Le sacre du printemps

Description

The Rite of Spring: Scenes of Pagan Russia in two parts. It was Igor Stravinsky who kicked and screamed classical music into the 20th century. Of course, his contemporaries had paved the way. Romantic melodic work was no longer the dominant force. The new method concerned orchestral colors and the painting of tones. But it was Stravinsky who broke with the romantic past and created modernism. It was almost as if all the old rules had not only been circumvented but completely destroyed. In the modern world, anything goes. Stravinsky made a name for himself at a young age. In his twenties, his work, Fireworks, caught the attention of Serge Diaghilev, director of the Ballets Russes, who commissioned Stravinsky to create a ballet based on the legend of the Firebird. It was a huge success, and Diaghilev commissioned two more. The result was Petrouchka and The Rite of Spring. The story of the premiere of The Rite of Spring is famous. The audience was first treated to Les Sylphides, a ballet based on Chopin's music. The Rite of Spring was to follow. Undoubtedly lulled into a pleasant, dreamy state by the previous works, and expecting something similarly pastoral with the Rite, named after all the most pleasant seasons, they were subjected to a brutal shock. A hint comes from its subtitle: Scenes of Pagan Russia. It opened with a bleating bassoon far higher than any bassoon was ever meant to go, then descended into 30 minutes of barbarism and pagan ritual sacrifice. The music was discordant, dissonant, difficult. Huge percussion sections hammered out primitive rhythms, and Nijinsky's provocative choreography challenged the audience's sensibilities. This version was recorded in the ballroom of the St. George Hotel, Brooklyn, NY, on January 5 and 6, 1960.