The Susan Milan Collection-Flute Archive 1
This utterly fascinating compendium, with admirable notes by Susan Milan, of seven famous flute virtuosos of the past has been transferred from early recordings (Vol. 2 from 1911 to 1927, Vol. 1 extending the period to 1941) with remarkably cleaned-up sound without detracting from the players’ characteristic sonorities. (On each disc one unrestored track has […]
NFA 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award
Susan Milan, born in London to civil servants, has been called the Queen of the Flute. She has led an extremely successful career as a symphony musician, soloist, recording artist, chamber musician, and teacher. She was the first female principal flutist of both the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the first woman […]
The Early Flute Recordings: 1910-1950
An Inspirational Journey into the Past It all started when I was premiering the concerto by Robert Simpson at the Malvern Festival. As if this wasn’t enough excitement for one day, I was talking to a close friend of Bob, called Dick Edwards, after the concert, and he mentioned that he had a large collection […]
The Frog in the Well
The frog lives deep in the well, the only place he has ever known, and looking at at the bright circle of sky he thinks to himself, “I am king of the world and I see and understand all” This year is the 20th anniversary of the death of Marcel Moyse. I was a student […]
Queen of the Flute
Philharmonic Magazine, Beijing, 2006 In the artistic imagery and the music world of fancy, as poignantly portrayed by Chen Yi-fei’s famous painting The Girl Flautist, woman and flute are irrevocably a reflection of romance and beauty. Yet women playing flute, sitting or standing, tend more commonly to display their mannerism, without achieving an exquisite musicality. While more […]
The Influence of the French School of Flute Playing
It has been more than 150 years since Theobald Boehm created the Boehm system flute—a flute made of metal, offering vastly superior intonation compared to earlier designs. The Boehm flute featured a lighter and more agile mechanism than any flute previously known. This remarkable innovation, in my view, laid the groundwork for the emergence of […]
