in his solo career because he had a club foot and had to play sitting down. He was somewhat bitter about it, although quite charming according to the testimony of his pupils. The quality of his playing began to decline when his favorite nickel silver headjoint became damaged and unusable. Naturally, the mouthpiece is a critical factor for any wind player.

So now, let's listen to Fernand Caratgé with his Lamoureux colleague, Roger Bourdin.

Recording 4:  24:21 to 27:21

Johann Sebastian Bach
Sonata in G major for two flutes
Fernand Caratgé and Roger Bourdin (flutes)
Label: Le Chant du Monde. Recorded 1955.

Fernand Caratgé died a poor man, and rather sadly apparently. Here, you heard him with someone we'll be talking about a lot [next time], Roger Bourdin, playing Johann Sebastian Bach's Sonata in G major for 2 two flutes.

Philippe Petit directed this programme, Matthieu Leroux mixed it meticulously, Soizic Noël is the production manager, and I look forward…to continuing our conversations about flutists, historical flutists, French flutists.

Broadcast August 29, 2023¹

I hope you enjoy the podcasts as much as I have. And if you know something about that mystery flute player, Boulze, do let me know in the comments below.

1. Academic citation style: Radio France Musique, Aug 29, 2023, Grandes flûtes solos—l’école française (2/4), Christian Merlin; tr. and ed. Elisabeth Parry, 2023. Accessed [date]. <https://elisabethparry.substack.com/p/french-flute-podcast-ep2>