Suite de trois morceaux - Godard

Sonatine (1943) - Dutilleux

Sonata in A - Franck

Sunday's recital of French music for flute and piano was well placed beside the French pictures in the Lane Gallery. The Suite by Benjamin Godard (1849-1895) had the charm and insouciance of the seascape by Boudin; Dutilleux's Sonatine had the waywardness and unexpectedness of Manet's crowded concert party. The transcription of Franck's violin sonata would be harder to match; perhaps Courbet's enigmatic self-portrait with its moody atmosphere would do. The Godard and the Dutilleux delight in the fluteness of the flute: but the Franck fights against pastoralism and forces the instrument into an unaccustomed world of big sounds, as if to rival the trumpet.

For Emer McDonough these different demands did not pose a problem; from the shy and retiring to the extravagantly triumphant she relished the challenge and Peter Dains at the piano ably supported the talents of the flautist. The enthusiastic audience would not have departed without an encore and they were rewarded with Debussy's Syrinx for solo flute. This little piece makes such inspired use of the evocative power of the instrument that it seems to be the work for which the flute had been waiting throughout its history. For me it was the crown of the recital.