Click to stop/start 'Prélude a L'après-midi d'un faune' by Debussy :
(The file may take around 10 seconds to load) (Requires Flash plug-in)


One of the most haunting openings to an orchestral work ever written, the chromatic opening is typical of the floating harmony Debussy discovered in this piece and is one of the staples of the flute player's repertiore.

The piece was based on a poem by the French poet Mallarmé, and was written in 1894.