Maurice Ravel’s Bolero is probably the best-known score in the classical register. This ballet music was composed for the Russian dancer and wealthy patron, Ida Rubinstein, who commissioned the composer to write a “ballet of Spanish character” that goes far beyond the codes of choreography to achieve an extraordinary fullness of sound. Ravel imagined a single musical phrase that becomes the body of a dance movement in one piece, with an unvarying rhythm and tempo, infinite modulations of a single melody. Only the orchestration constantly changes and the melody circulates to all the instruments, during a slow crescendo that suddenly literally explodes. A seemingly theoretical project, which could turn out dry and scholastic, its hypnotic effect on the audience from the very first performance has never waned, and provokes absolute enthusiasm. Because the score is based solely on the principle of repetition, it disconcerted many composers who attended the premiere, such as Florent Schmitt. Others noted the feats of instrumentation, such as Charles Koechlin, who stated in his famous Traité de l’orchestration (1954) that “this entire score is to be studied in detail, for the balance and gradation of sonorities”. But above all, it is a question of hearing the Bolero as a score that gently hooks you by questioning you with that throbbing percussion at the beginning, never to let go until the apotheosis!

Maurice Ravel (1875 – 1937)

Alborada del gracioso

Boléro

Rapsodie espagnole

Intermission

Richard Strauss (1864 – 1949)

Don Quichotte