Customer Reviews

Ravel's Greatest Hit: The Ultimate Bolero

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a fun little album consisting of ten versions of Ravel's greatest "hit" -- the fantastic "Bolero." This album covers the waterfront -- from synthesizer to Benny Goodman. My only complaint is that the quality of some of older recordings in particular is rather poor. In fact you need to crank up the volume on two or three cuts, otherwise you won't even realize the song has begun. It would be interesting to apply this concept to any number of the great classical and popular pieces that one can't seem to get enough of -- how about Cole Porter's "Night and Day" for starters?

Well, in the first place, Ravel's Bolero, with its obsessively repeated melody and its huge built-in crescendo, is all about obsession, isn't it? The ancestor and unequalled masterpiece of all repetitive music. So it was a clever and witty idea of RCA to issue this collection of 10 times Ravel's Bolero - this is really "obsession to the power of obsession", and no admirer of the Bolero can find any exception with that. The disc opens and closes with the standard version, first in the classic version of Charles Munch with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (it is the 1956 version, not the one from 1962), grim, nervous and intensely urgent (and accelerating as it reaches its apex), then in the more laid-back and openly sensuous rendition of Eduardo Mata with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra - Bolero on a sultry afternoon in Mexico -, very steady in pulse until the end (recorded in 1980).

What you get in between are 8 transcriptions: by surging order of instrumental forces involved: Morton Goul'ds dazzling three and a half minute compendium for solo piano from 1932 (track 7), very much an Ivesian view of Ravel's Bolero; Tomita's new age version played on synthesizers (track 2, excerpted from his 1979 Ravel disc, Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe [Japan LP Sleeve] [Limited Edition] [Remastered] [Japan], see my review); the jazzy version (with a few added blue notes and syncopations) for piano Duet by Jacques Fray and Mario Braggiotti from 1930, very shortened (also three and a half minutes) and entertaining (track 3); Brass quintet (and snare drum) by the Canadian Brass in 1989 (track 8), more aggressive and saucy (and, at 4-minutes+, much more abridged) than the version played by the London Brass on Carmen: Bold As Brass; Fox-Trot orchestra (Nat Shilkret and His Orchestra in 1930, jitterbugging and immensely fun, you could imagine its use in the Depression-era marathons illustrated by Horace McCoy's and Sydney Pollack's "They Shoot Horses Don't They"); Jazz Clarinet and swing Jazz combo by Benny Goodman and his orchestra in 1939, cool and also very entertaining - and both those versions beat Bolero at 4 to the bar instead of the three written by the composer. It isn't clear what instrumental combination the version for percussion on track 9, played by Evelyn Glennie in 1991, is scored for: the liner notes mention that it was realized by a process of overdubbing, but the National Philharmonic Orchestra under Barry Wordsworth is also credited. Anyway, the various instruments between which, in the original version, the obsessively repeating melody is passed on, are here played by various percussion instruments. Strangely, after the concluding climax, the music goes on beating the initial rhythm and disappears with a fade-out, in pop style. The 1953 version by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops (track 6) is the one that comes closest to the standard version (in fact I hear nothing in its orchestration that sounds different from the standard version), although it is cut by half: the crescendo comes much sooner.

The repetitive nature of Ravel's Bolero allows for abridgment and all these transcriptions are indeed greatly abridged: they run from two and a half minutes (Goodman) to nine+ (Tomita). They give you, basically, the repetition, a short crescendo and the climax. What you loose is the sense of a slow but implacable unfolding. If the Bolero is a musical metaphor of sexual intercourse (and it's often been choreographed that way), then these are quickies.

BMG was regrettably un-specific about the recording dates, listing only the recording or copyright years on the back cover but in chronological order and no attribution to the specific tracks, indicating only that the versions of Morton Gould, Fray-Braggiotti, Nat Shilkret and Benny Goodman are of 78rmp origin. Fortunately, the disc's original 2000 issue (augmented of Serge Koussevitzky's classic recording of the standard version with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1930, but shorn of the Benny Goodman version, licensed from Sony, Ravel: Boléro, which makes this reissue preferable) was more precise, and I've given those dates in the review. Morton Gould's solo piano version comes here with an electronic whistling sound that seems to point to a rough filtering process.

If you are a fan of the Bolero and of repetition If you are a fan of the Bolero and of repetition If you are a fan of the Bolero and of repetition (and that was your litmus test), this is greatly entertaining, and sometimes even revelatory. But now that it got me started, I want more: how about new transcriptions for string quartet, saxophone ensemble, rap group and kazoo orchestra - and what else is missing?

Oh, yes: accordion. But it's been done (kind of), by William Schimmel, pretty wild, on Lady of Spain and Other Realities. Vocal octet: try the Swingle Singers, it's a great disc (but I'm out of product links: see in the comments section). There's also a jazz version by Jacques Loussier, which I haven't (yet) heard. And it would have been nice of the producers to have added (or, given the CD's time constraints, substituted to one of the standard versions) the recording made by the composer in 1930; after all, it all starts there. I have it on Maurice Ravel: Orchestral Music.

TT 69 minutes.

I first heard this CD on Sirius radio, and had to have it. The various interpretations of Bolero are fascinating. My favorite is Benny Goodman: his version is only about 3 minutes long, but it's terrific. Great value, both as simply popular music to enjoy and also as an education in how style and arrangement impact a piece of music.

This is far better than I had thought possible. I'm not quite sure now just exactly what I expected to find, but it is easy to play the entire disc without the weariness of repetition. I don't know how many compositions could make the same claim but Bolero really shines through. Great concept and execution. Don't let the artwork fool you, this is a seriously worthwhile collection.

First off, I love the box art by Patrick McDonnell ("Mutts"). This disc just begged to be created. We hear 10 different interpretations of this familiar work. The choices are excellent. What is keeping this at 3 stars is the utter lack of craftsmanship about the older transfers. The liner notes are rather defensive about this. "Radical methods to eliminate all surface noise have not been used...". Translation: we didn't know how, and didn't care enough to find out. The transfers from the 78 masters are mediocre at best. If you compare these with the British transfers of the Armstrong 78s from the 20s (not the junk Columbia peddles) you'll hear what I mean. Memo to Soundbyte Productions: Cutter distortion, disc damage, "needle scratch" all could be reduced with some editing using consumer-level software, like CD Spin Doctor.

That aside, this is a fun disc and the price is right. Be sure to remove the thorns from the roses before you take them between your teeth!

Bolero is my favorite, so my like of this album is obvious. They are all enjoyable versions. I give this as gifts too, works well!

This CD is exactly what I was looking for. Bolero over and over with different performers.

Bolero is a fantastic piece and this c d has several versions from traditional to large orchestra. I was very pleased and entertained.

Interesting mix of all types of interpretations of Bolero. Arrived in good shape in a timely manner.