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Ever since it was given what was probably its first public performance in a concert of Boulez鈥檚 in 1954, Ravel鈥檚 until then long-forgotten Frontispice has been a source of much puzzled speculation. This tiny, enigmatic work makes its Proms debut here, reclothed in Pierre Boulez鈥檚 iridescent orchestration.

Frontispice was written by Ravel in 1918 at the request of the Italian poet Ricciotto Canudo and first published in Les feuillets d鈥檃rt in 1919 as a frontispiece to an extract from S.P. 503: Le Po猫me du Vardar inspired by the poet鈥檚 First World War experience in the Vardar, where his unit鈥檚 postal code was S.P. 503.

The very short piece, originally written by Ravel on only five staves for performance by the very specific direction of five hands for pianos, Boulez arranged it for small orchestra in 1987 and for full orchestra 20 years later. Boulez mixes his vast range of orchestral colours with extraordinary ingenuity.