Ravel

The mind boggling scale of this study. Waiting to see whether it increases my appreciation of Ravel’s output

a detailed study, rich on the Parisian background, and of course surefooted about the music itself.

Well written biography of an enigmatic figure, purchased after listening to ‘composer of the week’ r.3 featured Ravel, teems with evocative detail. Conveys a palpable sense of historic context together with individual reportage, (often directly quotes contemporary characters, e.g Satie’s antipathy), gave me hours of engaged pleasure.

I doubt there is a more comprehensive analysis out there of the life and work of Maurice Ravel, so it deserves five stars for that alone. The only thing is that it is a bit hard going in places - at least for someone like me who has a great interest in the man and his music, but who doesn't have a deep knowledge of music theory. So it needs to be approached as if you're reading an academic work, not a best-selling biography. That's not a criticism, just an observation for the unwary!

Excellent book, very reasonable price, prompt delivery.

Ravel would, I think, have approved of Roger Nichols. Roger has given us a biography as perfect in its way as Ravel's own masterpieces. His 430 pages show us Ravel in ultra-high definition, every detail the fruit of the most scrupulous research. Ravel's ancestry, his family, his childhood, his war service, his compositions and performances, his holidays, his house, his friends, his writings, his politics, his illnesses, his dandyism, his humour, his love of his favourite cigarettes - I can't think that there's any aspect of his life and personality that Roger doesn't illuminate. Forgive me if I'm sentimental, but not the least of the pleasures of reading Roger's account has been finding that Ravel wasn't just a consummate musician but also an admirable human being - conscientious, brave, loyal, forgiving of injuries, a thoroughly decent man.Roger's book includes some fifty pages of notes, chronology and bibliography, and a comprehensive index. Twenty-four illustrations are integrated into the text, and a further thirty-one black and white plates feature everything from his beautiful house and his piano to his cook working away in her little kitchen. Numerous musical excerpts accompany Roger's discussions of Ravel's works, which are intelligible enough that even a non-musician like me can read them with enjoyment.Yale University Press's hardcover edition is superbly designed and printed. If you want to know more about the man who wrote Sheherazade, Daphnis et Chloe and L'Enfant et les sortileges, I can't imagine that you could do better than to treat yourself to Roger's book.

Hard to better as a biography and introduction to Ravel's music. I've read this in conjunction with listening to the music chronologically. Luckily I had most of his output already but it has been a delight to listen to some unknown works - mainly earlier piano pieces like 'Serenade Grotesque' and 'Entre Cloches', his first orchestral piece the Sheherazade Overture, but also most importantly the opera 'L'Heure Espagnole'.Ravel seems a very admirable character, under his reserved persona someone who supported other musicians, was not afraid to take on what he perceived as poor criticism, but of course it his music that shines so brightly. It is tragic to read of his ill-health that silenced him as a composer 5 years before his death at 62.For me what I love most about Ravel's music is the pervading sense of lyrical melancholy that flows through so many of the works. I hear a tenderness and humanity that belies his reputation as a brilliant but cold artificer.

I bought this book the day it was published. I have had difficulty in putting it down. The story of Ravel's life is riveting. Nichols writes with authority. He makes Ravel's life story incisive, understandable and above all entertaining. However, for me, as a non-musician, it was very pleasing that Roger Nichols doesn't make it too 'musically challenging' as I don't read music. It is an amazing event for an Englishman to be awarded Le Legion d'Honeur for his work on one of France's most revered composers.There is no doubt in my mind, that Roger Nichols is now regarded as the world's leading authority of Maurice Ravel. What an achievement!