Ravel

The biography of Maurice Ravel by François Hudry , illustrated by Michel Conversin and accompanied by 2 compact discs.

If many of Maurice Ravel 's works are now well known to the general public and have even become "classics of the 20th century", his personality is one of the most difficult to define. Hiding behind humor, even irony, to better hide a skin-deep sensitivity, Ravel has retained from childhood the fascination for artifice, magic and the taste for mechanical objects. Like the white pebbles of Little Thumb that he will so tenderly set to music in Ma Mère l'Oye , he will sow works in which one, or more, of these three components are almost certainly found. Whether it is the artifice (and mechanical brilliance!) of Boléro , the magic of Shéhérazade or L'Enfant et les sortilèges , the taste for mechanical objects in L'Heure Espagnole or in La Petite, and so strongly revealing, melody the Christmas of toys of which he is also the author of the poem.