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!

Presented by: Hungarian National Philharmonic