Maurice Ravel by Emily Kilpatrick

One of the most famous descriptions of the composer Maurice Ravel was that given by Igor Stravinsky: ‘The most perfect of Swiss clockmakers’. While that is true in terms of the astonishing precision of Ravel’s work, it by no means tells the whole story. The composer grew up in Paris of the 1880s and 1890s — a time of change — and his innovative approach to harmony alongside his poetic pianism may have superficially resembled that of his colleague Debussy, but was essentially something that the music world had not previously heard – and the charm and colour of his work did not conceal emotional undertones. The composer’s remarkable achievement – and elements of his closed private life – are provocatively addressed in this elegantly written study in Reaktion Books’ ‘Critical Lives’ series. Emily Kilpatrick teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London and her books include French Art Song: History of a New Music, 1870 – 1914. Her Ravel study examines in stimulating detail the composer’s reputation as a provocateur, and the fashion which he dealt artistically with this period of great cultural and political upheaval. The composer’s sexuality is shrouded, and Kilpatrick wisely makes no claim to have solved it. At just under 200 pages, this is one of the most valuable and insightful books on Ravel ever written.

Maurice Ravel by Emily Kilpatrick is published by Reaktion Books