"Ravel is one of the rare French composers who have left so strong an imprint on their art that music after them can never be the same." -- Alexis Roland-Manuel. Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) ranks as one of the most original French composers of his time, a consummate craftsman who continually sought perfection of form and style, and whose unique harmonic language was unmistakably his own. Along with Debussy, he stands in the front rank of great modern composers for the piano and his piano music includes a number of masterpieces considered vital to the repertoire of any serious pianist. This handsome, affordable volume reprints a rich selection of his compositions: "Pavane pour une infante défunte," "Jeux d'eau," "Sonatine," "Miroirs," "Menuet antique," "Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn," "Gaspard de la nuit," and more.From the dazzling "Jeux d'eau," whose inventiveness and harmonic ingenuity opened a whole new era in sound, to the beloved "Pavane pour une infante défunte," to the suite "Gaspard de la nuit," music of legendary difficulty that every serious pianist eventually attempts, the piano music of Ravel is among the most recorded and performed in the repertoire. This inexpensive Dover edition makes that music available, at a reasonable price, to pianists who wish to play and study the works of a composer in the vanguard of "the new order of post-Lisztian piano writing."
