Ravel’s fiery Tzigane for violin and piano is at the heart of this concert. Passionate, fierce and full of breathless virtuosity, it’s a show-stopper from start to finish. His Sonata for violin and cello has a similarly Hungarian flavour to it, and was written as a tribute to Debussy, whose sensual work for harp closes the evening.

Ravel vs Debussy

The two composers often get lumped together because they lived at the same time in the same city and admired each others music, plus its true that there are similarities between their musical styles, with it being what might be called ‘musical impressionism’. Their differences are pretty stark though. Debussy was much more of an innovator, whereas Ravel worked within more traditional forms. Ravel was brilliant at taking melodies (sometimes other peoples) and transforming them into something magical for the full orchestra (for example Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, which you can hear on 21 February), whereas Debussy always originated his own melodies. They were both top-rank composers in their own right, and a programme of their music is a total treat.