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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Composer of the Week: Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Episode 1: Ravel the Enigma

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Episode 1

Episode 1: Ravel the Enigma

Ravel the Enigma

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), Ravel the Enigma

Donald Macleod on Ravel's happy childhood and musical development in late-1800s Paris.

Donald Macleod explores Ravel's happy childhood and prodigious musical development in late-1800s Paris. Including Bolero (excerpt); Piano Concerto in G (2nd mvt).

Donald Macleod explores the enigmatic personality and richly vibrant soundworld of Maurice Ravel, composer of Boléro.

Ravel is a musical genius ... with an image problem. Thanks to the efforts of Torvill and Dean (not to mention Bo Derek and Dudley Moore), his is a place in popular culture unmatched by any composer of the 20th century. And all for a piece, Boléro, that he joked to friends "had no music in it" ... Compared to his fellow musical "impressionist" Debussy, Ravel's music is sometimes unfairly characterised as rather shallow - all brilliant artifice and sumptuous detail, but no heart. That reputation's not helped by the man himself. Famously private, Ravel projected the image of a rarefied dandy, whilst keeping his own private emotional world a tightly-kept secret. This week, Donald Macleod seeks to break through the shell of this musical enigma to discover the vast depths beneath.

We begin the week with Ravel's happy childhood and prodigious musical development in fin-de-siècle Paris of the late 1800s.

Boléro (extract)
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Simon Rattle, conductor

Piano Concerto in G (2nd movt. Adagio assai)
Yuja Wang, piano
Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich
Lionel Bringuier, conductor

Un Grand sommeil noir
Gerald Finley, baritone
Julius Drake, piano

Violin Sonata in A minor, Op posth
Alina Ibragimova, violin
Cedric Tiberghien, piano

Pavane pour une infant défunte
Khatia Buniatishvili (piano).

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod explores the enigmatic personality and vibrant music of Maurice Ravel

Donald Macleod explores the enigmatic personality and richly vibrant music of Maurice Ravel, seeking to discover the vast depths beneath the composer's awkward exterior

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Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Episode 1: Ravel the Enigma

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