Albert Roussel only began to study music seriously after his resignation from the French Marine in 1894. He was a pupil of Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum. He became Professor of Counterpoint there in 1902 and remained in the post until 1914. His pupils included Satie and Varèse. In his first great orchestral score, Poème de la forêt (Symphony nr. 1) (1908), however, he followed the impressionist aesthetic of Debussy, abandoning the principles taught by d'Indy (firm structure, melody, thematic development, or recurring themes), in favour of delicate scoring with transparent timbres. His Piano Concerto dates from 1928. He was then living in seclusion in Normandy and developing a purely personnel style which was harsh, intransigent and rigorous, although that did not preclude extremely sensitive lyrical passages. Pour une fête de printemps was originally the iridescent sensuous scherzo of his 2nd Symphony. Roussel turned it into an independent composition and symphonic poem without any real literary programme. The works are impeccably played by the Symphony Orchestra of Flanders, under the baton of their young conductor, Fabrice Bollon from France.
