‘Bolero’ generates heat with machine-like precision. The Orange County Register, Aug. 7, 2015.
Reclaiming ‘Bolero’
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In an otherwise well-done, witty article you failed to answer the obvious (at least, to me) question: which version did you give your customer?
That information is lost in time, Bob.
Fair enough, but which one (or two) would you recommend to such a customer now?
I haven’t really heard that many recordings of “Bolero,” though I have heard the one Ravel conducted, which is quite slow. My standard “Bolero” is Monteux conducting the LSO — good tempo and rather straightforward all around.
Fine, LSO with Monteux is good, but is it “the sexiest”?
By the way, if “Ravel’s recommended tempo” is slow, then the piece’s duration is around 17 minutes.
I think Ravel changed his mind about the tempo at some point, MarK. (Toscanini did it in 13 minutes something and that pissed him off.) The score I looked at had quarter note = 72. If memory serves, Ravel’s recorded version is slower than that.
Monteux’s “Bolero” is probably not the sexiest, if there is such a thing. It lasts 15’29”, by the way.
Quarter=72 is not too slow for this piece. Around 15.5 minutes for it should be a very fine speed. But i agree: “if there is such a thing” is how i feel about any kind of “sexiness” in it, too.