“For me, art, and especially music, exist to elevate us as far as possible above everyday existence,” said French composer Gabriel Fauré. His refined and subtle music embodies the aristocratic features of the French tradition. Renowned for his lyrical songs and rich chamber music legacy, he also wrote several larger-scale works, including music for Maurice Maeterlinck’s drama Pelléas et Mélisande, from which he later produced a symphonic suite. The first movement, Prélude, is a magnificent, but at the same time gentle and delicate introduction to the suite. The second movement, Fileuse, projects a gentle and pure portrait of Mélisande at the spinning wheel. The gentle melody of the oboe is accompanied by strings, imitating rotation of the wheel. Sicilienne, the most popular movement of the suite, presents a wonderful flute solo – a moment of Pelléas and Mélisande’s happiness and love. The last movement, Mort de Mélisande (Mélisande’s Death), is inevitably tragic and grief stricken lament.

Fauré’s sensitive and noble symphonic opus is performed by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by French conductor Victorien Vanoosten.