During long periods the flute has been almost synonymous with France, the country from which the music, the great players and the finest instruments all...

During long periods the flute has been almost synonymous with France, the country from which the music, the great players and the finest instruments all came. The French flute - whether dreamy as in Debussy's Syrinx or sprightly as in Poulenc's Sonata - is simply unmistakeably French, in all its delights. On her new release, renowned flutist Sharon Bezaly - who herself studied in Paris - celebrates this tradition, with a programme consisting of works composed between 1889 and 1946. French Delights is something of a companion piece to a previous Bezaly disc: Café au Lait, a predominantly French flute recital accompanied by Roland Pöntinen. Upon its release that disc, and the artistry of Sharon Bezaly, were highly acclaimed, for instance in French magazine Diapason: 'The flute turns into the voice of enchantment, a lullaby of the senses or an invitation to dreamfulness, into planing light or the glitter of light on water - an instrument almost too beautiful.' Here again, with the support of eminent pianist Love Derwinger, Sharon Bezaly displays her prodigious talent.