The 'Suite de Trois Morceaux' is one of the few compositions of Benjamin Godard (1849-1895) that is still immense popular. It's a short work for flute and piano or orchestra in three movements -- Allegretto, Idyll, and Valse. The suite is 'Musique de salon de la Belle Époque, par excellence'. Composed in 1890 for the great French flutist Paul Taffanel, the suite is elegantly tuneful, deeply nostalgic. The 'Valse' is is the final movement of the Suite and is quite virtuosic. While salon music is not nearly as popular as it once was, the lost world of salon music is brilliantly evoked by Godard's suite.
