I've been listening to the Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky in preparation for hearing my good friend play it this weekend. He plays the bassoon which is how the piece opens.
This music is so difficult and attractive at the same time. The music is discordant yet enticing that you can't help but get pulled in by its drama.
The Rite of Spring is also known as Sacred Spring and it has a subtitle of Pictures from Pagan Russia. It was originally written as a ballet and was meant as a fantasy vision of a pagan ritual. The complex music depicts pagan fertility rites. It caused a scandal in Paris when it was first performed. (It was also the music used for the classic Disney Fantasia movie).
The drama still hasn't died down. This piece is something to hear and for me it feels very right in the push-pull tension I feel in the late winter/early spring time.
We still don't have a full-fledged spring here in spite of the wish of all creatures around to begin new fertility. This music understands the dilemma....
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