We flautists have traditionally enjoyed a small but perfectly formed concerto repertoire. Most of us play the two Mozarts, in G and D respectively – that the latter was originally written for oboe is of no consequence to us! – as well as his Concerto for Flute and Harp. Then there are the eight Vivaldi concertos, including the programmatic La tempesta di mare, La notte and Il gardellino, and, more recently, the Nielsen and the Ibert. Perhaps less played are concertos by Telemann, Haydn, Khachaturian (another transcription, this time from the original violin concerto) and Ibert. While an internet search will reveal many more concertos than those I’ve just listed, the reality is that few of them have entered the mainstream concert repertoire. 

Someone who has recorded all the warhorses, and many other works besides, is Emmanuel Pahud. The Berlin Philharmonic’s principal flautist prioritises solo performance and recording as part of his schedule and his exclusive 15-year partnership with EMI Classics has resulted in one of the most significant contributions to recorded flute music. But Pahud has long been frustrated with the limited flute concerto repertoire and, since 2006, has been actively commissioning new works. Why 2006? 'It was Mozart Year and I decided not to play any Mozart concertos,' recalls Pahud. 'I had been playing so much Mozart and I thought, "Let’s play something else." I had this plan to commission three concertos. It’s important to give living composers a chance to write new works.'

The composers he approached were Michael Jarrell and Marc-André Dalbavie (Swiss and French respectively, reflecting Pahud’s heritage) and Matthias Pintscher, because of Pahud 'being active for 15 years in the German music world'. He recorded all three for EMI in 2008; the Dalbavie is receiving its London premiere at this year’s Proms alongside Elliott Carter’s Flute Concerto, of which Pahud gave the first performance under Daniel Barenboim in Jerusalem in 2008 and which now receives its UK premiere. How difficult is it to perform a new concerto? 'It’s a challenge,' Pahud admits. 'You can work much faster if you take a piece from where someone else left off. If I don’t have a past performance to refer to I have to do all the work myself from scratch.' 

One of the reasons for the limited flute concerto repertoire from the Romantic period in particular is that the instrument developed much later than string instruments and, thus, the necessary power to project over an orchestra was lacking. Nowadays this is not the case – Pahud plays on a flute by renowned makers Brannen-Cooper, with a 14ct gold Sheridan head joint adding even greater colour of sound – and he believes that the challenges facing a flautist are no different to those facing a string player or a singer. 'On any project where you have an individual struggling with a huge orchestra there’s the issue of projection. The specific quality of great soloists is to have this amazing density of sound to allow it to project even through the thickest orchestral texture.' 

The relevance of the flute’s development is that composers writing for the instrument today no longer feel they have to display the instrument’s capability for technical wizardry and nothing else. Beauty of tone counts for just as much. 'Neither the Carter nor the Dalbavie are very experimental in terms of extended techniques,' admits Pahud, 'and the Carter in particular is using the flute with its natural tone. But that’s a great thing – composers recognise the quality and essence of the flute. A flute concerto shouldn’t be a study on how to expand technique, although of course, if the musical language requires it, it’s a fantastic thing to do.' 

At the same time, appreciating beauty of tone should not be confused with the traditional perception of the flute as a 'pretty' instrument. '"Pretty" is very nice but rather limited in terms of expression,' says Pahud. 'Certainly how it’s played today has not much to do with how it was played as salon music in Mozart’s time. Thanks to Marcel Moyse, Jean-Pierre Rampal and others, the flute has evolved as a powerful, expressive instrument.' 

For Pahud, who continues to commission flute concertos from composers of all nationalities – he’s currently working with British composer Simon Holt – the most important result of his work is that fellow flautists are enjoying playing new music. Both the Dalbavie, which Pahud describes as 'a continuation from the Ibert, which set the standard for virtuosity in the 1920s', and the Carter – an 'unbelievably rich' piece in which 'the music organises itself gradually' – have been taken up by flautists all over the world. 'They’re obviously pleasing to listen to and offer something that players are interested in,' says Pahud. 'But the baby has to grow by itself. If I manage to commission 20 works in my life and only one of them stays in the repertoire, it will have been worthwhile.'

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