05/16/2022
My email to Michie and tribute to the great William Bennett
Dear Michie
Please accept my deepest condolences. There are not enough words to express the feeling of great loss we all feel. In the few interactions I had with Wibb, it was clear I was in the presence of greatness. He was always searching for more information, and probing the intonation problems of the flute. His playing was simply the best and many times I slammed on the brakes in my car when Wibb soared through the texture of the ECO or LSO etc with his signature tone. It was his scintillating musicality, and perfect intonation that stood out.
The recordings are mind- boggling. The book “Wibb” is simply proof of his probing mind. He explored every aspect of flute design to which he made a huge contribution: including pitch and head joint cuts. Sheer genius, really.
I remember the Prom concerts during which Wibb participated in the Sinfonia Concertante of Mozart, Robert Levin transcription with my husband George Cleve conducting the ECO. The tour continued to Cologne where I sat in various vantage points in the hall for multiple concerts. Wibb wore a bright red vest so he was easy to spot. He also sat on stage during the interval and tuned every note he was to play on the second half (a Mozart piano concerto with Mitsuko Uchida) with his hand over one ear. He was spectacularly wonderful every night, his tone effortlessly soaring through the hall. Beautifully phrased and perfectly in tune. Unforgettable.
I’ve sent my pupils to his classes and they’ve returned with a trove of special fingerings and Wibb stories. I remember when George and I attended a flute class at the Royal Academy of Music. It lasted from 9 am to 6 pm with a small break for lunch. Wibb’s energy was astounding. I remember he stopped one flutist 18 times because his repeated low A’s in the beginning of the Bach Partita were not in tune. Wibb let me play his Louis Lot flute with open G #.
He could switch easily. Trevor Wye was there. George and I joined them for lunch and I witnessed their private parlay…
One of my pupils returned from a Wibb class and said “Isn’t that intonation stuff a bit over the top?”
I said, “No. it’s everything.”
Wibb left so much to all of us on this planet. There is no way to express my appreciation here. I feel for you, Michie, and hope that somehow all of the love and appreciation from the flute community will bring some peace.
With deepest sympathy,
Maria Tamburrino
