Ravel Introduction and Allegro

Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581
Debussy Sonata for flute, viola and harp, L. 137
Ravel Introduction et allegro, M. 46

Anthony Robb flute
Andrew Marriner clarinet
Jonathan Barritt viola
Lucy Wakeford harp

Principal woodwinds of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra take centre stage in a concert welding classical poise to unadulterated beauty. ‘Eight days of strenuous work and three sleepless nights have permitted me to complete it the best I could’ – so wrote the student Maurice Ravel of his Introduction and Allegro, a harp concerto in miniature and a bijou piece of exquisite sensuality. Before it come two works lined with the melancholy of a creative life nearing its end: Debussy’s eerie but cuttingly direct Sonata for flute, viola and harp, and Mozart’s glowingly introspective Clarinet Quintet.