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Audiences in 1928 were outraged by Bol茅ro. But strangely enough, its composer agreed with them...

Later in life, Ravel couldn鈥檛 believe that his experiment in musical hypnosis, this uncompromising exercise in proto-minimalism, would become his most popular piece. He was amazed that orchestras were even prepared to play it.

The tune of Bol茅ro 鈥� the only tune 鈥� came to Ravel while he was on holiday. Just as he was about to go for a swim, he rushed to the piano and played the melody with one finger. 鈥淒on鈥檛 you think it has an insistent quality?鈥� he asked a friend. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to try to repeat it a number of times without any development.鈥� And so he did. He repeated it for 340 bars.

Later he was embarrassed. 鈥淥nce the idea of using only one theme was discovered,鈥� he protested. 鈥淎ny conservatory student could have done as well.鈥� But the point was, no conservatory student did as well. And there was immense passion in this sultry, androgynous dance, a masterclass in delayed sensual gratification. And there was politics. For the staging, Ravel imagined a factory in the background. This was machine-age music, music of mechanical construction that didn鈥檛 merely comment on the condition of working people 鈥� but actually embodied modern automation.

No wonder Ravel thought orchestras would balk at playing Bolero. Little did he know they would still be playing it nearly a hundred years later.

This is one of 100 significant musical moments explored by 麻豆社 Radio 3鈥檚 Essential Classics as part of Our Classical Century, a 麻豆社 season celebrating a momentous 100 years in music from 1918 to 2018. Visit bbc.co.uk/ourclassicalcentury to watch and listen to all programmes in the season.

This archive recording is by the 麻豆社 Scottish Symphony Orchestra with conductor Donald Runnicles.

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