A creative programme of flute music by Karen Wong and Lance Mok

Programme:

Lili Boulanger “D’un matin de printemps” (1917)

Claude Arrieu Sonatine for Flute and Piano (1943)

Philippe Gaubert Fantasie for Flute and Piano (1912)

Maurice Ravel, arr. Alain Craens “Ma Mer l’Oye” Suite for Flute and Piano (1908, 2018)

Francis Poulenc Sonata for Flute and Piano (1957)

Hong Kong flautist Karen Wong and her duo partner, pianist Lance Mok, presented a vibrant and lively recital of music for flute and piano yesterday–with a pinch of piccolo too!–making a very strong case for the performance of flute music.

The duo presented a coherent and highly narrative programme at Acton Hill Church comprising music composed solely by French composers, opening with sounds of spring in Lili Boulanger’s “D’un matin de printemps” (“Of a Spring Morning”) and ending with Francis Poulenc’s exciting but rather tragic Sonata for Flute and Piano.

The programme, apart from having a great sense of storytelling, also showcased the flute in all its glory, whether it be its ability to sustain long lines above rolling waves, as in the Boulanger, or its dramatic potential, as in the Ravel and the Poulenc. Karen, who seems to have a penchant for the dramatic elements in music, shone most brightly in the Gaubert Fantasie and the Ravel “Mother Goose” Suite which–and this is quite rarely seen on the concert stage–is arranged for piccolo and piano. An extremely virtuosic player to which semiquaver runs and jumps pose no difficulty, she elegantly glided over technical runs without breaking a sweat, making the music scintillating and simultaneously refined. Constantly maintaining a beautiful tone, she produced such a well-rounded sound in the lower registers of the flute that it was a actually satisfying feeling which leaves one yearning for more.

She has found a good duo partner in Lance, who creates lovely sounds to cushion her runs and engages in musical dialogue with her melodies when called to do so.

Ravel, the great orchestrator, would have been proud to see that his “Mother Goose” suite, originally scored for two pianos, has, in an unexpected turn of events, been transcribed for the piccolo and piano. Karen made the decision to play the arrangement alternating between flute and piccolo, which added more textures to the piece, a creative touch that demonstrates how music can be continuously reimagined.

This was the third and final recital the duo gave of this programme, and I look forward to hearing the next!