Canter Bridge

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I remember reading years ago of some brain surgeons–maybe they were cardiac surgeons, the important thing is that they knew–who customarily piped Maurice Ravel’s Boléro into the operating room for the calming effect of its rhythmic regularity.

It’s a good thing the nurse didn’t put on ‘Ma Mère l’Oye’, ‘Une Barque sur l’océan’, ‘Alborada del Gracioso’, or ‘Rapsodie espagnole’ instead as she groped for the final track on this CD. One shudders to think of the patient’s outcome.

All of which goes to show the extroardinary dexterity of Ravel with very different kinds of music. The late-Romantic surge and play of his ballets and other popular works contrasts with the flamboyant and oddly regular progress of his famous Bolero, seasoned with almost jazz-like touches from the brass (but a rhythmic, constant kind of jazz).

It’s all here, courtesy of Pierre Boulez and the Berliner Philharmoniker, in one of those large, keeper recordings that are the signature style of the Berlin and of Deutsche Grammophon as well.

My brain—my heart too, come to think upon it—feels better just knowing this is out there and available to your local brain surgeon. May he and his guild remain calm, composed, dextrous and ampidextrous. And may they resist any penchant for ballet.