On both sides of the Channel in the first half of the 20th century

Four outstanding soloists join forces with the Athens String Quartet to play works by Maurice Ravel, Sir Arnold Bax and Jean Françaix—composers all who lived and worked on one side or other of the English Channel during the first half of the Twentieth century—on a rare combination of instruments. The common thread running through the programme is the wide-ranging musical affinities revealed in the works—affinities which should come as no surprise given that the leading exponent of musical impressionism, Maurice Ravel, influenced both Bax’s British version of impressionism and the style of the young Françaix—in whom Ravel was the first to spot “that most fruitful gift an artist can possess: curiosity”.