Young Soloists of the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa

The crystalline sound of the harp, the sweetness of the flute and the expressive depth of the viola – an instrumental combination discovered at the beginning of the last century. Here we hear two of the first works written for this ensemble and a third, slightly later one. Curiously, all of them originated in the confrontation with war, even though they convey a disconcerting tranquillity and beauty. They are feelings of nostalgia, elegance and mystery. In 1916, Paris was under threat from the conflicts of the First World War. Claude Debussy, then at the end of his life and ill, composed sonatas as manifestos of resistance. In the same year, Arnold Bax composed this elegiac trio in response to the Easter Rising, an episode that led to Ireland's independence from the United Kingdom three years later. It is a curious expression of mourning for close friends of the composer who died there. Finally, the Petite Suite, which André Jolivet, already in 1941, defined as ‘evasive and alienating music’ in the face of the dramatic occupation of Paris by Nazi troops. Together, they are three impressionistic and elegiac testimonies composed of fleeting ideas and timbral details.

Programme

C. Debussy Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp

A. Bax Elegiac Trio

A. Jolivet Petite Suite

Soloists: Janete Santos (flute), Ana Ester Santos (harp), José Freitas (viola)