Échappsodie

About the music

— One of the leading exponents of French musical Impressionism, Claude Debussy's music represents an extraordinary palette of colour, beauty and innovation. Commissioned by the Paris Conservatoire, Première Rhapsodie was originally written as a ʻsolo de concoursʼ (competition solo) to test the virtuosic abilities of students, but it has since graduated to a work of significance performed by leading clarinetists.

— Laden with blissful melodies, rich textures and an expansive musical language, Gabriel Fauré's Piano Quintet No. 1 is an expressive work that represents a critical change in French music. Exhibiting a near orchestral sound, the Quintet is noted for unleashing the full emotional range from each player through three stormy and cathartic movements.

— A rising star in both her native Australia and current home in Paris, Alice Chance's Échappsodie (a play on words using the French ʻéchapperʼ meaning ʻto escapeʼ) takes fragments of Debussy's Première Rhapsodie and reconstructs them into a captivating exploration of virtuosity, beauty and colour.