L'heure espagnole is a French one-act opera from 1911, described as a comédie musicale, with music by Maurice Ravel to a French libretto by Franc-Nohain, based on Franc-Nohain's 1904 play ('comédie-bouffe') of the same name. The opera, set in Spain in the 18th century, is about a clockmaker whose unfaithful wife attempts to make love to several different men while he is away, leading to them hiding in, and eventually getting stuck in, her husband's clocks. The title can be translated literally as "The Spanish Hour", but the word "heure" also means "time" – "Spanish Time", with the connotation "How They Keep Time in Spain".

Boléro, composed by Maurice Ravel in 1928, has always captured the world’s attention. Repetitive, mesmeric, colourful and thrilling, it has also proved a seminal work, influencing composers over the past century. Now it lends its name to a film inspired by the life of Ravel: directed by Anne Fontaine and starring Raphaël Personnaz.

Eight days remaining before César Franck’s awaited bicentenary! Here is a throwback to his major pieces, as Aldo Ciccolini teams up with André Cluytens in the two masterpieces for piano and orchestra, Les Djinns and the Variations symphoniques. Both were favorite works for the pianist who performed them intensely and would record again with Paul Strauss. They are coupled with a fiery version of Tchaikovsky’s concerto and feature the National Belgium Orchestra and the Paris Conservatory Orchestra.