This programme spotlights Gabriel Faure's orchestrated songs and his music for the stage, of which his suite from the incidental music for Pelleas et Melisande includes some of his best-loved music. Performances of Faure's spectacular Wagnerian drama Promethee are a real rarity, while the eloquent Shylock suite, based on Shakespeare, contains some of his most elaborate symphonic music. Faure orchestrated only a small number of his more than 100 songs, but these include the transcendentally beautiful love song Les Roses d'Ispahan with it's harmonic subtleties and gorgeous coda.