A Showcase of Borrowed Treasures

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Nineteenth-century composers were not generous contributors to the flute’s solo repertory. Granted, many French composers wrote morceaux de concours, or contest pieces to be performed by students during competitive examinations at the Paris Conservatory. Aside from those, though, there are surprisingly few Romantic solo pieces for flute. German composers were particularly stingy. Schubert wrote only one big work, a theme and variations for flute and piano. Beethoven did not write even one. Neither did Schumann, Brahms, Mendelssohn, or Richard Strauss.

The dearth of Romantic flute solo repertoire did not, however, prevent flutist Emmanuel Pahud and pianist Eric Le Sage from performing a full recital of Romantic music at the Herbst Theatre on Thursday. The duo simply filled out their program with transcriptions or arrangements of pieces that were originally composed for instruments other than the flute. The result was a copious and exhilarating showcase of Romantic music that featured sometimes stolen treasures.

Bona Fide Beginnings

Pahud and Le Sage began their program with a sonata that was originally composed for flute and piano, the “Undine” Sonata by Carl Reinecke. This loosely programmatic piece was inspired by a love story concerning a sea nymph, Undine, who kills her unfaithful lover with a poisonous kiss. In contrast to this unhappy ending, the relationship between flute and piano that Pahud and Le Sage exacted from this sonata amounted to a blissful union. The interaction between the two instruments was thoughtful, sensitive, and superb.

From the first notes of this opening piece, Pahud flaunted a palette of tone colors whose breadth could rival Undine’s wide, open sea. Le Sage’s pianistic palette matched him. These colors invigorated Reinecke’s oft-played sonata with fresh interpretive vitality. Pahud’s soft colors were especially exquisite, and his breathtaking quiet colors suffused the entire recital.

The duo likewise began the second half of the program with another composition for flute and piano. The piece was a four-movement French suite by Charles-Marie Widor, his Op. 34. In the dramatic fourth movement, the duo demonstrated both impressive virtuosity, as well as the loud, dramatic, passionate end of their dynamic spectrum.

Borrowed Endings

The featured pieces that were not originally conceived for flute marked points of closure in the recital. Brahms originally composed his Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120, for clarinet, and Pahud and Le Sage performed a transcription of it to close the first half of their program. The clarinet can explore a lower, darker range than can the flute, and unlike flutists, clarinetists rarely use vibrato. These differences might make the idea of transcribing a clarinet sonata for the flute seem impractical.

In the hands of this duo, though, the flute version sounded both convincing and powerful. Perhaps the sonata’s built-in contrasts explain why. The opening theme of the first movement, for example, is half smooth and half angular. Such contrasts fit Pahud and Le Sage well, since impressive flexibility and dynamism characterized their entire recital.

Equally convincing was Richard Strauss’ sonata, Op. 18, which closed the program’s second half. It was originally conceived for violin and piano. While the passagework of the third-movement finale did indeed evoke the sort of virtuosic patterns that are idiomatic for a stringed instrument, Pahud’s own virtuosity made this finale sound comfortable, if not effortless, on the flute.

After this finale, the audience adamantly applauded for an encore. The pair obliged with Nos. 2 and 3 from Robert Schumann’s Op. 73 Fantasiestücke. These pieces are frequently performed by clarinet, cello, or occasionally violin solo with piano accompaniment. Once again, Pahud proved that the flute is equally capable of conveying the intense emotiveness that Schumann’s wild fantasies demand.

In the end, Pahud and Le Sage converted the wild fantasy of an entire Romantic flute recital into an enthralling reality. They performed their borrowed pieces with as much authority as they did the pieces from the flute’s own repertory. Indeed, the duo equally showcased these two sorts of Romantic treasures. If only for an ephemeral evening, all of them were treasures that Pahud and Le Sage decisively owned.

Jessica Balik is a flutist and candidate for a doctorate in historical musicology at Stanford University.