The Cambridge Companion to Ravel

by Deborah Mawer

Overview

This Companion provides a comprehensive introduction to the life, music and compositional aesthetic of French composer Maurice Ravel (1875SH1937). Leading international scholars offer a powerful reassessment of this most private and elusive musician, examining his work in detail within its cultural context. Marking the 125th anniversary of Ravel's birth, the volume explores the full range of his work—piano repertory, chamber works, orchestral music, ballets, songs and operas—and concludes by analyzing the performance and reception of his music, including previously untranslated reviews.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521648561
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/24/2000
Series:	Cambridge Companions to Music
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.89(w) x 9.69(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Chronology of Ravel's life and career; Note on the text; Introduction Deborah Mawer; Part I. Cultural and Aesthetic: 1. History and homage Barbara L. Kelly; 2. Evocations of exoticism Robert Orledge; 3. Musical objects and machines Deborah Mawer; Part II. Musical Explorations: 4. Ravel and the piano Roy Howat; 5. Harmony in the chamber music Mark DeVoto; 6. Ravel and the orchestra Michael Russ; 7. Ballet and the apotheosis of the dance Deborah Mawer; 8. Vocal music and the lures of exoticism and irony Peter Kaminsky; 9. Ravel's operatic spectacles: L'Heure and L'Enfant Richard Langham Smith; Part III. Performance and Reception: 10. Performing Ravel: style and practice in early recordings Ronald Woodley; 11. Ravel and the twentieth century Roger Nichols; Appendix: Early reception of Ravel's music (1899–1939) Roger Nichols and Deborah Mawer; Notes; Select bibliography; Index of names and works.

Editorial Reviews

"Mawer's excellent volume brings together essays by leading international Ravel scholars...One expects only the highest quality scholarship from Cambridge, and this book certainly fulfills that promise." Choice

From the Publisher