The French composer Maurice Ravel was born 150 years ago today. He’s one of mine and Nick’s favourite composers. Back in March 2014, BBC Radio 3 dedicated a whole day to Ravel’s music, which really opened our ears to the wonder and variety of his music – there’s so much more than his most famous piece Bolero.

We’ve enjoyed several live performances of Ravel’s work, including the darkly gothic Gaspard de la Nuit at a lunchtime piano recital at the Royal College of Music, and the wonderfully mad La Valse at the BBC Proms one year. His only string quartet is a shimmering beauty, while Le Tombeau de Couperin positively wriggles with ear worms. Pavane pour une infante defunte is both stately and melancholy; interestingly, Paul Griffiths in his New Penguin Dictionary of Music says Ravel chose the title for its euphony, rather than the piece being written for a specific dead infant.

Ravel makes a brief appearance in my poemValse Triste published in Pennine Platform Issue 93. You can hear me reading the poem here. Hats off to Maurice Ravel and the gorgeous music he gifted to the world.

Radio 3’s Ravel Day page is still available, though not all the links work: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01sp8b8