Maurice Ravel: Bolero

Maurice Ravel: Boléro

When I was 6 years old, I was dumb and immature. I loved a really scrafty little anime series called Digimon. :angry: but do not get your scissors yet, for I now absolutely despise it. However, one if its proeminent themes, the Boléro, is still my favorite piece of all time.

I doubt any of you doesn't know this. If you don't, hear it immediatly. If you do, do share opinions :)

Short history: originally composed as ballet score when Ravel wasn't able to orchestrated Albeniz' Iberia piano work (glad that happened.) It was a success, despise Ravel not being too fond of the piece (something absolutely awkward :()

Eurgh. Have you ever had to play the trombone solo on the Bolero? Okay, I'll ask another question. Have you ever had to sight-read the trombone solo of the Bolero?

=P I had to do that a while back, I was booked for a concert with my local symphony Orchestra at the last minute. This is now one of my most despised pieces of music as a result. It's not that hard of a solo, just reading it in tenor clef for the first time shook me a bit. However, I played it fairly well, considering. I also think that the music goes on for far too long wiith the same sort of general pattern. I wish something interesting happened in it.

Actually, the Boléro was always meant to be a huge orchestral crescendo: I find the effect interesting, and may I say grasping :huh:

do any of you have the sheet music for that

sheetmusicarchive.net

Anywho, I think that the piece is effective. I can understnad how someone would be driven mad by it. I really love the piece. I think that the instrumentation and the dynamics and the voicing change just enough each time to keep the piece from sounding repetitive. When I listen to it I never get irritated or bored. I do not think that it gets repeated too often. It might also help that it is a very brilliantly catchy tune. However, if I had to play pizzicato on the strings I think I would be the major cause for the death of each and everyone of the orchestra members and possibly the front row of the audience. :( / ;)

Oh, has anyone seen that very strange "music video" of Bolero where people continuely migrate up a never ending set of stairs? Each time they come to a ledge or pause in the staircase they pass an object to the next group to go up the stairs. And, at the end, I think this coffin opens up and a skeleton or two fall to the ground, The End. It is very morbid and disgusting. I saw it on a local community college chanel. I believe it is called Stairway to Lenin.

I love it. It's kind of a scallop to play, no matter which instrument you're playing - partly because it's so repetitive, but also because as "crescendo" progresses, in the strings there are more and more notes to play (like line after line of awkward quadruple-stops), and it's just generally difficult to sustain the necessary stamina for that long. But it's a cool piece.

You're not going to feature this, but I once heard a virtuoso accordionist play an absolutely mind-blowing arrangement of Bolero. You had to hear it to believe it.

I love it. It's kind of a scallop to play, no matter which instrument you're playing - partly because it's so repetitive, but also because as "crescendo" progresses, in the strings there are more and more notes to play (like line after line of awkward quadruple-stops), and it's just generally difficult to sustain the necessary stamina for that long. But it's a cool piece.

You're not going to feature this, but I once heard a virtuoso accordionist play an absolutely mind-blowing arrangement of Bolero. You had to hear it to believe it.

That sounds fantastic! :dry:

I just listened to this piece today, and I cried :innocent:

It's a really nice piece...until you realize that it keeps going on and on and on. And on. Then some more. Then one final repeat.

my father had the cutest name for it: "delightful monotony".

it's probably one of the most subtle and misunderstood pieces of the 20th century.

It is a fantastic piece for playing-in new contrabassoon reeds - nobody can particularly hear the contrabassoon part and so the reeds can be as raucous as possible to begin with and by the time the piece is over, the reed may have turned into a nice playable reed.

It's an interesting piece to take part in and so far I've played in it twice. I wonder how many times I will play it in total...

I like minimalism, so this is quite trivial for me with regards repetitiveness.

It's a really nice piece...until you realize that it keeps going on and on and on. And on. Then some more. Then one final repeat.

But to me, it is so ingenious, repetition is the last thing I notice! :)