Le Tombeau de Couperin and Other Works for Solo Piano

Rating:
Summary: An Impressive Set of Works and More
Review: This book contains a great selection of pieces at a more than resonable price. I bought it as a set with Piano Masterpieces of Maurice Ravel also by Dover. (I saw another edition of Ma Mere l'Oye *on it's own* was more than what I paid for this whole book!) Dover editions I have found in the past have great quality. The pages are sewn in so the book will last a lifetime without pages falling or ripping out.

If you're not already impressed by the selection of pieces (I love the 1913 Prelude which I already had a copy of and memorized a while ago), Dover goes even further with this set. It opens with the table of contents and after that it has a complete glossyry of french terms and text used in the music! This I found was quite impressive. Even Dover's other Ravel book doesn't do this. Some of the terms sound enough like English words or Italian musical terms for you to figure it out but it's really great that they gave you it there for you to know for certain. Following that are translations of the wonderful quotes of fairy tales from La Mere and other text that appears in the book.

Before each multi-movement piece it receives it's own cover page followed by an introduction to the piece written by Ronald Herder citing Orenstein's book Ravel: Man and Musician as a primary source. It is really nice to learn a little about the piece before playing it and it's a wonderful inclusion. The music appears to be in chronological order with the three 1913 pieces grouped together under a single cover sheet (sans any introduction). The title piece is well deserving of it as it is a large section of the book with it's 7 movements. The book concludes with Ravel's transcription of La Valse. It is annotated with Ravel's own notes on the orchestra version sometimes including a third ossia staff showing parts of the orchestration unincluded in the transcription. Instruments are named in french and can be translated via the glossary at the front of the book.

The only problem anyone might have with this book is that there are no noted fingerings as far as I've seen. I don't rely on them much myself but I know other people prefer them. If that is an issue, consider still getting this book and consulting someone on parts where you are unsure of the best fingering. Otherwise this is the perfect set!

Rating:
Summary: An Impressive Set of Works and More
Review: This book contains a great selection of pieces at a more than resonable price. I bought it as a set with Piano Masterpieces of Maurice Ravel also by Dover. (I saw another edition of Ma Mere l'Oye *on it's own* was more than what I paid for this whole book!) Dover editions I have found in the past have great quality. The pages are sewn in so the book will last a lifetime without pages falling or ripping out.

If you're not already impressed by the selection of pieces (I love the 1913 Prelude which I already had a copy of and memorized a while ago), Dover goes even further with this set. It opens with the table of contents and after that it has a complete glossyry of french terms and text used in the music! This I found was quite impressive. Even Dover's other Ravel book doesn't do this. Some of the terms sound enough like English words or Italian musical terms for you to figure it out but it's really great that they gave you it there for you to know for certain. Following that are translations of the wonderful quotes of fairy tales from La Mere and other text that appears in the book.

Before each multi-movement piece it receives it's own cover page followed by an introduction to the piece written by Ronald Herder citing Orenstein's book Ravel: Man and Musician as a primary source. It is really nice to learn a little about the piece before playing it and it's a wonderful inclusion. The music appears to be in chronological order with the three 1913 pieces grouped together under a single cover sheet (sans any introduction). The title piece is well deserving of it as it is a large section of the book with it's 7 movements. The book concludes with Ravel's transcription of La Valse. It is annotated with Ravel's own notes on the orchestra version sometimes including a third ossia staff showing parts of the orchestration unincluded in the transcription. Instruments are named in french and can be translated via the glossary at the front of the book.

The only problem anyone might have with this book is that there are no noted fingerings as far as I've seen. I don't rely on them much myself but I know other people prefer them. If that is an issue, consider still getting this book and consulting someone on parts where you are unsure of the best fingering. Otherwise this is the perfect set!

Rating:
Summary: Dover gives us the rest of Ravel
Review: Together with Le tombeau as promised by the title, this volume includes the original piano versions of Ma Mère l'Oye, all eight Valses nobles et sentimentales, the 1913 Prélude, the two pieces À la manière de (Chabrier and Borodin), and the composer's own piano transcription of La Valse. This fine, durable Dover edition nicely complements Dover's "Piano Masterpieces of Maurice Ravel" with no overlap to give a nearly complete collection of all of Ravel's compositions for the piano. The only piano work absent from both volumes is the Habanera, probably because that work is almost invariably performed by two pianists, although I own a transcription for a single player. Many of the works in this volume are quite accessible to pianists of intermediate skill, if they are sufficiently motivated by a love of the music of Ravel, and even in Le tombeau, a work of legendary difficulty, the exquisite Menuet, should prove playable by all but beginners. Highly recommended.