Thursday, May 11, 2006
Basic, interesting, but not fascinating biography of the composer Maurice Ravel. Part of the Phaidon's (defunct?) 20th-Century Composer series, which I'm slowly reading my way through. Lots of photos and illustrations scattered throughout the text are a big part of what makes these books special. Author, Gerald Larner, did seem to have some kind of weird, slightly distracting, hang-up about Ravel's sexuality. There was especially no need to focus so much of the book's epilogue on the subject. However, Larner does a good job of putting all the music and basic facts of the composer's life in a readable, chronological order. Wish he could have perhaps brought a little more enthusiasm to the task somehow. The book did lead me to a dozen or so recordings to check out - which is probably the main reason I had for digging into it in the first place anyway.
