He was a virtuoso flautist born in Marseille, France. His father was the flautist Joseph Rampal, who was the Professor of Flute at the Marseille Conservatoire and Principal Flute for the Marseilles Symphony Orchestra. He studied at the Marseilles Conservatoire and gave his first public recital when he was 16. By that time he was playing second flute to his father in the Orchestre des Concertes Classiques de Marseilles.
In WWII he entered medical school and studied there for 3 years, but he was drafted into forced labour in the Nazi occupation of France. He went AWOL and made his way to Paris in secret where he frequently changed his lodgings to avoid detection.
He enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire, where he would later become a professor and once the war had finished he was asked to perform the demanding “Flute Concerto” by Jacques Ibert on French National Radio.
He became known throughout Europe and he made his US debut with a recital of Poulenc, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Prokofiev in Washington D.C.
Throughout his career as a soloist, he also remained a dedicated ensemble player and in 1846 he formed theQuintette a Vent Francaise with the oboist Pierre Pierlot. He was also the Principal Flute at the Paris Opera which is traditionally the most prestigious orchestral position open to a French flautist.
He collected and studied obscure music from the Baroque era and was also the first to record all of Bach’s flute sonatas and all of Vivaldi’s flute concertos. He was known as the “Man with the Golden Flute”, owning and playing the only known gold flute.
He died from heart failure in Paris in May 2000 aged 78.
I Solisti Veneti recordings
Concerto for Flute and Orchestra in A major (Guiseppe Matteo Alberti)
Sony Classical SK 47228 (CD: Italian Flute Concertos)
Conductor – Claudio Scimone
Flute – Jean-Pierre Rampal
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