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Maurice Ravel

Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as France's greatest living composer.

Born to a music-loving family, Ravel attended France's premier music college, the Paris Conservatoire; he was not well regarded by its conservative establishment, whose biased treatment of him caused a scandal. After leaving the conservatoire, Ravel found his own way as a composer, developing a style of great clarity and incorporating elements of modernism, baroque, neoclassicism and, in his later works, jazz. He liked to experiment with musical form, as in his best-known work, Boléro (1928), in which repetition takes the place of development. Renowned for his abilities in orchestration, Ravel made some orchestral arrangements of other composers' piano music, of which his 1922 version of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition is the best known.

A slow and painstaking worker, Ravel composed fewer pieces than many of his contemporaries. Among his works to enter the repertoire are pieces for piano, chamber music, two piano concertos, ballet music, two operas and eight song cycles; he wrote no symphonies or church music. Many of his works exist in two versions: first, a piano score and later an orchestration. Some of his piano music, such as Gaspard de la nuit (1908), is exceptionally difficult to play, and his complex orchestral works such as Daphnis et Chloé (1912) require skilful balance in performance.

Ravel was among the first composers to recognise the potential of recording to bring their music to a wider public. From the 1920s, despite limited technique as a pianist or conductor, he took part in recordings of several of his works; others were made under his supervision.

Birth and Death Data: Born March 7, 1875 (Ciboure), Died December 28, 1937 (Paris)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1915 - 1949

Roles Represented in DAHR: composer, orchestrator, conductor, arranger, piano

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 26-50 of 157 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Victor CVE-56876 12-in. 10/29/1930 La valse Boston Symphony Orchestra ; Serge Koussevitzky Orchestra composer  
Victor CVE-56877 12-in. 10/30/1930 La valse Boston Symphony Orchestra ; Serge Koussevitzky Orchestra composer  
Victor CVE-56878 12-in. 10/30/1930 La valse Boston Symphony Orchestra ; Serge Koussevitzky Orchestra composer  
Victor CVE-56879 12-in. 10/30/1930 Danse Boston Symphony Orchestra ; Serge Koussevitzky Orchestra orchestrator  
Victor CVE-56880 12-in. 10/30/1930 Sarabande Boston Symphony Orchestra ; Serge Koussevitzky Orchestra orchestrator  
Victor BVE-63369 10-in. 10/3/1930 Bolero Nathaniel Shilkret ; Victor Orchestra Jazz/dance band composer  
Victor BVE-64316 10-in. 10/10/1930 Bolero Leo Reisman Orchestra Jazz/dance band composer  
Victor BRC-71875 10-in. 2/20/1932 Pièce en forme de habanera Mischa Elman ; Carroll Hollister Violin and piano duet composer  
Victor BS-73848 10-in. 10/20/1932 Bolero Morton Gould Piano solo composer  
Victor LCS-74591 12-in. (33-1/3 rpm) 10/28/1933 Rhapsodie espagnole Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor LCS-74592 12-in. (33-1/3 rpm) 10/28/1933 Rhapsodie espagnole Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor CS-77883 12-in. 10/28/1933 Rhapsodie espagnole Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor CS-77884 12-in. 10/28/1933 Rhapsodie espagnole Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor CS-77885 12-in. 10/28/1933 Rhapsodie espagnole Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor CS-77886 12-in. 10/28/1933 Rhapsodie espagnole Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor CS-78430 12-in. 11/18/1933 Rhapsodie espagnole, part 1 Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor CS-78431 12-in. 11/18/1933 Rhapsodie espagnole, part 2 Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor LCS-78432 12-in. (33-1/3 rpm) 11/18/1933 Rhapsodie espagnole, parts 1 and 2 Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor CS-78433 12-in. 11/18/1933 Rhapsodie espagnole, part 3 Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor CS-78434 12-in. 11/18/1933 Rhapsodie espagnole, part 4 Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor CS-78435 12-in. 11/18/1933 Rhapsodie espagnole, part 5 Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor LCS-78436 12-in. (33-1/3 rpm) 11/18/1933 Rhapsodie espagnole, parts 3, 4 and 5 Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski Orchestra composer  
Victor CS-78975 12-in. 2/6/1934 Tzigane Jascha Heifetz ; Arpad Sandor Violin and piano duet composer  
Victor CS-78976 12-in. 2/6/1934 Tzigane Jascha Heifetz ; Arpad Sandor Violin and piano duet composer  
Victor BS-81369 10-in. 2/7/1934 Bolero Fray and Braggiotti Piano duet composer  
(Results 26-50 of 157 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Ravel, Maurice," accessed March 29, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102534.

Ravel, Maurice. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102534.

"Ravel, Maurice." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 29 March 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102534

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