Sorry this is now very short notice - my good intentions at the time (listening in the car on the way to Saturday Morning Orchestra) got lost before I got back to the computer.

Last Saturday morning's "Building a library" feature on Radio 3 starting at 09.30, (part of the programme CD Review which starts at 09.00), was about Debussy's "Syrinx". It's a famous and very atmospheric piece for solo flute which has been mentioned in other threads, and the reviewer Sarah Walker compared lots of fascinatingly different recordings of it. It included at least one complete performance and some stunning flute playing. In addition, the reviewer's top choice was played on Sunday morning at the end of "The Cowan Collection", probably at about 11.55. The programmes are available for listening for 7 days on the BBC Web site via the "Listen again" feature. With JavaScript enabled it's possible to fast forward 5 or 15 minutes at a time from the beginning of the programme, but not to go backwards (though it's not difficult or particularly slow to start again). I managed to listen to quite a lot of extra Bach at Christmas thanks to that (you may have noticed that there was 24-hour Bach for about a week!).

Thanks, I'll look later, I love that piece. Shame we're not doing it as part of our set works for A Level.

Thats a good one to learn well then pull out whenever you have a short notice concert coming up (and cant get an accompanist!) I played it at a concert recently and it seemed to me that my piece was the only piece where the audience werent rudely talking throughout! (mind you I was the only flute in the concert so it was probably the novelty that shut them up!). Good piece!

I've played the solo violin arrangement of it too - apart from not needing an accompanist, it also makes a good encore piece. On the flute I think it is particularly haunting on an instrument with a B foot-joint.

Thanks for posting this link, dacapo. I've just listened to the whole Syrinx section. I possess at least 5 recordings of Syrinx myself (Galway, Pahud, Beckett, Philippa Davies and Nicolet), and have played them all one after another, to a student who was playing the piece for Grade 8. I was taken aback by the sheer number of recordings out there.

I was delighted that Pahud's recording made it to the final two, as when I first heard this I felt that this recording was the way I had always felt the piece should sound. I was less impressed with the Hurel she chose as the winner, as I thought it rather light. I'm looking forward to discussing the programme with my flute teacher, as we had a similar discussion about performances of Syrinx in my lesson a fortnight ago. He studied with Susan Milan at the RCM, so will be interested to know she made the final three.