TWO LIVES OF A RAMPAL PIANIST

John Steele Ritter’s story reads like one of Walter Mitty’s fantasies. A slight, bespectacled, mild-mannered music professor at Pomona College, he dwells contentedly by day in the quiet environs of academia.

But when evening comes, he enters a world Mitty could only imagine--a world of elegant concert halls, sold-out houses and enthusiastic applause.

There is one big catch, however. The applause that fills Ritter’s ears as he seats himself at the keyboard is not for him (for the most part), but for the man simultaneously making his way center stage: French superstar flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal.

“I’m not bothered by being less in the spotlight,” says Ritter, who joins Rampal at a Philharmonic-sponsored recital at Hollywood Bowl tonight. “Actually, this may be the most ideal role I could be in. I simply walk on and play.”

Ritter, 48, feels quite comfortable in the role of accompanist. Rampal, he points out, never uses that term: “He is constantly introducing me as ‘my partner.’ ” The pianist-harpsichordist nonetheless views himself as “a member of the supporting cast, and I’m sure the public sees it the same way.”

In 1974, Ritter first teamed with Rampal for a recital, coincidentally, at Hollywood Bowl. “The Philharmonic arranged it,” he recalls. Robert Veyron-Lacroix, the flutist’s longtime collaborator, “wasn’t interested in making the trip just for that one appearance, so I was recommended.

“We hit it off immediately. Over the next few years, Jean-Pierre was able to work me in the cracks. For the last five, however, we’ve toured together exclusively, since Veyron-Lacroix has been too ill to play much anymore.”

And what of Ritter’s academic career? “Since I’m only an associate professor, they don’t force too many things on me. This last year I was on leave, so we could tour Japan. It’s been a wonderful way to get out of teaching for a bit.”

The two musicians play most of their two dozen or so recitals in the first four months of the year. “Sometimes I’m gone a week, or maybe just three days,” says Ritter. “The (music) department has been very understanding.”

Traveling with a well-established player such as Rampal has its financial rewards, but there is a price of sorts: show-off repertory that favors the flutist and all but ignores the accompanist. The subject causes the pianist to wince and grin simultaneously.

“Oh, I’ve stopped worrying about pieces by the likes of Hummel and Czerny. I don’t like them, but it does my fingers good. In some of those works, I do feel like merely an accompanist--’Carnival of Venice,’ for instance. But I take them seriously.”

Nonetheless, the material favored by Rampal--and his audiences--does bother Ritter. “I think one pops piece a night is enough. I still don’t like the commercial interests dictating the artistic end.

“I know the Gershwin record with synthesizers (“Fascinatin’ Rampal”) was a big seller, but I’ve been hoping maybe people won’t see my name on the jacket. You feel like a prostitute making a record like that, but I suppose there’s a little greed in all of us. It doesn’t bother Jean-Pierre, however.”

Despite widely differing artistic temperaments, the two get along quite well, Ritter stresses: “We’re friends. We have fun together, and that makes it easier. We may have strong disagreements here and there. I recall having an early bitterness over always having to agree with him, but now I realize in most instances he was right.”

There is no immediate end in sight for this real-life Walter Mitty fantasy, says Ritter. And he has no pressing desire to forsake the comfort and security of academia: “Who knows? In the future, Jean-Pierre may want to conduct more--I may want to work less. But as long as he wants to play together, I’ll stay.

“I suppose I should have started all this (performing) earlier in life. I often think about what would have happened to me without the Rampal connection. It’s hard to tell, but I think if it all stopped, it would leave a big hole in my life.”