I saw Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring a few weeks ago. The best £15 I have ever spent. (I know I said this before, but even though £15 fits my budget perfectly, it still seems so underpriced.) It was one of the songs I studied my senior year, so I'd liked it for years before seeing it live. And seeing it live was just a completely different experience. I've seen my favourite classical piece, the first movement of Shostakovich's 7th symphony (Rite of Spring may have been second or thereabouts, but now it may be a tie), live and I see the orchestra almost every week lately (I assure you, I am still a punk and have not sold out to the bourgeoisie; supporting the arts and enjoying music is cool AF!) and I have NEVER experienced anything like this.
The instruments are all playing out of their normal range, which gives you a growing sense of awe and discomfort. There were odd instruments like a soprano clarinet and piccolo trumpet. The time signatures kept changing, the stressed notes followed no discernible pattern, the orchestra would be blasting in unrestrained cacophony and then suddenly the room would be almost silent. The drums were murderous: one of them was nearly as big as me -- it was like thunder in my chest and vibrated the floorboards. The players were soooo pumped up, like my hyperactive kid, and played every note as if they could barely contain themselves. The bass tuba made this horrible blarby bellowing sound. The oboes and clarinets were haunting. The trumpets were shrill. The French horns were glorious. The old bald man on tympani looked absolutely out of his mind.
My seat was right above the orchestra, off to the side, so I could lean over the low wall and see all their faces and which instruments were playing what (it's hard to intuit, since they are all playing out of range). The 2nd and 3rd bassoonists made these finger gestures and giggled to each other along with this syncopated blasting trumpet part. The first Oboe had at least 15 reeds and kept changing them (my kid was with me and said one of them appeared to have split?).
I cried; I sniffled; I mouth-breathed, my jaw slack with awe. Imagine its debut in 1913, expecting a regular old ballet and getting all this. No wonder they rioted! I was ready to smash shit up and flip off a cop. Even the conductor was crying. It was terrifying and thrilling and the most intense amazing thing I've ever witnessed, and it is all I have been able to think about. I don't think I can ever return to normal.
This is the link to the performance, which I have since listened to at least twice. It doesn't recreate the experience by any stretch, but it's a great performance nonetheless, and the JS Bach piece was super crazy for Bach, who is usually so melodic. There are 2 extra songs in there because it was intermission and although I loved the sounds of the orchestra preparing for The Rite, I suppose 20 minutes of that on the radio wouldn't appeal to most folks.
Also, the conductor (who played the piano in the first Stravinsky piece that evening) was this handsome older guy who reminded me of a cross between two or three different people I knew in college. I looked him up on Wikipedia and he was born in 1979. 1979! He's not the older guy, *I* am. XD
Until next time.
Deine Champagner-Anarchist
P.S. Speaking of classical music riots, the closest I came to one was yesterday. But you'll have to wait for my next blog post to read about it.
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| This is another AI-generated photo based on the prompt "The Rite of Spring." |
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