Choosing a Flute

In Reply to: Muramatsu posted by Ryan on April 16, 2003 at 20:33:41:

Muramatsu have been my choice of flutes for years and have found them to be consistently excellent. They have a rich even tone throughout all registers. The mechanism is very solid and this is important if you are planning on having a finger technique with a high degree of velocity.

I can already hear people say " but you are James Galway and they go the extra mile for you". This is not true. All the flutes I have ever bought were direct from Muramatsu or from Top Wind in London, UK. In London, at Top Wind, they have a great selection, and an excellent staff to assist you with your purchase. There is no way Top Wind can think that I am going to breeze in and buy a flute, so I can truthfully say that the flute I bought from them was intended for the general market. Just in case you think I play only precious metal flutes, let me tell you that I have a silver plated student model with a silver head and it is excellent. Before bought it I asked the Muramatsu engineers how long they thought I would be able to play on this flute before it would wear out ant they told me 15 years. Considering the beating I give a flute on a daily basis I thought this was very good at the price. ( This works out at around 36 pence a day which is not bad for a flute of this quality.)

I have tried the flutes of other professional colleagues and think some of them are better! There are many people in the business who play Muramatsu. Andreas Blau, who plays in the Berlin Phil, played a Muramatsu his whole life as do many other players in the big orchestras. It would be interesting to me to see a list of who plays what and in which orchestra. Davide Formisano, solo flutist in La Scala in Italy, a great player, also plays a gold Muramatsu as does Michael Parloff in the Met ... and so on.

At one point a friend of mine Raffaele Trevisani, an excellent teacher and player in Milan, Italy, wanted a head-joint from me and I just let him choose one from all my flutes. I now have the head which came from his flute and he has one which was on my flute. I don't even know which one it is anymore. I tell you this just so you know that I do not really care about head-joints if they are made by Muramatsu as they have a consistent high standard. I always play the flute with the head-joint which comes on it.

Hopefully this will help you in the choice of a flute.

Sir James