The famous Boléro and the enchanting Mother Goose Suite give us Ravel the orchestral sorcerer at the peak of his unsurpassed powers. From the fierce vitality of sun-baked Spain to the most poignant evocations of childhood and innocence, he captures the immediacy of experience as we feel it. Yet he saw himself as an artisan, not an artist, and a discoverer rather than a composer. Behind his every work was a craftsman of astonishing skill. So astonishing that we can examine his artistic workshop in the minutest detail without dispelling any of the magic.

A series exploring, in words and music, the major classical works of the concert hall. In an accessible and lively manner, Jeremy Siepmann looks at the history and the form of the great masterpieces of western music.