Stocks-Turner Duo Reviews
Musical Opinion March – April 2004
Flautist Sally Stocks and pianist Paul Turner offered an enjoyably eclectic programme at the Wigmore Hall on 12 December. The four items, spanning the late 19th to the late 20th Centuries, showcased the flute in a variety of styles.
Carl Reinecke, the earliest of the four composers represented, subtitled his E minor Sonata Undine, and wove the water nymph’s touching story thorough the fabric of its four movements, the flute depicting her fairy-tale persona in music at first playful and light-hearted but becoming increasingly troubled, while the piano sketched in the rippling fluidity of her watery domain. It is an attractive piece, rich in imagery that was vividly unfolded by the two players’ sensitivity to its poetry.
Lennox Berkeley’s Sonatina in A minor, its performance marking the Centenary of the composer’s birth, drew some beautifully expressive playing from Stocks. She really made the flute speak in the opening Moderato, and the duo achieved a smoothly harmonious rapport in this finely balanced work. Berkeley in his student days in Paris formed a lifelong friendship with Francis Poulenc, whose own Sonata for Flute and Piano made an interesting contrast. A characteristic composition, echoing both Poulenc’s wry sense of humour and his melancholy, even displaying rare jocularity, called for flute playing of refinement and sophistication in which Stocks perfectly captured the music’s quirky tone.
They concluded by giving the London premiere of Nicholas Goodall’s 1997 Sonata for Flute and Piano in E flat, a substantial piece some 30 minutes long, though I was not conscious of its length. In three movements it capitalised on the scope of both instruments and the ability of both players. In the opening Allegretto, the long, sinuous phrased spun by the flute were set against a dramatic piano part powerfully executed by Turner. It created a substantial backing to the flute’s slender sound and made a strong musical statement. The central Cantilena offered the flautist a lovely expressive melody which was beautifully executed, before the two instruments resumed their stimulating opposition in the celebratory Finale.
Margaret Davies