Paris, 1912: the Belle Époque is in full swing, marked by artistic innovation, elegance, and a growing fascination with the exotic. In the midst of this creative energy, Paul Dukas and Claude Debussy let musical imagination take center stage.

At the request of Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes, Dukas composed La Péri, a poème dansé inspired by an oriental myth—a lushly orchestrated tale of a search for immortality.

With his Images pour orchestre, Claude Debussy stayed firmly on the European continent. “When one cannot afford to travel, one must compensate with imagination,” he wrote—and an imagination he had. In this musical portrait, he evokes not only France and England, but also a vibrant Spanish culture—one he never actually experienced firsthand.

Flagey, Brussels Philharmonic