First to be 'marooned' with some of their favourite chamber music is flautist Guy Eshed who will be going into 'exile' directly after with Berlin State Opera Orchestra for a year directly after having been appointed principal flautist to cover maternity leave.

Attempts to talk to the Israeli flautist, believed to be in Israel at the end of touring with Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, about the temporary posting and his choice of music have so far failed.

He is due back in Sheffield early next week so maybe we'll catch up with him for next Friday's Telegraph. In the meantime, his choice of music is interesting.

The main work amongst it is Schubert's immortal string quintet which will sound a little different.

The flautist writes in the autumn season brochure: "Schubert's Quintet needs little introduction as one of the monumental works in chamber repertoire. Performances with double bass instead of second cello are rare, so this is a special treat!"

It is, especially as it is Laurène Durantel joining the Elias Quartet for the performance. What isn't clear is if there is a precedent for it, whether Schubert in his short life found time to consider the instrument as an alternative.

The same generally applies to another work (or works) on the programme, Debussy's Chansons de Bilitis: "The sensual content of Louÿs's poems Chansons de Bilitis inspired Debussy to write music for them, heard here for flute, piano and narrator," writes Guy.

Debussy's settings of the three hedonistic Pierre Louÿs poems for voice (singing) and piano is one of his greatest song achievements with Pelléas and Mélisande-like music which he was working on at the time.

Even allowing for the first song been entitled La Flûte de Pan, the flute would lend itself well to the music, probably playing the singing line, though quite how Louÿs' prose spoken fits in remains to be seen.

Laurène is reciting it, presumably in French (at least it will be idiomatic), Guy obviously is the flautist, Tim Horton plays the glacial piano part and it should make for fascinating listening.

There is no doubtful authorship surrounding the concert's opening piece, Interstellar Call by Messiaen.

It's the sixth movement for solo horn in his epic 22-movement From the Canyons to the Stars, "influenced by Messiaen's visit to Utah where he was enchanted by the canyons, desert landscapes and birds. The movement was originally composed as a piece in its own right," writes Guy.

Indeed it was, as a memorial piece in 1971 before the composer found that it perfectly fitted into Des Canyons aux Étoiles in 1974 and Naomi Atherton plays it here.

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