Beyond The Proms: Delius and Ravel
Runcorn, February 2026.
Welcome to this, my very last (I promise) 'Beyond The Proms' post, pertaining to the 2025 run of concerts.
As the 2025 season played out, the BBC (mostly BBC 4), aired a handful of related documentary ditties, profiling the composers that were, posthumously, taking centre stage at the Royal Albert Hall. At the time I was knee-deep in writing up my thoughts on each concert, and could see only as far as what was about to hit me next. I therefore took the opportunity, with the help of a piece of software and my limited tech knowhow, to scalp a couple of said programmes from BBC iPlayer to watch at a later date, before they expired and disappeared from the platform.
From all the composers showcased at the 2025 BBC Proms, I have chosen two to focus my attention on: Delius and Ravel. Not so much their music, but rather a quick examination of their biographies.
Why those two?
Ravel stood out to me as a man who had composed with an element of altruism. His Piano Concerto for the Left Hand was performed at the 2025 Proms by Nicholas McCarthy, and one cannot help but become endeared to Ravel for this seemingly kind gesture. I happened to be chatting to an old friend and work colleague about this (there was a fire drill at work around the time), and he mentioned - for he is a learned man - that there were other composers who did this, or similar. Looking it up now for a refresher, I learn that the central figure around this phenomenon was one Paul Wittgenstein, a well-known Austrian pianist who lost his right arm in WWI. Various composers - not just Ravel - penned compositions for him.
Delius was a name I was unfamiliar with before the 2025 BBC Proms, but through the acquaintance of Richard Bratby on Twitter, I was directed to the film Song of Summer. During the Proms run, the BBC iPlayer had this film running, plus another offering in the form of Delius: Composer, Lover, Enigma. So I downloaded them. I have just looked back at what I wrote when I listened to A Mass of Life on the radio, and it turns out I did enjoy the music very much, though I was curious as to why the RAH was not a sell out that night, apart from the obvious it being Monday.
What to make of Ravel?
I watch the BBC programme, and it is an old-school Auntie [BBC] piece of profiling - I make a guess late 60's to early 70's, and I am thrilled to know I was in the ball park, its one and only prior broadcast being in 1973.
He was from southern France; the Basque region. A pianist who, latterly, did compose in tribute to his friends fallen during the First World War.
It seems he was one of those frequent-but-rare 'separate from his peers' types at college. Something 'special' about him. Adopted a Dandy image in his early adulthood (a la Beau Brummel) sporting a slick beard. He entered the Prix du Rome numerous times, and he did achieve second place in that French prize, one time. Looking on Wikipedia now, I can see that his exclusion from the prize on his final entry caused some controversy.
For me, I think actually the most exciting thing to learn about Maurice Ravel is that he was intrigued by American jazz and blues, which is some common ground we share. He even called the second movement of his violin sonata no. 2, 'blues: moderato'. How about that?!
And what to make of Delius?
I start with the film Song of Summer, which is focussed on his later years. The story starts with a young buck from Scarborough, Eric Fenby, travelling out to France to live and work with Delius; by now an old curmudgeon, blinded by syphilis. His [Delius's] every whim tended to, there is a curious homoerotic undercurrent to their relationship. I may need to read Delius, As I Knew Him by Eric Fenby, the book this film was based on, to get more insight on this working relationship. At time of writing it is available to borrow on archive.com.
Next up is Delius: Composer, Lover, Enigma, which opens with a tale of his midnight burial, somewhere in Surrey.
A rummy character, our Delius. He liked his sex, apparently having a string of liaisons with women and fathering a son, as you do, with a lady on his orange grove in Florida. I don't get it. Personally, the age-withered Delius reminds me of Terrence Hardiman in The Demon Headmaster, who in the nineties frightened me and a generation of my peers. But... oh, and but... I remember being gripped to that programme after school. True edge-of-your-seat stuff for tweenagers of the era. And perhaps the same can be said for Delius. I would metaphorise him as an elegant pastry whose cream filling has gone off - even though you balked and spat it out in disgust, you look at it again and there is something willing you to take another bite, as if it'll taste better the second time.
There is talk of his opera Koanga, which intrigues me. Delius, like Ravel, is not adverse to a 'blue note' here and there, and one of the interviewees [I forget which] suggests that there almost a touch of Gershwin about it. That's no bad thing, in my view. There is even a line for banjo in Koanga.
Interesting to note is his acquaintance with Grieg who, as I have mentioned in previous posts, in one of my personal 'all time' composers. And there is a feel, to me, of a 'Grieg-on-steroids' in Delius's music. Sensually grand.
Sir Mark Elder (who conducted A Mass of Life at the 2025 Proms) is interviewed on this film, and he talks about how he took a different approach to Delius than did Sir Thomas Beecham (who was sort of the first 'champion' of Delius). The two interpretations are played one after the other to demonstrate the difference between the two. Despite being the same piece of music, I am blown away by how different they sound.
Finally, I am very much on board with how the Delius listening experience is compared to being 'still' - as if the music is not moving and you are admiring a static piece of art. Yes - I had not thought about it like that before, but I completely get that!
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And that really is it! The very last thing to say is that I am now looking forward to the announcement - ordained for April 21st - of the 2026 BBC Proms roster. While the scale of my 2025 project shan't be repeated, I will perhaps look at something smaller-scale.
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