Music for flute and piano

Flute player Jan Bengtson is a well-known member of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra; he is alternate section leader and has been a member since 1989. Bengtson is an extremely versatile musician whose skills span multiple genres. At this concert, he is performing with pianist Bonita Dodo. 

In the first section, we will look to the east to Alfred Schnittke and Sergei Prokofiev. Schnittke’s music is infused with a surprising combination of styles, known as polystylism, which boldly broke through modernist requirements for “purity” in the 1970s and 80s. However, Suite in the Old Style – originally for violin and piano – is consistent in its choice of style and takes us to the late-eighteenth century. Prokofiev’s piece from the 1940s is Neoclassical in style, with a hint of jazz, and it is one of the most important flute sonatas of the twentieth century.

The second portion of the concert is French, and leads up to Poulenc’s flute sonata – which was inspired by Prokofiev’s sonata. But first we will hear several of the female composers who have only been rediscovered by musicians and audiences alike in modern times: the brilliant Chaminade, perhaps best known for her songs; the prodigy Lili Boulanger; and Mélanie Bonis – a late-Romantic French favourite among many flute players.