Boléro (Sargeant)

Maurice Ravel's Boléro was composed in 1928 as ballet music for the dancer Ida Rubinstein and premiered at the Paris Opera on November 22 of the same year. The work is based on a single melodic theme that repeats unchanged, presented over a continuous boléro rhythm in C major. This seemingly simple construction unfolds through Ravel's masterful orchestration into a hypnotic effect of irresistible intensity.

The distinctive feature of Boléro lies in its consistent intensification technique: while the melody and rhythm remain constant, the work grows exclusively through the successive addition of new instruments and instrumental groups. Beginning with a solo flute, the orchestra develops over 17 variations into a massive tutti sound. Only shortly before the end does Ravel surprisingly modulate to E major, before the work concludes in a dramatic C major fortissimo.

Although Ravel himself described the work as an "orchestral piece without music," Boléro became his most popular work and one of the most frequently performed orchestral pieces of the 20th century. The present arrangement by Sargeant makes this masterwork of orchestration accessible to smaller ensembles as well.