Bolero for Band

Initially commissioned by Ida Rubenstein as a work for ballet, Maurice Ravel's Bolero has become his most popular and often-performed orchestral composition – a surprise to Ravel, who described it as "seventeen minutes of orchestra without any music." With a structure that is simplicity itself, it uses two alternating melodies in what Ravel described as a "crescendo on commonplace melod[ies]." This transcription is an entirely complete wind band version, omitting not a single note or exotic instrument. Ravel calls for a very large orchestra – triple woodwinds, saxophones, a large brass section, harp, celesta, and percussion – consequently, this transcription contains a large amount of divisi writing, best performed by a large symphonic wind band.