In Manchester last week for the first performance with the BBC Philharmonic and Nicholas Collon of my orchestration of Ravel’s La vallée des cloches, together with Oiseaux tristes, which they first played in the 2015 Proms. These are two of the three pieces from Miroirs which Ravel did not orchestrate himself. Not long before his shockingly early death a year ago I’d talked with my good friend Steven Stucky about pairing my orchestrations with his of Noctuelles, which he made in 2001. I was very pleased that the BBC Phil agreed to include Noctuelles, but sad that it turned out to be a posthumous collaboration. La vallée des cloches is dedicated to Steve’s memory. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet gave a stunning performance of Ravel’s Left Hand Concerto in the first half of the concert, which concluded with a remarkable Shostakovich 8.