Under the title of La douce France, the Flemish Radio Orchestra turns the spotlight on the best of French music from around a century ago.

Debussy's tone colours made a great impression on Ravel. In the latter's famous piano concerto we will hear Severin von Eckardstein, a great favourite of Brussels audiences since his victory in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2003.
Saint-Saens' got in involved with founding a national school of French music after the French-German war of 1871. In his work he remained conservative and later bitter reactionary. He especially fought the influence of Debussy and Strauss. But his most famous work - the carnival - was paradoxically program music in a modern sense.