The vivid seascape of Ken Done’s expansive painting Big Mask Reef formed a colourful backdrop to this recital by Joshua Batty – who recently took up the Principal Flute position with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, with which he’ll make his concerto debut in May – and harpist Emily Granger. The concert at Sydney’s Ken Done Gallery was the latest in the Live at Yours series, a project offering intimate salon concerts, which was kicked off last year by conductor and pianist Vladimir Fanshil and soprano Eleanor Lyons in the wake of COVID-19 cancellations and has since included some 60 performances in small galleries, cafés and private homes.

Emily Granger, Vladimir Fanshil and Joshua Batty. Photo courtesy of Live at Yours

Curtain raising arpeggios from Granger’s harp drew the audience, wine glasses in hand, into the world of Irish composer Hamilton Harty’s In Ireland. Batty’s flute soared in, his sound lush in the high register, potent in the low, and agile in the ornaments that adorned the faster dance tunes, while Granger’s harp was pixie-like.

The pair followed Harty’s music with Bach and the BWV1020 flute sonata, which may not have...