Description
The bolero originated as a southern Spanish virtuoso dance genre as early as the end of the 18th century, but gained importance in art music first through Chopin (1834) and then especially through Ravel (1928). Smaller pieces were also written for the genre, for example by Valldemossa or Casella.
The composer Martin Münch, who lives in Heidelberg and South America, has also made a contribution to the genre in 2021, which takes up the great Spanish pianistic tradition of the turn of the century around 1900 and continues to think it in the direction of his own style, as it took shape in particular in his Valses sentimentales and his Suite Rioplatense, dedicated to the tango.
Similar to Ravel, Martin Münch's Bolero goes through a large crescendo, which affects the density of the movement, dynamics and harmonic stringency. In contrast to Ravel, however, this does not develop in a completely linear fashion, but is interrupted at several points, only to be taken up again shortly afterwards and continued. The modal harmonies "lose their way" several times, as it were, only to be drawn more and more inexorably into the maelstrom leading to the conclusion.
The pianist is faced with the task of playing the piece in a calm legato, while at the same time clearly marking the rhythm and allowing the melody in the upper voice and the occasional contrapuntal middle voices to stand out.