A captivating programme exploring the shimmering sound world of flute and harp, tracing a lineage from French Impressionism to its later English echoes.
Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, heard here in Judy Loman’s delicate transcription, opens with its famous languid flute solo, dissolving boundaries between dream and waking. Jean-Michel Damase’s Sonata for Flute and Harp continues in this refined tradition, its four movements blending classical clarity with supple lyricism: graceful lines, a gentle but restless Andante, a spirited scherzo-like third movement, and a Finale that shifts from introspective calm to dazzling brilliance.
Debussy returns in the brief Pour invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d’été, arranged by Timothy Salter—a mystical invocation to the ancient god of the flute, full of stillness and radiant colour. William Alwyn’s Naiades closes the programme, a virtuosic fantasy-sonata in which mythical water nymphs flicker and dance, combining romantic warmth with sparkling, mercurial writing for both instruments.