After four months, Rampal's performance of Jolivet's Le chant de Linos won him the coveted first prize in the conservatory's annual flute competition.

[nb 4] By contrast with, as Rampal saw it, his own somewhat emotional Provençal temperament, Veyron-Lacroix was a more refined character (a "true upper class Parisian"), but each found with the other a balanced musical partnership.

[6] In March 1949, in the face of some scepticism, they hired the Salle Gaveau in Paris to perform what then seemed the radical idea of a recital programme made up solely of chamber music for flute.

In the same year, he appeared in Canada—where, at the Menton festival, he played for the first time in concert with violinist Isaac Stern, who not only became a lifelong friend but also proved a considerable influence on Rampal's own approach to musical expression.

Early in 1944, they had played together, broadcasting at night from a secret "cave" radio station at the Club d’essai in rue de Bec, Paris—a programme of music outlawed by the Nazis, including works with Jewish links by composers such as Hindemith, Schoenberg and Milhaud.

[citation needed] Between 1955 and 1962, Rampal took up the post of Principal Flute at the Paris Opera, traditionally the most prestigious orchestral position open to a French flautist.

[citation needed] Rampal's first commercial recording, made in 1946 for the Boite a Musique label in Montparnasse, Paris, was of Mozart's Flute Quartet in D, with the Trio Pasquier.

Hundreds of concertos and chamber works written for the flute in the 18th century had fallen into obscurity, and he recognised that the sheer abundance of this early material might offer long-term possibilities for an aspiring soloist.

"Enchantment is the best possible word to describe this concert", said one Canadian reviewer for Le Devoir in 1956; "Rampal's playing struck me through its variety, its flexibility, its colour and above all its liveliness.

At the same time, the birth of the television age ensured Rampal a wider prominence in France than any previous flute-player, through his many concert and recital appearances in the late 1950s and beyond.

Over his career, he performed all of the flute masterpieces that were composed in the first half of the 20th century, including works by Debussy, Ravel, Roussel, Ibert, Milhaud, Martinů, Hindemith, Honegger, Dukas, Françaix, Damase, and Feld.

[citation needed] In addition, he premiered a works by contemporary composers such as Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Ezra Laderman, David Diamond, and Krzysztof Penderecki.

[citation needed] His transcribing in 1968, at the composer's own suggestion, of Aram Khachaturian's Violin Concerto (recorded 1970) showed Rampal's willingness to broaden the flute repertoire further by borrowing from other instruments.

[citation needed] The only piece dedicated to Rampal that he never publicly performed was the Sonatine (1946) by Pierre Boulez, which—with its spiky, explosive figures and extravagant use of flutter-tonguing—he found too abstract for his taste.

[attribution needed] The official world premiere of Poulenc's Sonata for Flute and Piano was performed on 17 June 1957 by Rampal, accompanied by the composer, at the Strasbourg Festival.

Poulenc was then unable to travel to Washington for the US premiere on 14 February 1958, so Veyron-Lacroix took his place, and the sonata became a key offering in Rampal's US recital debut, helping launch his long-lived trans-Atlantic career.

[8] Only in 1958, when presented during his debut US tour with a 14-carat gold instrument made after the Lot pattern by the William S. Haynes Flute Company of Boston, did Rampal stop using the 1869 original.

After one final recording in London,[nb 9] he consigned the golden Lot to the safety of a bank vault in France, and thereafter made the Haynes his concert instrument of choice.

This raised his profile with the American public even further and led, in January 1981, to a TV appearance on Jim Henson's The Muppet Show, where he played "Lo, Hear the Gentle Lark" with Miss Piggy—and, suitably attired, "Ease on Down the Road" in a scene loosely based on the folktale of the Pied Piper.

2 for Flute and Jazz Piano (1987), and also to perform the instrumental theme song "Goodbye For Now" by Stephen Sondheim for Reds, Warren Beatty's 1981 movie about the Communist revolution in Russia.

"[24] Calling Rampal "an indisputably major artist", The New York Times said "Rampal's popularity was grounded in qualities that won him consistent praise from critics and musicians in the first decades of his career: solid musicianship, technical command, uncanny breath control, and a distinctive tone that eschewed Romantic richness and warm vibrato in favor of clarity, radiance, focus and a wide palette of colorings.

"[23] Throughout the busiest years of his concert career, Rampal continued to find time to teach others, encouraging his students to listen not only to other flute players, but also to take inspiration from other great musical interpreters—be they pianists, violinists, or singers.

[25] Bennett had also sought Rampal out for lessons in Paris and was "instantly delighted with him—his humour, and his generosity—especially for his sharing my enthusiasm for other great players such as Moyse, Dufrene & Crunelle".

[25] Rampal's principal American students include concert and recording artist Robert Stallman and Ransom Wilson,[26] who has followed in his mentor's footsteps as conductor as well as flautist.

Well known for his love of good food, he liked to maintain a private rule wherever he went on tour that he would eat "only the cuisine of the country" he was in[8] and he looked forward to his post-concert dinners with relish.

Rampal's last public recital was held at the Theatre Villamarta in Jerez de la Frontera (Spain) in November 1999, when he was 77; he performed works by Bach, Mozart, Kuhlau and Mendelssohn.

In 1978, with Ensemble Lunaire, he recorded Japanese Folk Melodies, which included three folk songs transcribed by Akio Yashiro but primarily featured music by late 19th and early 20th-century Japanese doyo composers: Tamezō Narita, Kōsaku Yamada, Megumi Ohnaka, Rentarō Taki, Ryūtarō Hirota, Kozaburo Hirai, Nagayo Motohori, and Shin Kusakawa, on CBS Records.

Jean-Pierre Rampal: Le premier virtuose moderne - The compact disc set,[32] issued in France in 2002 in collaboration with the Association Française de la Flûte, contains rare early performances from 78 rpm records made from 1946 to 1959.

Among many highlights, the collection charts Rampal's collaboration with American pianist John Steele Ritter, who in the late 1970s took over as his principal accompanist once illness had caused long-time recital partner Robert Veyron Lacroix to step back from touring.

Rampal made a great number of television concert appearances in France from the late 1950s onwards, and later elsewhere—especially in America and Japan, where his reputation and following remained highest.