How It's Done: Ravel Boléro

[@gg4gb1914]

The Reason I LOVE Bolero is LESS IS MORE. So Simple yet so Complex.

[@detectivehome3318]

The way an overtone was explained was absolutely STELLAR. You have completely changed my conception of an overtone. You're a true born teacher.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thank you.

[@melissaking6019]

I love the section David sampled. The french horn/flute/celesta/piccolos do sound together sound like an organ. Amazing orchestration!

[@howardjohnson2138]

In another life, as a kid, my brother, sister, and I went to live with an Aunt and Uncle. As often as we could we'd get him to put us to sleep each night with this that was played on three 78 records

[@howardjohnson2138]

Thank you

[@markokassenaar4387]

I literally applauded behind my laptop when you said (I summarize) "F*** off, it is a masterwork. Now, let's dive into it"

[@AlexMadorsky]

Composers aren’t always the best judges of their own creations. Ravel may have come to see his most accessible, popular hit as a mere orchestrational exercise devoid of truly meaningful music, but Bolero’s fabulous excitements and sounds from snare drum to organ-y melody is deservedly loved. Thanks for this review of the oooh-ahhh sounds Bolero has to offer.

[@jackdahlquist2977]

The much-delayed appearance of the vioiins finally playing the first tune is dramatic and thrilling, and it stuns me every time. What a masterful wizard that Ravel was!

[@deVriesOP125]

I have to give you respect for listening to countless of recordings of the Bolero. After one listen I have more than enough of it for a while 😂

[@steveschwartz8944]

One of the things that makes that score a masterpiece is the unpredictable asymmetry of the two tunes themselves. Those tunes zig-zag and constantly surprise me.

[@ftumschk]

What a fabulous piece of music this is, made even more fabulous when you know "how it's done". Thanks for the insights!

[@magnuskrook39]

A talk on the "sheep music" from Strauss's Don Quixote would be much appreciated. It's all great fun, but also a fascinating piece of orchestration: the bleatings themselves, of course, and the rest of the orchestra contributing that eerie pastoral background drone.

[@whistlerfred6579]

As someone who has played piccolo from time to time (mostly in marching bands) I can testify that to play anything pianissimo on that tiny beast is a challenge. And to do so in the awkward (for a piccolo) key of E Major, and in the high octave at that, makes it at least ten times harder. But what a wonderful, rich sound Ravel is able to get with this combination! Great series, by the way!

[@robertdandre94101]

few years ago ,me and my wife encounter a retired musician of montréal symphony orchestra,mr gilles moisan,who playing saxophone and bass-clarinet in the orchestra and .he participing to the recording of bolero with charles dutoit.i have a very interressting conversations with him about mr dutoit, etc ....and bolero and this passage to....you can hear mr moisan in l'arlesienne and other recording of mr dutoit....mr moisan is dead today,and i keep a very good souvenir of this man

[@farhadjavi1012]

That was really fascinating! I learned a lot and got a lot to listen for and think about! Thanks so much! Please do more of these videos.

[@tygertyger8597]

I love this music. My favorite recording of it is by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carlo Rizzi on the Tacet label. The vinyl version (which I have) is played from the inner groove near the label to the outside. This is great due to the increasing dynamic range of the music. Happy to see this video on Bolero.

[@ryanpollock8136]

After watching and pondering this video, it's like I'm hearing the Bolero for the first time again. This channel is just such a testament to what intelligent criticism/analysis can do. Gahhh I love it!!!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Wow, thank you!

[@Cesar_SM]

I have to say that this video is fabulous and so clear to follow! Thank you!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Glad it was helpful!

[@janwillembultje6568]

What a fascinating lecture. I look regular at your videos and I think they are great. The series "How it's done is very interseting. Bravo and greetings from The Netherlands

[@laurentco]

I’ve always loved that section and its effect in Bolero.

[@jamesf.1576]

Wow that’s really interesting. I never looked to closely at the section in particular, I just assumed it was some flutes and oboes or something playing in an odd unison. Bolero is a masterpiece - the famous trombone solo would probably be my favorite, but the entire piece is really fascinating

[@christopherjohnson2422]

“The Rite of Spring” contains numerous distinctive sounds. One suggestion: the Kiss of the Earth section, which comes right before the final dance in Part I-a mysterious string chord. Of course, the loud and crazy climax of the Procession of the Sage section is also of considerable interest-the lugubrious low brass, the pounding rhythms in the strings, the cymbals banging away in a cross-rhythm-brilliant!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

It's a tam-tam. There are no cymbals in Part One (apart from antique cymbals and triangle for a few bars).

[@prairiecollectors]

Fantastic analysis. Loved it. Thanks.

[@williamwhittle216]

I agree: it's a masterpiece. Excellent presentation!

[@FelixMeister]

The first time seeing this played live was a revelation. I remember looking up trying to identify which instrument was playing and being amazed to find that it wasn't one but two (and later more) which bended perfectly into a single sound. It's now a piece I recommend anyone slightly interested in any type of music to see live at least once.

[@rbmelk7083]

I wish to nominate the bars leading up to the recapitulation of the first movement of Mahler’s 2nd. That cataclysmic cadence which obliterates everything in its path except for faint viola tremolos on the fifth gives me chills every time.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

That's quite a moment!

[@jmcgraw6]

It’s been a long time since I’ve listened to Bolero, yet such a memorable piece. Now I know deeply indeed “how it’s done”, some of why it is such an amazing listen. This is my first time tuning into your channel, thank you so much!!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thanks for listening!

[@edwinbaumgartner5045]

What an interesting serie of talks this is! Let me just add that, when you listen carefully to an organ, you hear the opening of the pipes, it makes a barely audible „pop“ - and this is in Ravel’s orchestra the Celesta. I have two further suggestions: Schreker‘s Kammersinfonie, where the composer manages after 15 minutes from start to create an orgy of sound with just 22 or so musicians. The other suggestion is Ives‘ 4th symphony, 1st movement, the entry of the chorus. For me, it’s one of the most fascinating moments in the whole music history: It’s like a hymn sung in deep night, and you hear the stars twinkle. Thanks so much for these talks!

[@phomchick]

That was very cool, David. It gave me a new appreciation of Bolero, and even made me want to listen to it, which is quite an accomplishment!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thank you!

[@phomchick]

@@DavesClassicalGuide I had thought the only folks doing things like this were the spectralists (c.f. Georg Friedrich Hass), but it is amazing to learn that Ravel was doing this 100 years ago.

[@robertdandre94101]

suggestion for the '' sound''....wagner , magic fire music...introduction,the sound with four harps...which wind (?) we ears with harps....before little schumann tune...( kinderszeinen)...?

[@knutanderswik7562]

Thank you, a great explanation! The celeste seems to add that attack to each note which I have heard organists call "chiffy".

[@ondrejsedo8659]

My favourite extraorinarily sounding moment (out of many found in the entire symphony) is opening of Fantaisies Symphoniques (or Symphony No. 6) by Martinů. Only looking at the first page of the score makes me goosebumps.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Me too! I already have it lined up next!

[@bbailey7818]

Julietta has such hairraising eerie sounds as well, the perfect evocation of a dream state and world. What a sonic imagination Martinu had!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

@@michaelcrump7601 About six syllables too many.

[@Cesar_SM]

So we could say that Boléro is like a clever set of variations and a mini-concerto for orchestra at once.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

We could say that.

[@jesusalvarez-cedron6581]

Even a lustful ballet!

[@colinwrubleski7627]

Query: What does Eugene Ormandy do to make the triple forte sound, well, more triple forte, in the string "explosion" (for want of a better term) or outburst near the end of the Sibelius 7th symphony in E.O.'s recording of the work with the "Fabulous Philadelphians"? No sound quite like it... It tangentially makes me think of Mahler's comment upon seeing Niagara Falls for the first time: "At last, a real fortissimo!"

[@folanpaul]

Thanks David, another fantastic talk. Probably outside the remit of your talk, as too long, given the parameters you mention at then end of the video, but would the opening of Penderecki's Symphony No. 1 be a good suggestion?

[@gerbs139]

Outstanding analysis of a truly genius conception. I wonder if performances that don’t achieve the intended sonority in this passage may be due to insufficiently soft piccolos.

[@kellyrichardson3665]

AWESOME series! These EXACT SPOTS have always been on MY LIST as well! HOW ABOUT the OPENING BARS to Smetana's Ma Vlast -- the 4th Movement, whatever [weird name] it's called... It sounds like the opening of a new universe. How is it DONE???

[@nickhamshaw1234]

How about the Underwater opening of Martinu’s First, or the third quarter of the Third’s finale, where the string soloists float over the burbling woodwinds? Or the gorgeous last few bars of Suk’s Summer’s Tale, where the shimmering strings waft over the low piano? All three are startling sonorities.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Indeed.

[@fjblanco]

These discussions are truly fascinating, they really enhance the listening experience. Well done! Would you consider a talk on Wagner’s “Tristan” chord?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I don't think so. It's been analyzed to death from a harmonic standpoint and there's nothing extraordinary about its orchestration (other than its appropriateness).

[@FCarraro1]

aha, I was sure you were going to analyse this very moment even if I hadn't read the comments. I would like you to analyse the sound of the Acquarium from Carnival of Animals, I think it could be interesting. In alternative, the watery opening of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloé. Cheers.

[@cwm5001]

The closing pages of Britten’s Young Peoples Guide to the Orchestra have always intrigued me. The fugue is going hell for leather when the main theme comes in monumentally on the brass in an apparently different time signature and somehow it all gets sorted to give the most rousing finale. How is it done?

[@dmcvegan1963]

I would like to suggest the Saint-Saëns Concerto #5 for Piano ("The Egyptian"), where there is a very similar passage to the one you outlined in Bolero.

[@ferrisburgh802]

David, being a Bolero fan from my first hearing so, so many years ago and having heard some really awful versions I wholeheartedly recommend you listen to the lasted version by John Wilson on Chandos, it is really, as least to my ears revelatory, as are the other items on the disk, Mother Goose especially, La Valse, etc.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I have the disc and look forward to hearing it.

[@nickhamshaw1234]

Maybe it’s a bit too obvious what’s going on, but the first minute or so of ‘Jam enim hiems transiit’, the second section of VW’s Flos Campi. It was unique even within VW’s own work.

[@lewtaratua1719]

Another Strauss’ work, “Im Abendrot” of four last songs. Near the end, I hear sweet tremolo sounds. Is it just one piccolo or mixture of some instruments? This series is very interesting even for me who know nothing about score or theory. Thanks.

[@dennischiapello7243]

Great talk. It certainly is possible to listen lazily to Ravel's Bolero. A fascinating orchestral sound that comes to mind is the shocking intrusion of that A-flat minor chord in the Adagio of Mahler's Tenth Symphony. Is it just because it's loud and sudden, or is there truly something strange about its orchestration?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

It's both. I'm looking at it and we'll see if I can make a talk about it.

[@jgesselberty]

Bolero was my introduction to classical music, as a child. I was watching a murder mystery, and the villain put Bolero on the phonograph, and was going to kill the victim at the climax.

[@Barrin10]

Bolero is instantly recognizable to most listeners because of the incessant snare drum. Shostakovich did it brilliantly in his 7th symphony (The Leningrad) premiered in 1942. But before both of them was Carl Nielsen's 5th symphony, premiered in 1922 - six years before Bolero. Is there a composer earlier than Nielsen who made the snare drum front and center to the "sound'"? Credit it where it's due.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Stravinsky in L'histoire du soldat.

[@markokassenaar4387]

There is also a weird and very prominent snare drum part in Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto. Often, when the orchestra part is played by a piano, a percussionist is added.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

@@markokassenaar4387 It has to be. The snare drum is as much a soloist as the clarinet.

[@markokassenaar4387]

​@@DavesClassicalGuide In my opinion even better interwoven with the score than the trumpet in Shostakovich's 1st piano concerto.

[@oliverarreaga354]

Hi, ¿could you check out Frank Dupree's new Kapustin álbum "Blueprint", that came out recently?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

That's the plan.

[@scagooch]

Interesting. I actually don't own a recording of this.