Search - The Art of Jean-Pierre Rampal - Radio Canada Telecasts 1956-66 on DVD

Is there a Comparable from the Winds?

BLee | HK | 09/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I hesitated because I already have one DVD played by Galway and, it's rather expensive. Anyway, I bought it. But I couldn't finish it in one go, not just because it's rather long, but becasue of it's primitive production. The first part wasn't too good. The footage was as bad as one could imagine and so was the photography. Don't expect to see Rampal's embrochure, the picture quality is so poor that you have to use your own imagination to figure out what exactly it was. Most of the time, we have too wide an angle with only a few close-ups. And when we do, it's just a profile and then shot from such an angle (e.g. in Couperin for no apparent reason, and in Haydon, in order to cover the harpsichord ) that we only have 3/4 of the profile, about 1/3 or 1/4 of his mouth! There are some nice shots from Bach though. Anyway, the support Rampal got from the orchestra also leaves much to be desired.BUT, if you want to have a glimpse of this Maestro, you dont have much choice. There aren't much devilish technique (in the narrow sense), not even in his cadenzas. Some beautiful tonguing, yes and of course an immense sense of musicality. He may not be as expressive as Schwarzkopff, one of the century's top sopranos, and it's as intriquing as Szryng, if not because of the limitations of the instrument. He is so close to any of the two. The colour of his tone is such that it has a life of it's own. And in different piece, you get almost a completely different tone as though it's a different kind of instrument. And the secret of this Maestro, other than his musicality, lies in the absolute control of his breath.So the result, the second time I went back to it, I finished it in one breath. A whole world of difference from any other flutist in film so far. Wood wind, or any wind players or even vocalists or string players won't want to miss this great performances. The sound is however barely acceptable. 5 stars, despite poor picture qualities."