A decade after Roussel's death, Weterings finished the project. He ended up using text based on mythology — which was certainly in keeping with Roussel's classical proclivities, as evidenced by Bacchus et Ariane, Aeneas, and La naissance de la lyre. Elpénor was a companion of the great Odysseus. He fell in love with Climene, with whom he wanted to stay when his leader resumed his Odyssey. The words and the music are a paean to fidelity and eternal love, although the work is most often performed without the text.

And the music can stand well on its own as chamber music. Elpénor starts with strings leading the way in a gently evocative first movement. In the second movement does the flute come to the fore in a lyrical lament that is essentially a song for flute with string accompaniment. The third movement — the most satisfying, in my opinion — begins with exotic-sounding chords in the strings and a melancholy flute ostinato. In the middle section the ostinato metamorphoses into a beautiful singing melody. The final movement, which is not included in at least one recorded version, is an extremely short, vigorous conclusion to a beautiful example of Roussel's lyricism.

The restraint and delicate shading of the music are suited to this pastoral idyll. But the work as a whole is unremarkable. [Basil Deane]

These brief fragments, as perfect for the concert-hall as for their original purpose, follow the simple, limpid, style of the final Roussel, and so date certainly from the last two years of his life. [Harry Halbreich]