Chris Webber replies to Jon Gallant:

>>Someone suggested that the harmonic repetitiousness of Ravel's Bolero
>>ought to make it a "mediocre" piece.  Well, yes, it IS a mediocre piece.
>
>Is it?  I continue to be totally baffled by this dismissive judgement
>of Ravel's chef d'oeuvre!
>
>Like many obstinately memorable, truly popular classics, it is only
>"mediocre" if listened to with our ears the wrong way round.  Maybe we
>should try putting all the usual harmonic/contrapuntal criteria on hold,
>and giving Bolero the respect of listening to it for what it is - i.e.
>a daring essay in Spanish-Moorish "alhambrismo" concentrating on one
>emotional state and brooding on it obsessively, a virtuoso demonstration
>of the sensual power of sound timbres, rather than a finely wrought
>compositional essay in the mainstream Western tradition. ...
>
>Heard in this mode, I would say (as a diehard Ravelian myself) that it
>is far and away the most *profound* and sensual - as opposed to witty,
>charming, elegant, insouciant, sophisticated, gently touching etc.  -
>piece he ever wrote.

Well, I don't know about "profound," but then again I don't think
it has to be.  Aside from the incredible changes in orchestration, the
theme itself, repeated over and over, never fails to surprise me.  It's
masterful asymmetry.  To this day, I can't hum it through without looking
at the score.

>The one moment of harmonic movement in Bolero when it finally arrives
>remains emotionally shattering.

Right on, bro!

Steve Schwartz