Sally Stocks flautist and Paul Turner pianist

Swindon Recital Series,

Wyvern Theatre, Swindon

Cold, grey, damp mist shrouded the Wyvern Theatre but on stage it was the warm, hazy days of summer, full of lark song and corn flowers.

Opening the recital were the silver tones of Sally Stocks' flute as it soared, like a bird in flight, over the soft, pure timbre of Paul Turner's piano in Rodney Bennett's Summer Music.

Allegro Tranquillo was followed by Siesta and Games, the three sections could easily be a film score with a sunny start, big bold build up of excitement and then subsiding into a happy upbeat ending.

Paul set up the recital series to bring top notch musicians to Swindon to be enjoyed by everyone. You do not have to be an expert in the classics to enjoy Mr Darcy's wet shirt moment in Pride and Prejudice, and you do not have to know your quavers from your treble clefs to soak up true pleasure from musicians of the calibre of Paul and Sally.

The theme running through the recital was music with a jazz influence and Paul warned us that the light touch of Bennett was about to be swapped for the darker more intense First Sonata for Flute and Piano by Bohuslav Martinu.

Tension mounted almost from the first notes as the adventure unfolded in a more complex movement. Adagio had that haunting note as if seeking something out of reach, with the flute fleeing nimbly across the frantic, dramatic landscape provided by the piano. The sonata was composed during Martinu's stay in America following his escape from occupied France.

It was at this point in the recital that the elegant shoes were ditched by Sally and, standing barefoot, she took up her flute in readiness for a real showcase of her craft. Paul told us the piece was based on Hungarian folk music and written by flute virtuoso Franz Doppler. Fantaisie pastorale hongroise felt like a dark fairytale full of goblins and fairies, followed by a love story between flute and piano, light and flirty, tentative and sweet.

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc's Sonata was the grand finale full of fire and sparkle and then for an encore we all lapped up the classic flute tune Danny Boy.

It was a cool concert even for a rock chick like me.

Flicky Harrison