Ravel: Complete Orchestral Works

Ravel's music from the heart of the man himself

Advantages: Authentic recording, a direct link to the composer of this beautiful music, very expressive and stylish.
Disadvantages: A different style with some small technical discrepences, some might prefer a more modern recording.

The contributions of Maurice Ravel to the 20th century piano repertory are a tender and expressive gift, standing out as some of the best examples of French Impressionist solo pieces from that time along with works by his contemporaries Debussy and Fauré. Since his early death in 1930, many performers have turned to his pupils - Vlado Perlemuter, and Marguerite Long expecting that they, with all their close contact with him, would be the most direct link to the man himself. They strongly emphasise the idea of strictness, lack of any kind of exaggeration, expression or imitation of past traditions, as though the piece is like an object to be guarded. However "Masters of the Piano Roil..." is primary evidence that flatly contradicts what they say - there are over 250 recordings of Ravel playing his own work (some of the best featured ...

sandersabigail 29.08.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Masters of the Piano Roll: Ravel plays Ravel

It Works for me....sometimes....!

Advantages: Cheap. Good for buying presents.
Disadvantages: Sell a lot of titles you've never heard of....

The Works is a discount bookstore which can be found on many high streets. I have browsed around a fair few discount bookstores, but have always found this store to be the best in it?s class. Overall, I tend to find that a lot of discount bookstores sell a lot of uninteresting titles, & books you?ve never heard of. The Works does also fall into this category, but seems to also sell more bestsellers than other stores (often current ones at that), covering a wide range of authors. Books are laid out according to genre & are for the most part stacked on shelves with the cover facing forwards, so that you can see at a glance what titles are in stock. The more popular fiction & bestsellers are laid out on tables at the front of the store, with reference books & childrens books being on shelves running down the sides & back of the store ...

sambam000 13.07.2009 · Read full review
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Review of The Works

Work It Out

Advantages: Cheap, random selection
Disadvantages: Random selection, rather hit and miss

Student life requires budgeting, which often involves purchasing daily essentials in cheap pound shops or from chains like Morisons, Wilkinsons and the like. Unfortunately Oxford does not have many of these, The Works is about the only cheap shop there is ? though there are two or three of these (on in the Westgate Centre next to Sainsburys, one on Cornmarket Street and maybe one on the High Street). I don?t know how many branches there are nation wide; but I know there?s also a branch in Colchester, which is much the same. What do they sell? The Works is primarily a cheap book shop, but also sells stationery, art equipment and other bits and pieces from time to time. The books tend to be slightly obscure, but are often going cheap. There seem to be a lot of biographies of D-list celebrities, for example Ulrika?s Johnson?s ?Honest ...

a-true-ben 22.06.2003 · Read full review
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Review of The Works