Jean Françaix was a French (approprately enough) neoclassical composer that lived through almost the entire 20th Century. L’Horloge de Flore is a suite for oboe and chamber orchestra, almost an oboe concerto in a different form. A floral clock is either a lansdscaping feature with a subterranean mechanics below a flower bed in the shape of a clock, or (as Françaix was inspired by) a bed in the shape of a clock that tells time based on the different times of the day that a flower blooms. Each movement of the suite takes its inspiration from one of these flowers.
I heard this on the radio as I was driving to the airport on Sunday. It pushes my musical buttons in all the right way; I really like the neoclassical technique of preserving the form and structure of traditional music while incorporating what were forbidden or alienating harmonies. I think it’s perfectly lovely, especially this first movement:
I. Galant du Jour (Poisonberry)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqwWtaNae8E]