Each week I will pick a piece that you might want to give a quick listen. This week I have chosen a piece by BBC Radio 3 Composer of the Week, Manuel de Falla (1876-1946).

De Falla, who is one of Spain’s most famous composers, wrote music that was often fantastically exotic and colourful but his Nights in the Garden of Spain (1915) is probably his most impressionistic – recalling Debussy in its use of orchestral and harmonic colours.

The third movement is entitled ‘The Gardens of the Sierra de Cordoba’ and moves between different types of meditation, beginning with wild music that depicts the famous whirling dance that Sufi Muslims do to induce a state of active meditation.

Catch it here on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgukjLhPh-c