Ravel

The music of Maurice Ravel is performed more today than that of any other French composer. His musical achievements as well as his life and times are brilliantly recreated in this masterly biography, originally published during Ravel's centenary year of 1975. Written by Arbie Orenstein, widely considered the world's foremost Ravel scholar, this book remains the standard biography — detailed, alert to the historical milieu and cultural background of Ravel's music, rich in quotations drawn from his letters and filled with information gathered in the author's many interviews with the composer's friends.

Mr. Orenstein provides an illuminating analysis of each of Ravel's works — including several compositions, autographs, and sketches brought to light through the author's exhaustive research — and a general discussion of Ravel's musical aesthetics and language. He includes as well 32 plates of illustrations and two invaluable appendixes: a complete catalogue of Ravel's works, and a discography of historical recordings made between 1912 and 1939.