Spanish National Orchestra Conductor David Afkham - Boléro: Rhythms Of Spain

SPANISH NATIONAL ORCHESTRA CONDUCTOR DAVID AFKHAM - BOLÉRO: RHYTHMS OF SPAIN (320kbs-m4a/311mb/2hrs15mins)
BBC Radio 3 broadcast: 19th July 2026

Live at the BBC Proms: Spanish National Orchestra, conducted by David Afkham, with guitarist Rafael Aguirre perform Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez and Ravel's Boléro.

Presented by Petroc Trelawny, live from the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Maurice Ravel: Alborada del gracioso
Manuel de Falla (orch. Francisco Coll): Fantasia baetica
Joaquín Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez

c.7:55pm
Interval: Theatre director and musicologist Jeremy Sams joins Petroc to explore the music of Manuel de Falla and the fascination of Spain in the imagination of French composers.

c.8.15pm
Manuel de Falla: The Three-Cornered Hat (Suites Nos. 1 & 2)
Maurice Ravel: Boléro

Rafael Aguirre (guitar)
Spanish National Orchestra
David Afkham (conductor)

The Spanish National Orchestra makes its Proms debut under Chief Conductor David Afkham, bringing with it a set of heat-soaked musical postcards. Spanish guitar phenomenon Rafael Aguirre joins the ensemble for Rodrigo's much-loved Concierto de Aranjuez – an elegant, idealised vision of Spain's past. The orchestra transforms itself into a giant guitar in two Ravel classics: the pulsing seguidilla serenade Alborada del gracioso and the hypnotic thrum of Boléro. The adventures of a miller, his beautiful young wife and an amorous magistrate become a vivid series of dances in music from Manuel de Falla's ballet The Three-Cornered Hat.

Maurice Ravel - Alborada del Gracioso
Manuel de Falla - Fantasia Bætica
Rafael Aguirre - Concierto de Aranjuez
Rafael Aguirre - Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Georges Bizet - Suites from "Carmen": III. Aragonaise [Chandos]
Gonzalo Soriano - Siete Canciones populares Españolas: VII. Polo [Praga Digitals]
Claude Debussy - Images: IIa. Ibéria - Par les rues et par les chemins [Halle Concerts Society]
Manuel de Falla - El Amor Brujo - danza del fuego Fatuo [Harmonia Mundi]
Manuel de Falla - The Three-Cornered Hat - Suite No.1
Manuel de Falla - The Three-cornered Hat - Suite No. 2
Maurice Ravel - Boléro