Images, Op. 29

Composed in 1928 and dedicated to Tournier's students at the Paris Conservatoire, Images is a four-movement suite for solo harp — Au bord de la source, Nuages, Féerie, and Dans la forêt — that draws on the Impressionist sound-world of Debussy and Ravel while exploiting the harp's full coloristic range through harmonics, glissandi, and delicate arpeggiated textures. Tournier, himself a professor of harp at the Conservatoire for thirty years, wrote with an intimate knowledge of the instrument's technical possibilities. Images is a cornerstone of the French harp repertoire and a standard work in conservatoire curricula worldwide.