Alexis Kossenko on flute and Vassilis Varvaresos on piano perform music by Fauré, Enesco and Cools, as well as Koechlin and Masson. During the Belle Époque, the repertoire for accompanied flute was enriched mainly in two ways: the composition of sonatas and that of competition pieces. With regard to the former, the piano sometimes occupies such a space that the work – as in the case of Charles Koechlin’s Sonata for piano and flute – could be considered a duet. As for the latter, in particular Fauré’s Fantaisie (1898) and Enesco’s Cantabile et Presto (1904) for the Conservatoire competition, they are intended to test the qualities of the soloist: dexterity, purity of sound emission and expressive ability. Here, the piano remains in the background to allow the pupil to stand out, but the musicality of the pieces cannot be missed.
