“Inspire the flute”, sings the countertenor, invoking the celestial band, in Henry Purcell’s Birthday Ode to Queen Mary. But, after a taste of the technical mastery and exquisite artistry of Hungarian flautist Dora Seres, deftly accompanied by her compatriot pianist Emese Mali, last Saturday at Conservatoire François Mitterrand, Quatre-Bornes, one can find the term “inspired” a trifle insufficient to qualify this wind instrument.

Dora Seres is the solo flute of the Hungarian Radio Orchestra and a distinguished recitalist just like her counterpart in this concert. She is able to render sublime even the more academic works, like the little-known Undine (waterspirit) sonata by German composer Carl Heinrich Reinecke (1824-1910). This was not an empty show of virtuosity, though the flautist seemed always at ease with every technical difficulty. One could find much music-making, the flute acting at once like a magic wand projecting a fairy-tale world. A sense of narration reminiscent of Chopin’s third Ballade and a gift for creating a bewitching atmosphere, as in the opening of Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. Even in the more modern 20th century Ballade from Swiss composer Franck Martin and in the gently moulded Vocalise of Russian Sergei Rachmaninov, one could find deeply- felt expressiveness. The series of Folksongs by Hungarian composer and national glory, Bela Bartok, combined a rare sense of immediacy with that of mystery. They contrasted in their simplicity and humanity with François Borne’s scintillating Fantaisie brillante sur Carmen, which won a great deal of applause. In comparison with the latter, the lyricism contained in the cantilena-like Aria from Erno Dohnanyi (1877-1960), another Hungarian, was much more sober, yet evocative of his native land.

However, the most moving performance was perhaps Françis Poulenc’s Sonata. In this piece, the piano and the flute perfectly matched each other. The music’s subtle hesitations, its mood of secrecy as well as its surface malice against a background of melancholy found the two artists completely involved. The only flaw to report was the ill-timed applause from the audience and intrusive noises caused by the poor state of some of the seats in the hall.

<B>Florence Bervoix</B>