Mentor To A Rising Star
After the war, Joseph remained a mentor to his son who was by then emerging as a soloist of note on the national stage. Once, in 1946, Joseph was asked to play a flute solo with the Marseille Orchestra but, wishing to encourage his son’s burgeoning career, he persuaded the conductor to allow Jean-Pierre to play in his place. It was also with Joseph’s help in 1948 that the young Jean-Pierre found the money to buy from an antiques dealer the only solid gold flute in existence made by the famous 19th century French craftsman Louis Lot. It had become available by chance and, having acquired it, his son Jean-Pierre sent the flute to his father who then worked for hours to re-assemble the instrument and restore it to working order. "He worked all the day and night," reported Rampal junior; "he called me in the morning and said it was a fantastic flute. He couldn't sleep before; he made the pads and everything." Jean-Pierre went on to perform and record with it for eleven years until the late 1950s.
Following Jean-Pierre Rampal’s early success as a soloist, Joseph made several recordings with his son. Among the earliest is a 1951 recording of Beethoven’s Allegro and Menuet for two flutes. Later, father and son appeared together on recordings of Reicha's Quartet in D Major for four flutes (Opus 12), along with Maxence Larrieu and with Alain Marion, another of Joseph’s students in Marseille. A recording with Jean-Pierre of Vivaldi's concerto in C major for two flutes (P.76) was made towards the end of Joseph’s playing career.
According to Jean-Pierre Rampal, his father remained a constructive critic right to the end, remarking that if only Jean-Pierre had practiced more he could have made an even better career for himself. Joseph Rampal died in Paris in January 1983, aged 87. Notice of his death appeared in the New York Times, 14 January 1983, an occurrence that reflects the enormous popularity in America by then achieved by the son, whose early career Joseph Rampal did so much to shape. He is buried in Montparnasse cemetery in Paris alongside his wife Andrée (d.1991) and their son Jean-Pierre Rampal (d.2000).
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