Karol Beffa
(c) Amélie Tcherniak
Karol Beffa loves Ravel. He practically fell in love with the composer as a child. He loves him, he adores him, and he defends him in the face of criticism. In a new book, En avant la musique, he paints Ravel’s portrait not chronologically, but via his works, embellishing his judicious and enriching analyses with a wealth of detail on the life and character of the composer, who magically becomes closer to the reader than ever before.
With the help of quotations that show how meticulously he prepared the subject, Beffa paints us the character, so small and so elegant a man, so narcissistic to believe Alma Mahler, and takes us into the intimacy of his house with its often false decoration or into his Japanese style garden…
In a lively narrative, he takes us into the secrecy of Ravel’s studio, spares us the details of his relationships, and introduces us to his way of life and his tenderness for children, which is so often felt in his music.
This is a vibrant tribute to a musical genius who, through Beffa’s pen, becomes more human than ever.
Karol Beffa: En avant la musique ! Maurice Ravel
Librairie Compagnie (Paris)
ISBN 978-2.3828-4802-9
