Erik Satie: Deux Gymnopédies (Satie–Debussy)
Francis Poulenc: Sonata (arranged by Lennox Berkeley)
Camille Saint-Saëns: Romance for Flute and Orchestra, op. 37
Cécile Chaminade: Concertino for Flute and Orchestra, op. 107
***

Hector Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

Emmanuel Pahud flute

Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: Gábor Káli

Those familiar with the history of flute-playing know that in the late 19th century and through the 20th century, France boasted numerous marvellous flautists, the kind who exerted a key influence on the history of how the instrument is played: Paul Taffanel, Marcel Moyse and Jean-Pierre Rampal, just to name the very greatest. We could also add to this list Franco-Swiss musicians such as Aurèle Nicolet. The Swiss French-born Emmanuel Pahud is also the greatest flautist of our era. At this concert of the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, he will play works for the flute by French composers, bookended by French symphonic music.

Was it French flautists who inspired French composers to write music for the flute? Or was it the other way around? Could it be that French composers’ fondness for the flute was what yielded such exquisite performers? Who knows? It is a fact, however, that the armies of virtuoso French flautists have had plenty of French pieces to play, and not just Debussy and Ravel’s lavish works for solo flute. Pahud, for example, will be playing Poulenc’s Sonata for flute and piano as transcribed for orchestra, Saint-Saëns’s Romance, and the sensitive Cécile Chaminade’s sophisticated and elegant Concertino. This is a programme for connoisseurs!

But Pahud himself is a connoisseur. Well known as the international star principal flute for the Berlin Philharmonic, he also performs both concertos and chamber music, discovering and recording even the tiniest treasures in the repertoire written for his instrument. The French pieces for flute will be framed by French symphonic music, as the conductor of the concert, the young Gábor Káli, who has already achieved international success, will conduct two of Satie’s Gymnopédies as transcribed by Debussy to open the programme and close it in the second part with Berlioz’s enormous and visionary Fantastic Symphony. This evening will be chance to immerse ourselves in French music!