Unraveling Bolero

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

History, Science, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Society & Culture

4.6 • 44.5K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2018

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, we're throwing it back to an old favorite: a story about obsession, creativity, and a strange symmetry between a biologist and a composer that revolves around one famously repetitive piece of music. Anne Adams was a brilliant biologist. But when her son Alex was in a bad car accident, she decided to stay home to help him recover. And then, rather suddenly, she decided to quit science altogether and become a full-time artist. After that, her husband Robert Adams tells us, she just painted and painted and painted. First houses and buildings, then a series of paintings involving strawberries, and then ... "Bolero." At some point, Anne became obsessed with Maurice Ravel's famous composition and decided to put an elaborate visual rendition of the song to canvas. She called it "Unraveling Bolero." But at the time, she had no idea that both she and Ravel would themselves unravel shortly after their experiences with this odd piece of music. Arbie Orenstein tells us what happened to Ravel after he wrote "Bolero," and neurologist Bruce Miller helps us understand how, for both Anne and Ravel, "Bolero" might have been the first symptom of a deadly disease. Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate. Read more: Unravelling Bolero: progressive aphasia, transmodal creativity and the right posterior neocortex Arbie Orenstein's Ravel: Man and Musician

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, I'm Robert Crillwich. Radio Lab is supported by Audible.
0:05.7	As we explore this story of obsession, creativity, and symmetry, check out,
0:10.4	this is your brain on music, both a cutting-edge study and a tribute to the beauty of music.
0:15.5	Go to audible.com slash radio lab or text Radio Lab to 500 for a free 30-day trial and a free audio book.
0:26.9	Hi, I'm Robert Crulwich. Radio Lab is supported by Casper. As we continue this episode on creativity
0:33.0	and symmetry, check out the Casper or the wave mattress with a support system that mirrors your body shape.
0:40.1	Get $50 towards select mattresses by visiting casper.com slash radio lab and using code radio lab at checkout.
0:47.0	Terms and conditions apply.
0:50.0	This is Jad.
0:51.1	Before we start, I would like to let you know about a new podcast that is out there in the world that is aimed at...
0:58.0	Drum roll please.
1:00.0	Kids.
1:01.0	I must say I'm particularly excited about this because my kids just discovered a podcasting.
1:06.0	It's this thing that we can do together.
1:08.0	This particular one, which is called This podcast Has Flees, tells the story of a dog
1:13.0	and a cat who live in the same house and have competing podcasts.
1:18.7	Hi everybody. I'm Waffles. This is Dog Talk. A podcast by a dog.
1:23.7	They both have podcasts. Everybody has podcasts these days. Why would pets be any different?
1:27.7	Let me play a tease. A small soupsaint of what you can expect from this series.
1:32.3	This is a moment when waffles the dog, walks into the mudroom.
1:35.1	All right. We have arrived to the mudroom.
1:36.5	And discovers that she is not the only pet in the house with a podcast.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.