Maurice Ravel was born on March 7th, 1875. The French composer is famous for his lush melodies and brilliant orchestration (see Ravel's orchestration of Mussgorsky's Pictures at an Exhibition). His piano works are considered some of the most difficult to perform on piano even to this day (see Scarbo). Martha Argerich is considered one of the premier interpreters of Ravel; she will perform La Valse and the Piano Concerto in G Major with the LA Phil this week. Since she is in high demand, she is scheduled to play four concerts this week, from Thursday to Sunday. She has been flaky in the past few years for various reasons, but there seems to be no issues this time (she performed Prokofiev 3rd last year as well) and you will be in for a treat. more ›