The artist’s self-image is often defined by opposition. That opposition can take the form of censorship, or perhaps a rival master. Art enthusiasts may think of the rivalries between Ghiberti and ...

The most exquisite of all French composers; Maurice Ravel was a sensualist-perfectionist without parallel. Why is it that Ravel’s pieces often sound so different from one another? Ravel was one of the ...

From the classical archive, 22 October 1928: a review of a performance in London by the composer and pianist who ‘transcends his limitations’ London, Sunday Mr Gordon Bryan was fortunate in having ...

It gave him a cut that needed several stitches, but it also left Ravel feeling shaken. Friends soon noticed changes — spelling mistakes in letters and an inability to write down music. For five years ...

Regarded alongside Debussy as the leading French composer of his time, Maurice Ravel was a master of his craft, weaving a child-like wonder and nostalgia for the past into music of exquisite charm and ...

The charming, eclectic museum in the French composer’s house at Montfort-l’Amaury has been abruptly closed and its future is in doubt An eccentric little house called Le Belvédère – shaped like a ...

Perfection, c’est travail, said Maurice Ravel. Pride in his own small and perfectly formed achievement, and a conviction that perfection is a supreme quality of art, lie behind those three words. But ...

I sunk my teeth into Olivia Rodrigo’s new single “Vampire” this weekend to distract myself from the Supreme Court’s latest decisions. Many artworks spend a lifetime unseen, sitting in storage ...