Today marks the birthdate of French master Maurice Ravel (1875-1937).  Ravel's music is perhaps more famous than some of his other contemporaries.  His music is sometimes categorized as "post-Impressionist" which is a historical designation more than an actual aesthetic one.  We might say that Ravel was a kind of Neo-Baroque, or even Neo-Roccoco composer.  A person who made use of dance forms in suites and atypical piano pieces and orchestral works over more standard Classical structures.  Ravel is also a one of the early deconstructionist composers.  La Valse is the quintessential example of a piece that builds and builds and then seems to just fall apart all around you by the end.  Bolero, probably one of his most known works, works in somewhat the opposite way.  In essence it is the best sustained orchestral crescendo in the history of music.  Its sexual connotations added later in the century.  (Gen Xers have images of Bo Derek indelibly linked to this piece, for better or worse.)

Ravel's music was most attractive to me than Debussy's.  I think it had a lot to do with the colorful orchestration that Ravel employs in his music.  It also may have had something to do with the brevity of his orchestral pieces that I first heard over the seemingly more diffuse works of Debussy.  (Though now I would be hard pressed to choose either composer's music over the other's.)

My favorite recordings of Ravel came from some old Turnabout LPs I ran across in a cutout bin.  Stanislaw Skrowaczewski led the Minnesota Orchestra on these old Quadraphonic releases.  The ensembles lush strings were perfect for Ravel and though the recording was a little bass heavy for my cheap stereo system, it became one of my favorite albums.  Seemingly more authentic though were a series of recordings by Ernst Ansermet made for Decca and since reappearing in a number of CD incarnations.  Ansermet's detail and tempos are perfect for this music plus they introduced me to a whole host of other composers whose music I never would have heard otherwise.  I am less a fan of Ravel's piano music though I can certainly appreciate it and I am less forgiving than some of his reworkings of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.  Also worth adding to your collection is the superb ballet Daphnis et Chloe (the one by Charles Dutoit is good as is a more recent one by Boulez on DG).  The second suite from the ballet is a good truncated version of the highlights if you prefer that to the whole thing.

It has been so long since I needed to add to my personal CD collection that I am afraid my suggestions are all out of print, but perhaps those who stop by can suggest a few newer CDs.