Ravel: Man and Musician

"Ravel: Man and Musician is the first book to set the composer's entire oeuvre in its proper perspective … a staggeringly well documented opus … it cannot be matched for the invaluable particulars it provides." — Patrick J. Smith, Editor, High Fidelity/Musical America 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