Thomas Simaku’s piece Lʼimage oubliée d’après Debussy was broadcast by VTR MAX radio in Belgium on 2 April 2024 in a programme by 20th and 21st century composers, including Takemitsu, Feldman, Thomas Adès, Lotta Wennäkoski and Toshio Hosokawa. Commissioned by the York Late Music Series to mark the centenary of Debussy’s death, Lʼimage oubliée d’après Debussy received its world premiere in York in September 2018 performed by James Wiltshire.
Composers were asked to choose a piece by Debussy, quote it for a minute or so, and continue in their own style. The piece stems from the first of a set of three piano pieces called Images (oubliées), which was not published until well after Debussy's death. As Simaku writes in his programme note ‘My idea was to bring this imagery to the doorstep of our time’.