“It’s like a hallucination, bodies embrace each other, a dizzying drunkeness fills the posada, eyes shine, lips are redder, heels hit the floor, the room is full, we jostle each other, we shout the bolero!” This is what critic Pierre de Lapommeraye wrote in 1930 after the premiere of Bolero, conducted by Ravel himself! Indeed, the music of this ballet is built around a diabolic repetition of a single musical phrase, which haunts the work for around 17 minutes in a gradual and enticing crescendo. Although the audience was won over from the premiere onwards, critics did not spare the composer in their judgements: there were those who called it an "anti-musical" work, those who saw it as a modern macabre dance, and those who interpreted it as pathological music… Ravel’s response calmed their criticisms: “I did exactly what I wanted to do, and listeners can take it or leave it.”
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medici.tv is the best online platform for streaming Schumann’s Ravel’s Bolero live, on replay or VOD, offering you a virtual ticket to the most exciting concerts with the world’s best artists and orchestras captured in HD video. A remarkable and original work, Ravel’s Bolero is one of the most famous and widely played compositions in the world today. It was premiered in Paris in 1928, conducted by Ravel himself. Ravel’s Bolero was dedicated to Ida Rubinstein. Discover the most beautiful performances of this irresistible dance on medici.tv!
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The greatest artists of our time perform Ravel’s Bolero on medici.tv, your #1 classical streaming platform
In 1518, Alsatian chroniclers reported a strange event, the mystery of which remains unresolved to this day: in Strasbourg, almost 400 people are said to have danced frantically for nearly a month. Some dancers even died from exhaustion! The mechanisms of this phenomenon are still poorly understood, but listening to Ravel’s Bolero, one immediately feels compassion for the (un)lucky victims of “dancing mania.” Violinist Hélène Jourdain-Morhange has testified to the suggestive power that Ravel’s Bolero exerts on her audience: “The force of the crescendo, this haunting intention of the theme gives them a taste of desire. The voluptuous contagion is slyly born in the room, [...] the backs have left the support of the armchairs, the breaths become less restrained, the necks tighten, the eyes seek to discover the source of pleasure.” So put on your best pair of shoes and let yourself be enchanted by Ravel’s Bolero on medici.tv!