"Give us 'the Bucks'!" (Matt Molloy video)

[Bart Wijnen]

i'd take Rampal to Galway any day.

Yep, I fully agree.

And Maxence Larrieu and Alain Marion and all those other Frenchmen who play the boehm-flute so subtle.

Bart

[Henke]

jigs and reels are relatively simple to play compared to what James Galway can play. For most Competent Flautists not in my case though.

James Galway can play things the rest of us could only dream about and not just on penny whistle but on fife, old system, simple sytem and Hes the master of the Boehm.

Does Matt Molloy get to play a lot with Symphony Orchestras and does he have a Golden flute?

David

Are you serious?

First of all, it's not the tune you play, it's what you do with it. And Matt Molloy does things to simple jigs and reels that James Galway couldn't even dream of.

I'm pretty sure Matt has played with Symphony Orchestras, not the way that Galway has, but why would he? He's a trad musician. Do you think James Galway has ever played a serious Irish Session? He might or might not have, but not the way that Molloy has, it's basically the same comparision.

[Denny]

I am surprised that you are privy to James Galway's dreams!



It seems like that would be so odd.

[AaronMalcomb]

Yes their sure is here he is in fornt of an orchestra playing a penny whistle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAYXsFR ... ed&search=

Wow, and he does it during an earthquake nonetheless. An what is that noise early on in the clip?

Here's Mr. Galway chatting it up with Gene Shalit. If you ever wanted to hear Mancini played on the whistle here's your chance. Actually I think it's the same tune as played during the earthquake followed by what sounds like the theme to The Munsters.

How about Galway treating us to Londederry Air?

[Nanohedron]

Yes their sure is here he is in fornt of an orchestra playing a penny whistle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAYXsFR ... ed&search=

Wow, and he does it during an earthquake nonetheless. An what is that noise early on in the clip?

Interestingly, the title of the clip calls him "Jimmy G". The jig he's playing has been called the "Pennywhistle Jig" on a Boston Pops 4th of July TV segment that I saw some years back. Masterfully played as it was, I disliked it mightily from the time I heard it. The name didn't help one bit, either. That, and its melodic layout, made me think of not so much Irish music as a parody.

And I really, really want to like the guy. But what does that matter? He's making a living, and there's a market for him.

[rama]

Yes their sure is here he is in fornt of an orchestra playing a penny whistle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAYXsFR ... ed&search=

Wow, and he does it during an earthquake nonetheless. An what is that noise early on in the clip?

Interestingly, the title of the clip calls him "Jimmy G". The jig he's playing has been called the "Pennywhistle Jig" on a Boston Pops 4th of July TV segment that I saw some years back. Masterfully played as it was, I disliked it mightily from the time I heard it. The name didn't help one bit, either. That, and its melodic layout, made me think of not so much Irish music as a parody.

And I really, really want to like the guy. But what does that matter? He's making a living, and there's a market for him.

i just hope he doesn't get any "stage presence" ideas from mr. flatley

[Cathy Wilde]

Y'all make me laugh.

[peeplj]

Different worlds, folks. Apples and oranges. Never the twain, and all that.

I do agree on Rampal: he was a true master in so many ways, and he is greatly missed. He led a remarkable life and was almost single-handedly responsible for the modern revival of interest in Baroque music.

Very few musicians have the world-wide impact of a J.P. Rampal.

--James

[Cathy Wilde]

Amen to that. When I was a wee flute nerdette, I heard Rampal in recital where he played "Sakura", followed by Demersseman's (argh! I can't remember how to spell it, and how many hours did I spend staring at that stupid page?) "Carnival of Venice Variations."

And some people thought he didn't have much of a sense of humor.

[AaronMalcomb]

I was hoping for some YouTube footage of Rampal. The only thing I could find was this Haynes demo video that has a few seconds of Mr. Rampal at the end.

[RudallRose]

the flute is not a Rudall
The keywork is all wrong for a Rudall, notably the foot keys.
Post-mount Rudalls were more a smattering mixed in with the block-mount variety.
And the body is solid, something the Rudalls didn't do until the cylindrical flute body came to be.

The firm did make Eb flutes, but not many compared to the D concert.

Frankly it has many Pratten-esque qualities.

If I had to stab at a guess, I'd say it's a Hawkes.
But....

dm

[Blackwood]

The keywork looks like some of the older German flutes I've seen. I also remember Molloy mentioning once about an old Eb German flute he used to play, so maybe this is the one...speculative of course...

[RudallRose]

you're right, sven
i thought so, too....except i've never seen an early German flute in the one-piece Pratten style.
otherwise i thought it might be German.

There are some English flutes of the late 1800s that I've located in the last few days that seem to match that unusual and distinct foot-key set up, in the Pratten single-body style.

Still, hard to say.

guess we'll just have to ask him.

[bradhurley]

David I think your original hunch of it being a Hawkes may be right...I seem to remember vaguely hearing him talk about having two Hawkes flutes, one in Eb (this one) and one in Bb (really closer to B), which can also be heard on most of his recordings.

Gotta keep the flute mystique alive...could you imagine how people would feel if it turned out the black album was recorded on a German flute?!

On the original LP of Heathery Breeze, if I'm not mistaken, he mentioned the makes of his flutes. I gave that album away ages ago and the Shanachie CD in typical fashion doesn't include that information.

Of course, Patrick Olwell probably knows who made this Eb flute, so someone could just ask him. Or Matt's son Peter in Boston.

[Cathy Wilde]

Hey, thanks for the background! I was wondering about the provenance of his Bb -- its tuning sounded bright to me on the earlier recordings.

I wonder if he has a different Bb now? It seems to have a different character on his more recent recordings -- more, well, Wilkesean or Olwellian, nowhutImean?

That would be funny, one of the greatest Irish flute recordings of all time on a German flute. But hey, 'whatever works' -- that's part of the tradition too, innit?