The Rite of Spring

Paris, 1913. The premiere of The Rite of Spring. Rhythmic detonations tear through the orchestra, pushing the instruments to their limits with raw energy.

The primeval world of Stravinsky’s most explosive masterpiece is reignited under the direction of Vladimir Jurowski by the colours of period instruments. The Rite erupts from history. It has fascinated musicians and audiences alike since that night in 1913. As its legend has grown, its truths have been obscured by myth. To encounter its radical force anew, we step into the world that formed it with the instruments Stravinsky knew in his youth. The bassoon’s opening call emerges more primordial, more fragile; gut strings add snap and bite to the brutal, irregular rhythms; the raw snarl of valved brass instruments intensifies the danger. The result reveals something more elemental—performance as ritual and invocation.

"With The Rite of Spring I wanted to express the sublime arrival of the onset of nature renewing itself, the whole arising, panic, the universal sap." - Igor Stravinsky

Stravinsky’s world was forged in the shadow of his teacher, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. His opera-ballet Mlada inhabits the same ground as The Rite; a fertile mix of pagan rituals, spectral visions and ancient song (both works reference Lithuanian folksong). The huge sweeping orchestral colours and opulent harmonies that Rimsky-Korsakov conjures will be twisted into the jagged melodies and driving rhythms that course through The Rite. Stravinsky’s Funeral Song, written on his mentor’s death, was lost for over a century until its rediscovery in 2015. It offers a glimpse of a composer on the brink of a breakthrough; the composer himself called it “the best of my works before The Firebird.”

Performers:
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Programme:
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Mlada Suite
STRAVINSKY Funeral Song
STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring