One of the generation of composers that includes Dutilleux, Françaix and Ibert, Jacques Desbrière inhabits a long-standing French tradition of tonal and modal composition from Couperin to Poulenc, his Piano Concerto also embracing the expressive language of Ravel in deliberate quotations. Desbrière’s friendship with renowned flautist and conductor Patrick Gallois inspired several pieces for flute and piano in the late 1980s. Of these the Cinq pièces étranges has achieved worldwide popularity. The solo piano suite Préludes intérieurs also belongs to this fruitful period, all of these works demonstrating to perfection the composer’s ideal of an authentically modern aesthetic of beauty. Also conducted by Patrick Gallois, Desbrière’s Sinfonia can be heard on Naxos 8.557985.