The scene is set: a fairy-tale summer evening, a lush park garden, a gentle breeze. The theme: fairy tales and myths, delicately brought to life with colourful and imaginative music. Stepping into the limelight are Gabriel Fauré and Claude Debussy, masters of French elegance and vivid Impressionist scenes. Decades prior to Debussy's groundbreaking musical revolution, Fauré was already painting delicate musical miniatures. His love of chamber music and painstaking attention to detail birthed extraordinary gems that sound like an intimate conversation between the composer and his muse. Fauré found that muse in fairy tales and myths, in nature, in ancient Greece. La naissance de Vénus, his contribution to the opening of the iconic Théâtre des Champs Elysées, remained unknown, unlike Pavane - which, however, is rarely performed with the original choral part. While Pelléas et Mélisande draws us deeper into the enchanting garden, Masques et Bergamasques reignites the spirit of a gallant dance soirée. Closing this artistic chapter with finesse and charm, Debussy ingeniously seals the narrative with his cantata La Damoiselle élue. Flagey, Brussels Philharmonic, Vlaams Radiokoor € 41 > € 5