Debussys orchestral masterpiece is the tone poem La Mer a remarkable piece of music that seems to capture the very soul of the sea, with its ceaseless movement and shifting colours; one can almost smell the salt air. Composed a decade earlier, Prelude a l apres-midi d un faune, is distinguished by its quasi-improvisational and harmonically bold opening flute solo, which marked a turning point in the history of music: the dawn of modernism.