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!


Nearly perfect   March 21, 2006
Jeremy Ricketson (Tulsa, OK)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

This is really an amazing buy if you are a serious pianist. Each piece is given an introduction, and all of the French terms are translated in a glossary near the front. This is especially helpful for those of us who aren't great with French. The music is clean and neatly spaced, and it looks vibrant and new. Like a previous reviewer said, the only minor flaw is that no fingerings are included, and of course using the right fingerings and hand positions is crucial in Ravel. There are also few typographical errors in the music, probably because these are later works by Ravel.

If you want fingerings and performance suggestions for Le Tombeau de Couperin, I would suggest Nancy Bricard's edition from Alfred. In particular, the Toccata and the Prelude are good pieces to have suggested fingerings for.


f u n   July 4, 2010
Local Gratitude 907
f u n.....b e a u t i f u l m u s i c =)