Hall.

Over the past twenty years or so, Bermuda has attracted a stream of outstanding musicians who, as teachers and performers have raised the level of music here to unusually high levels.

The latest artist to add to the local lustre is super-saxophonist Jack Kripl, making his debut at City Hall on Friday night. And Jane Farge, soloist and exquisite accompanist, revealed that she is at least as gifted a pianist as she is in her more familiar role as one of Bermuda's leading singers.

Sounding as though they had been playing together for years rather than weeks, they produced an evening of memorable musicianship.

Jack Kripl, who joined the staff of the Dunbarton School of Music in January to teach saxophone, clarinet, flute and electronic keyboard, arrived here with an impressive list of credentials. He studied in Paris under the famous Nadia Boulanger, was principal woodwind in the renowned Philip Glass Ensemble, and has played for every major recording label.

With Jane Farge providing a wondrously fluid accompaniment, he chose Bach's Flute Sonata No. 2 in Eb Major to launch the recital, a lyrical piece in three movements. This was followed by another Sonata for Flute and Piano by 20th century French composer, Francis Poulenc. Melodious and dance-like rhythms permeate this lovely work. While technically competent, Kripl's performance was at times rather `breathy' and served but as a pale appetiser for the glories to come.

For those of us who do not particularly identify the saxophone as a solo classical instrument, Jack Kripl's performance was a real revelation. He chose Paule Maurice's Tableaux de Provence, written for Marcel Mule, considered the father of the classical saxophone and one of Mr. Kripl's teachers. Here was a musical tour de force that embraced every mood, from mellow reveries to the technical gymnastics of scales that shivered from the heights to low, sonorous depths, with the skittish rhythms of a dancing bumble-bee forming a virtuoso solo section at the end.

Jane Farge, in a brilliant solo rendition of the 12th Prelude from Debussy's Feux D'Artifice introduced some fireworks of her own as she swept through the relentless technical demands of this livelier than usual piece from the impressionist composer. The same clarity of phrasing was present in Six Little Pieces by Schoenberg. But this atonal music remains difficult for the layman and even today, rarely brings a smile of recognition from the listener.

The concert ended on an upbeat note with two contemporary pieces, the first by Robert Myers, written especially for Jack Kripl, and a Sonata by Bernard Heiden in which the sensuous rhythms so closely associated with jazz intermingled with the courtlier sounds of neo-classicism.

An evening of first-rate musicianship from this accomplished duo. We are lucky to have them. -- PATRICIA CALNAN.