The Rite of Spring, a ballet by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, was a controversial and controversial performance that caused a riot at its premiere in Paris on May 29, 1913. The well-heeled crowd at the Champs Élysées Theatre was not ready for the jagged rhythms, crunching discord, and strange jerking of the dancers on stage. The riot at the 1913 premiere of Stravinsky’s ballet was one of the most famous scandals in the history of the arts.
The choreography was radical, provocative, and even shocking to some. Stravinsky believed that the crowd had come for Scheherazade or Cleopatra, and they saw the Sacre du Printemps, leading to their upsetness. The ballet was first performed by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at the Theatre du Champs-Élysées in Paris on May 29, 1913, and famously caused a riot.
The opening bassoon solo was set so high that the audience didn’t know what instrument they were hearing. As the lights came up on the first tableau of dancers, people began yelling, and a wilder and wilder shouting match began. It became difficult to hear the music. Stravinsky believed that the crowd “came for Scheherazade or Cleopatra, and they saw the Sacre du Printemps”, and therefore were therefore upset.
The Rite of Spring was a Russian ballet depicting an ancient sacrifice ritual, first presented in France. At the premiere, the Parisian audience rioted. The ballet could be seen as extremely unpredictable, un-classy, and in general very dissonant. Analysts have noted in the score a significant grounding in Russian folk music, a relationship Stravinsky tended to deny.
No art scandal is more scandalous than the 1913 premiere of The Rite of Spring, which descended into riot. The fighting in the audience got so bad that some resorted to physical violence, causing a riot that overshadowed the actual performance. Stravinsky’s music is famous for causing a riot at its premiere, and his story has been retold over the years.
📹 Stravinsky The Rite of Spring // London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Rattle conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, recorded live at the Barbican …
What are three reasons the audience so upset by Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring?
Stravinsky believed that the crowd, who had seen the Sacre du Printemps, were upset by the dissonance in the score, dancers’ movements, and the woodwind section’s rapid sounds. The storm broke when the curtain opened, and the composer reacted by saying “go to hell” to the naive and stupid people. Contrary to popular belief, the riot was likely not due to the shock of the music, exotic choreography, or Roerich’s bizarre settings, but rather by anti-Russian, anti-Diaghilev, and anti-Nijinsky factions in Paris who were determined to disrupt proceedings before music was heard.
What was shocking about The Rite of Spring?
The opening notes of a ballet sparked a ruckus in the auditorium due to the high-pitched bassoon solo. The audience’s wild shouting made it difficult to hear the music. Stravinsky panicked and ran backstage, but chaos ensued. Diaghilev had expected a ruckus, but he instructed the conductor, Pierre Monteux, to keep going despite the chaos. The performance continued, and Stravinsky and Nijinsky were unaware of the chaos. The performance was a testament to the power of music and the power of imagination.
What does The Rite of Spring symbolize?
The Rite of Spring, a traditional Slavic dance, portrays the primitive life of early tribes, in which a virgin is selected to dance until death in order to bring about the arrival of spring. An engaging YouTube animation provides an insightful overview of the dance’s historical background and symbolic significance.
Is The Rite of Spring creepy?
The Rite of Spring, a ballet and orchestral concert work by Igor Stravinsky, is known for its infamous and creepy story. The original version, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky and designed by Nicholas Roerich, premiered during Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1913. The story revolves around a young woman who is chosen to be sacrificed and dances herself to death through intense jumps. The Joffrey Ballet restaged the original choreography after 16 years of research by dance experts Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer.
Angelin Preljocaj’s Spectral Evidence, her second commissioned work for NYCB, premiered at the Fall Gala in 2013. Set to a haunting John Cage score, it is inspired by the Salem witch trials and features ballerinas dressed in sheer dresses with red silicon patches resembling blood.
La Sylphide, a romantic tragic tale, features a classic wicked witch and a cauldron. Originally choreographed in 1832 by Filippo Taglioni, only August Bournonville’s 1836 version survived and remains the basis for modern-day stagings.
Why was The Rite of Spring so shocking?
On May 29, 1913, Les Ballets Russes in Paris performed The Rite of Spring, a ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky and choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky. The performance was characterized by a rhythmic score and primitive scenario, setting scenes from pagan Russia. The complex music and violent dance steps, depicting fertility rites, initially sparked unrest, leading to a riot. The Paris police intervened but only restored limited order, causing chaos for the rest of the performance.
Despite this, Sergei Diaghilev, the director of Les Ballets Russes, praised the scandal as “just what I wanted”. The ballet completed its run of six performances without further disruption. The piece is considered a 20th-century masterpiece and is often heard in concert. In 1988, the Joffrey Ballet reconstructed Nijinsky’s original setting, televised nationally on PBS, 75 years after its premiere.
What is so special about The Rite of Spring?
The Rite of Spring, a ballet by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, premiered in Paris on May 29, 1913, and is considered one of the first examples of Modernism in music. The piece is known for its brutality, barbaric rhythms, and dissonance, with its opening performance being one of the most scandalous in history. The piece was commissioned by Serge Diaghilev, the impresario of the Ballets Russes, and developed by Stravinsky with the help of artist and mystic Nicholas Roerich.
The production was choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky, and its sets and costumes were designed by Roerich. The Rite of Spring, inspired by Russian culture, challenged the audience with its chaotic percussive momentum, making it a startlingly modern work.
Why was Rite of Spring hated?
The Rite of Spring is a ballet and orchestral concert work by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, written for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes company in 1913. The avant-garde nature of the music and choreography caused a sensation when first performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 29 May 1913. The music achieved equal or greater recognition as a concert piece and is widely considered one of the most influential musical works of the 20th century.
Stravinsky was a young, virtually unknown composer when Diaghilev recruited him to create works for the Ballets Russes. The concept behind The Rite of Spring, developed by Nicholas Roerich from Stravinsky’s outline idea, is suggested by its subtitle, “Pictures of Pagan Russia in Two Parts”. The scenario depicts primitive rituals celebrating the advent of spring, after which a young girl is chosen as a sacrificial victim and dances herself to death.
The ballet was not performed again until the 1920s, when a version choreographed by Léonide Massine replaced Nijinsky’s original, which saw only eight performances. Massine’s production was the forerunner of many innovative productions directed by the world’s leading choreographers, gaining work worldwide acceptance. In the 1980s, Nijinsky’s original choreography was reconstructed by the Joffrey Ballet in Los Angeles. Stravinsky’s score contains many novel features for its time, including experiments in tonality, metre, rhythm, stress, and dissonance.
What did the opening night audience find so shocking and upsetting about Rite of Spring?
The unconventional musical style, hitherto unperformed in public, provoked a strong emotional response in the audience, evoking feelings of rage, shame, and disgust. These were a result of the piece’s rapid tempo, unsavoury choreography, and demonic overtones, which culminated in vocal expressions of disquiet and physical gestures of disapproval.
What did audiences find shocking about The Rite of Spring?
The opening notes of a ballet sparked a ruckus in the auditorium due to the high-pitched bassoon solo. The audience’s wild shouting made it difficult to hear the music. Stravinsky panicked and ran backstage, but chaos ensued. Diaghilev had expected a ruckus, but he instructed the conductor, Pierre Monteux, to keep going despite the chaos. The performance continued, and Stravinsky and Nijinsky were unaware of the chaos. The performance was a testament to the power of music and the power of imagination.
What was so revolutionary about The Rite of Spring?
The Rite of Spring, a groundbreaking score by Anton Stravinsky, was groundbreaking in its rhythm, stress, and tonality. Stravinsky had little immediate tradition and no theory, relying on his ear for inspiration. This led to difficulties in notating and expressing the complexity of the music, and the original orchestral musicians had to stop interrupting during rehearsals. Today, the score still sounds radical and is an eternally modern piece.
The piece begins with a bassoon melody in a high register, sounding otherworldly and disturbing. The first dance features a repeated, stamping chord, with the accented beat constantly shifting. The final’sacrificial dance’ is heavily percussive.
Why did people not like The Rite of Spring?
The Rite of Spring, a ballet by Igor Stravinsky, premiered in Paris on May 29, 1913, and was expected to be a major cultural event due to the talent involved. The Ballets Russes, or “Russian Ballet”, was a hot ticket due to the Eastern exoticism of previous productions, such as Firebird and Petrushka, both composed by Stravinsky. The audience was shocked by the ugly costumes, heavy choreography, and harsh music, which was expected to shock the audience.
The choreographer, Vaslav Nijinsky, was known for his shocking and often risqué choreography, such as his 1912 performance of Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un faune. The audience was shocked and with good reason.
📹 The BIZARRE Classical Music That Caused Riots
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During the original premier, Camille Saint-Saens, Ravel and Debussy were in attendance. At one point, Saint-Saens makes a sarcastic joke and leaves. One man is slapped in the face by another while he boos. Someone yelled that the music was a fraud. An Austrian ambassador laughed aloud. Two factions of the audience began to yell at each other while Ravel was yelling “Genius!” and Debussy was pleading for silence. One person spat in the face of another and no one really heard the orchestra after that. -Summary of ‘Classical Music: Igor Stravinsky’
When Rite of spring was played for the very first time in 1913, it caused a RIOT in the audience due to it being so extremely advanced, angry, abstract, edgy, stormy, doomy and very modern with alot of pounding. I think Stravinsky approached a time in his life where he got old and wanted the rights of spring again.
Part I: A Kiss of the Earth Introduction 0:40 The Augurs of Spring 4:05 Ritual of Abduction 7:14 Spring Rounds 8:30 Ritual of the Two Rival Tribes 12:03 Procession of the Oldest and Wisest One 13:57 A Kiss of the Earth 14:39 The Dance of the Earth 15:03 Part II: The Exalted Sacrifice Introduction 16:36 Mystic Circle of the Young Girls 21:11 The Naming and Honoring of the Chosen One 24:02 Evocation of the Ancestors 25:46 Ritual Action of the Ancestors 26:28 Sacrificial Dance 30:05
Hollywood owes Stravinsky a world of debt. He really reset the musical paradigm with this entire symphony but you really feel it between 11:17 and 11:33. Today we’re used to horror film trailer scores that sound like that but one has to remember until Igor NOTHING EVER WRITTEN HAD SOUNDED THAT WAY. Our entire industry ripped that off from him and has been trying to catch up since.
Fucking amazing that Rattle conducts this without a score. The Dance of the Chosen one is a thicket of varying time signatures and syncopation. To consign all of this movement alone to memory is staggering in itself. Always admired Rattle’s ear for 20th century music. He is at his best in this period I believe.
When i was 3/4 years old i discovered “Fantasia” by Disney. This piece was the 3rd piece in the movie and as soon as my 4years old ass listened to that beauty for the first time there was no space for any other cartoon in my heart. Hearing this piece at such a young age shaped my musical taste in a delightful way and this will forever be an importante part of my heart
I’m not sure if I’ve ever been more obsessed with a piece of music than I have been with this piece after hearing it for the first time as a ten-year old, while perusal the animated film, Fantasia, as dinosaurs barreled through violent prehistoric landscapes. I could probably tell you if someone missed a note. I have the score. I have the sheet music for two pianos. I’ve listened to tons of recordings over the years of both, seen different ballets and documentaries, and as a clarinet player I would transpose the other instruments’ parts to play along with the recording lol. I’m 41 now and sadly I quit playing when I was 24 and never got a chance to perform it with an orchestra, although it had always been an ultimate dream of mine to do so, nor have I ever been able to catch it live (isn’t it funny how the dreams of our youth seem so much more uncomplicated and pure?). As a work of art it fascinates me endlessly in every way, and to think that Stravinsky composed it at the time which he did, during the era in which he did, boggles my mind. I believe he was a sort of divine vessel. It’s a big reason why he’s one of my all-time favorite composers to this day, as well as I’ve come to have a pug named Stravinsky 😂. And I have to say this was a splendid performance. Orchestral color and tempo are things I’m always on the alert for with this piece, and both felt deliciously apropos throughout. 🎶 ❤️
I play percussion, I listen to a lot of genres. I have never delved into classical ever in my life. Before perusal this article I was educating myself on conductors and orchestra with placements, ambience, sound etc.. after perusal this I cannot believe the extraordinary power of classical and will continue to educate myself the on art. Kudos to Simon and the orchestra. Love from Australia ❤
Underrated moments 🔥 9:52 the piccolo part on top is so beautiful 10:31 feels like the sky cracking open 14:15 is insane 17:11 THAT CHORD THO 22:06 BEAUTIFUL 23:59 my all-time favorite part 24:50 is so much fun 26:25 i love how this movement starts 28:55 feels like a mad king’s procession 29:42 all the trills, leading into the final movement
Just wonder how many people in that audience, know, how fortunate they are to hear this masterpiece life? How many people know how difficult, how tremendously difficult this piece is? How impeccably this is played?? What an accomplishment it is to conduct this piece without a score in front of you?! The moment I heard the bassoon playing I started to cry. And how one man only, can write such divinity??? I’m still in awe, after so many years….
Camera guy 1 (6:39): Where we will focus now? Camera guy 2: In contrabasson, will be his only solo! Camera guy 1 (6:43): Where is he? Camera guy 2: Upper. Camea guy 1 (6:46): I don’t find him, I will focus in violins while I’m looking for him. Camera guy 2: Here, second line of woodwinds, next to bassoons! Camera guy 1 (6:48): oh, I found! Never see two of them together! Camera guy 2: I see one time, in Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand”
I don’t know a lot about Stravinsky’s music, but I recently played through the entirety of the game Drakengard on Playstation 2 where someone, while I was playing, told me that the game’s soundtrack uses lots of samples from the Rite of Spring. Did not take me long to recognize some samples used in Drakengard’s soundtrack right away. They really liked Rite of Spring, huh. Here’s a few that I recognized: Chapter I, Castle Interior at 33:44 Chapter III, Ground theme at 4:05 Chapter V, Sky theme at 7:47 Chapter V, Ground theme (Part 1) at 24:12 Mission Selection theme at 30:37 There is a couple more that I recognized but didn’t remember where it played in the game!
One of the most complex and most insane pieces of classical music ever composed. Igor Stravinsky was insane, but he really knows what he was doing. This orchestra pulled it off so well, and the audience just roars into applause after everything is over with. As the one man at the end shouted: “BRAVO!!!”
The Rite of Spring is a ballet and orchestral work by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. A masterpiece of musical energy, the composition shows an absolutely prodigious network of inventiveness. From the synthesis of all the musical elements operated by Stravinsky is born an aesthetic multiplicity which intensely privileges the acoustic effects and the dramatic force. « The sacral dance » (Allegro moderato), Act 2, Scene 6, is the culmination of the piece, the moment that illustrates the original idea of its composition, this dance where the brutal force of a symphony orchestra explodes, treated in a style revolutionary. The work which has exacerbated the chromaticism to the highest point, the harsh harmonies, the raw sonorities, are born from the creation of powerful instrumental blocks, that clash or complement each other, the richness of timbres of an enlarged orchestra as well as the use of playing modes that push the sounds to the extreme, emancipating the rhythmic and releasing the tonal harmony from its classico-romantic pivots. Stravinsky juxtaposes and accumulates his musical ideas in contrasting flows, which interact with each other and create a perpetual increase in the energy released, which will crystallize an innovative approach essential to the modernity of 20th century music. The celebrity of the work does not hesitate to make it one of the pillars of musical modernism. Phenomenal beauty! Lucien
I was driving home from working after midnight and this just started on the radio. I sat in the car in the dark when I got home spellbound to this, and could not leave before I knew who it was. The anouncer informed me after it ended, I wrote that down and ordered it. At about 24 minutes it is so mental! It makes wild rock-music sound tame!
I first heard The Rite in 1967. I would play it every Saturday for years. This was a masterpiece performance. The piece never fails to produce a trancendental experience for me. Everytime I hear it, all the places described, all the characters, all the action…. exist in a hyperreality. A crowning achievement of man and proof that reality is more, much more. Thank you for letting us experience this.
Stravinsky’s compositions used to cause riots. He would make the audience angry with his experiments in tonality, metre, rhythm, stress and dissonance. When The Rite of Spring first premiered in Paris, the audience mercilessly greeted it with boos, jeers and hisses and it caused a near-riot. But The Rite of Spring was one of the first examples of opening a portal of creativity where suddenly you didn’t follow the rules of music. You had to follow your heart.
Stravinsky’s “Rite” is my favorite 20th century piece for orchestra. Although originally produced as a ballet, the work is better known today as a concert piece. This setting is the way I prefer to hear Stravinsky’s masterwork, without the annoying distraction of the dancers. Quite frankly, ancient pagan rituals in Russia do not hold much interest for me. However, as with so many great opera and ballet composers before him, Stravinsky took mundane dramatic material and created an immortal musical masterpiece. The piece stands solidly on its own, especially in this superb recording by the LSO. Thank you, Sir Simon, for a wonderful listening experience!
When I first heard this epochal work over 50 years ago it seemed indescribably wild, savage and nearly incomprehensible. Time and familiarity and an evolving musical context which it has so strongly influenced have tamed its “…savage breast.” But in acquiring comprehensibility, if it lost the capacity to terrify it has gained in its power to enchant…
Phenomenal memory to know the piece so well he can conduct it without a score! A perfect performance. The most original and influential orchestral music written in the 20th century and still unsurpassed 110 years later. Someone said ‘Talent hits a target no-one else can hit. Genius hits a target no-one else can see.’ or in this case, hear.
The colour and instrumentation is so incredible: dual bass clarinets in parallel 5ths, TWO contrabassoons, trumpets with plastic bottle mutes, horns with their bells in the air, alto flute and Eb clarinet pulling overtime, the muted valve trumpet doubled with a regular trumpet and octave up – the list goes on. Just incredible
Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring PART 1: ADORATION OF THE EARTH 0:40 Introduction 4:04 Auguries of Spring 7:13 Game of Capture 8:30 Round – Dances of Spring 12:03 Games of Rival Tribes 13:50 Procession of the Sage 14:37 The Sage 15:02 Dance of the Earth PART 2: THE SACRIFICE 16:35 Introduction 21:10 Mysterious Circles of Young Girls 24:08 Glorification of the Chosen One 25:45 Evocation of the Ancestors 26:28 Ritual Action of the Ancestors 30:05 Sacrificial Dance
Help me, I am possessed by Stravinsky! For a week now I haven’t been able to do anything but listening to the Rite of Spring! I can’t even fall asleep at night, because these eery, violent, raw and sweet sounds just keep playing in my head! This is such an astonishing work of art that I can’t even begin to describe my feelings.
Part I: A Kiss of the Earth Introduction 0:46 The Augurs of Spring 4:05 Ritual of Abduction 7:14 Spring Rounds 8:30 Ritual of the Two Rival Tribes 12:03 Procession of the Oldest and Wisest One 13:57 A Kiss of the Earth 14:39 The Dance of the Earth 15:03 Part II: The Exalted Sacrifice Introduction 16:37 Mystic Circle of the Young Girls 21:11 The Naming and Honoring of the Chosen One 24:02 Evocation of the Ancestors 25:46 Ritual Action of the Ancestors 26:28 Sacrificial Dance 30:05
Just for giggles, I asked the AI at ChatGPT about the similarity between this composition and what John Williams did for the score of Close Encounters. Mainly because I was too lazy to research it myself. Here is what the AI said: “It is true that John Williams was heavily influenced by the music of Igor Stravinsky, particularly his work “The Rite of Spring,” and that influence is evident in several of Williams’ compositions, including the score for the 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It is not uncommon for composers to take inspiration from the works of other composers, whether it’s a specific melody, a harmonic progression, or an orchestral technique. In the case of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Williams has acknowledged that he drew inspiration from the “Rite of Spring” for the score. Williams has stated that he was inspired by the music’s energy and power and its ability to convey a sense of mystery and wonder, which fit the themes and tone of the film perfectly. You are right that some might say that the similarities are more than inspiration, and that the way he used Stravinsky’s music is more like borrowing, but it’s important to remember that the concept of copyright and intellectual property rights have changed over time and what is considered inspiration, influence or plagiarism also changes accordingly. It’s also worth mentioning that Williams’ score for Close Encounters of the Third Kind is considered one of the best and most iconic in the history of cinema and it’s recognized as one of the most memorable and impactful soundtracks of the science fiction genre.
I have recently been rereading “Rites of Spring,” by M. Eksteins. This must have really knocked them sideways in 1913. He reports there was so much hissing and complaint from the audience you couldn’t hear the orchestra! Thank you for putting this up on the Internet. I heard echoes of this, all through John Williams’ score for Star Wars! The fact that one man WROTE this is pretty amazing. Thanks, Bob from Missouri
The first time I heard this song, the first 4 minutes were so tough. My brain couldn’t understand the fusion of discordant notes. I almost died of confusion and had a horrendous experience with discordant music. After those 4 minutes, my brain clicked. It could rearrange the harmony, and now it’s a total change of mind. What a masterpiece! Did anyone have the same experience I had the first time I heard this composition? I have a very sensitive ear for music. Discordance usually makes my brain explode with confusion 😅😅
I first experienced “Rite” as the truncated Disney version in Fantasia, and even listening to Stravinsky conduct the work himself with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, I could NOT get the dinosaurs out of my mind. But when Rattle released the work with the City of Birmingham Symphony, the dinosaurs were replaced with the strident, brutal nature of the score. He does the same here. This is not Disney nor even Stravinsky’s “Rite”, this is a true “La Sacre du Printemps” – a true celebration of human sacrifice. Brutal. Unrelenting. Terrifying.
Stravinsky’s music is famous for causing a riot at its premiere. It was a warm spring evening in Paris on May 29, 1913, and Hoffman says the well-heeled crowd at the Champs Élysées Theatre was not ready for jagged rhythms, crunching discord, and the strange jerking of the dancers on stage. “The ballet was choreographed by the great Nijinsky,” Hoffman says, “and the noise, fighting, and shouting in the audience got so loud, he had to shout out the numbers to the dancers so that they knew what they were supposed to do.” One shrewd musicologist wrote that “the pagans on stage made pagans of the audience.” Hoffman says that the idea of pagans is right on the mark.
Rousing performance of an extraordinary piece of music. Maestro Rattle isn’t the first conductor I’ve seen lead Le Sacre without a score, which always impresses me. And he was conducting, not just flapping his arms around. I’ve performed this piece (7th horn/1st Wagner tuba) and I can tell you from the inside how difficult it really is to hold it together. It’s definitely one of my desert island pieces, along with Handel’s Messiah and Beethoven 9.
Hello, Deviljho! For those who aren’t familiar, Deviljho is a big, scary, infamous monster from the article game series, Monster Hunter, that shows up unexpectedly during hunts to terrify and destroy new players. His theme takes heavy inspiration from the Augeries of Spring here, particularly the string/brass rhythm, and it’s actually how I discovered this work by Stravinsky.😁The Augeries of Spring part is used in quite a few other games and it’s always fun to hear new twists on this piece!
The musicians, conductor, venue, and articlegraphers are all OUTSTANDING. I definitely didn’t appreciate this piece all that much back in the Disney Fantasia movie (being young and not realizing all the work that goes into this song). Being able to hear and see all the musicians so well was stunning. Thanks for uploading!
About 15 years ago I was in Paris and went to a concert where a flutist friend was going to play. I didn’t know anything about Paris and didn’t know where I was. After the concert I went outside the theater, look up and saw it. “Théâtre des Champs-Elysées”. I almost fainted. I didn’t know I had been in the very place where this piece was first played. What an idiot. The seats were very small, I must say. But what a feeling to be there and imagine that concert.
I enjoyed this performance very much. I am a fan of Le Sacre and have a vintage vinyl recording with Pierre Monteux conducting which I have listened to since the 1970s. The tempo of most other conductors is a little brisk for me, but this also seems just right. An added enjoyment is the article of the conductor and musicians. Played through my vintage hi-fi equipment the sound is wonderful. Thank you for making your performances available to your grateful listeners.
The riot was not caused by the music (as someone else here already pointed out); Rather, it was Vaslav Nijinsky’s non-ballet “stomping” choreography that the audience raged about. Stravinsky had two very successful premieres of the Firebird and Petrushka in Paris just within 3 years prior to Rite, and the audience knew what to musically expect when attending the Rite premiere. Cool that there was an Einstein on the Beach shoutout, though.
“I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet, but your kids are gonna love it” – Igor Stravinsky after the premiere of Rite of Spring, 1913. I love The Rite of Spring since I ever listened to it for the first time, and it was comparing several sections to John Williams’ Star Wars’ scores, there’s a track from Star Wars called “Dune Sea” when C3PO is walking on Tatooine’s Dune Sea which sounds pretty similar to introduction of Part 2 of the Rite: The Sacrifice, maybe that’s why I love it so much, along with other composer which pieces sounds like film scores, including romantics like Wagner, Bruckner, Mahler and Richard Strauss, even The Planets by Holst (which George Lucas used as temp-tracks to give Williams an idea about how he wanted Star Wars to sound like), even the twelve tone music by Schoenberg, Berg and Webern which sounds like horror film music and it would be great to analyze that, it’s 20th century music after all, cinema was already a thing in those days, many composers were inmigrating to the the United States to find jobs and even working in Hollywood. Also thanks for speaking about Einstein in the Beach, I remember perusal it once I didn’t knew I was viewing an opera.
A classical saxophonist, I’ve always been drawn to more “modern” works as our instrument is newer and only had transcriptions of older works to go by and many composed pieces for the saxophone featured newer harmonies, rhythm and themes. Philip Glass’ Concerto for Saxophone Quartet is so awesome. I might note, I love listening to minimalist music as I knit 🧶. The repetition and slow development matches the art of knitting perfect. At least for myself 😅
My favourite piene in the impressionist or odd, strange genre of music is John Cage’s 4’33. Thats not a meme either, framing the background noises of the auditorium or wherever you’re performing the piece, to me, is very interesting. It’s not just silence, the audience is the performer, providing music for themselves
One of my favourite quotes about Einstein on the Beach was from a reviewer who said something like “Sure, your mind wanders during the 5 hours, but it wanders in a world created by the music”. I bought the CD in the early 90s, and though I’ve only listened to it once all the way through, parts of it are burned into my brain. Minimalism doesn’t seem as shocking to me now, possibly because it’s had a big influence on electronic music, particularly Reich.
Also, Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin was immediately banned after its permiere because of its dark subject matter- the entire piece of music is about the usage of a female prostitute to entice men to steal their money, until one man (the mandarin) becomes obsessed with the woman, and basically he ends up dead at the end. But it conveys this story so well and some of it could pass as metal music..
I remember as a 13-year-old kid just learning to play the violin and learning to play The Rite of Spring. I studied it, recorded it from Fantasia on a cassette tape, tried to find the sheet music, couldn’t find the sheet music without emptying my piggy bank, created my own sheet music, bought two CDs, and then kept practicing. Even now with the actual sheet music, I can still barely play it.
In college we had to go to at least 10 concerts a year, and 4th year rep was modern like Reich and Glass. Music tech concerts too. Some of it was about pushing boundaries; some was about testing patience; breaking through the wall like the mentality of a marathon. Stockhausen’s Mantra was a brilliant live experience. The music tech that accidentally played their piece at half speed was hilarious, he noticed it after 5 mins and restarted it. There was only one experience where I went in with an open mind and I was nothing but angry by the end. I really tried. I really wanted to be engaged. It’s so interesting that Stravinsky was considered to be like that; it’s beautiful!
I did a research paper on The Rite of Spring in college. I read reviews from people in the audience and interviews with those who worked with the composer and the inner circle. Immediately after the performance. Stravinsky and crew went to a restaurant to sulk about a dismal reception and a few contemporary reports exist. I feel that is that it wasn’t a riot at all but an audience heckling an unexpected “ridiculous”spectacle with comically bad dancing (for which none of the choreography survived) silly costumes, and “terrible” dissonant music (that’s me reading between the lines). At some point Stravinsky and publicist began fostering the idea that the music caused a riot rather than a bored audience making their own entertainment. A lie travels around the world ten times in the time it takes the truth to get its pants on.
You could make a article on the “Skandalkonzert” in Vienna also in 1913 conducted by Arnold Schönberg (who later developed the 12-tone technique). The music in this concert was also very experimental, the audience couldn’t handle it either and in the ensuing riot the concert organizer slapped one of the audience members. One attending critic later dubbed the slap “the most harmonious sound of the evening”. Here’s the wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandalkonzert
My son and I were there at le théâtre des Champs-Élysées on May 29, 2013 at 8:00 pm, exactly 100 years later to the minute with Gergiev conducting the Mariinksy. The President of France was in the audience seated near Pierre Boulez about 50 feet away from us and Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer were in the front row and to the left. Daria Pavlenko was excellent as the terrified Chosen One. I kept thinking of the ghosts of the attendees in that famous riot around me, 100 years earlier. Musically I will never experience anything greater than this 40 minutes for the rest of my life.
Love Stravinsky. A few years ago I got to see the Boston Pops playing The Firebird Suite at Tanglewood. Just blown away. As far as other music from that time period, how about any of Luigi Russolo’s music? Or if you want more orchestral, Lili Boulanger’s D’un suir triste? I recently saw the Yale Symphony do a great performance of that piece. My date and I were transfixed.
I first heard the rite of spring when I saw Pina Bausch’s double bill contemporary dance piece, ‘The Rite of Spring’ and ‘Cafe Muller’. Learning about the chaos that he caused is pretty amusing as Pina also created a lot of uproar with the dancing she choreographed to Stravinsky’s music – the power of art is pretty poignant with this music for sure 🙂
Appreciate this historical perspective. Not only is Stravinsky’s influence apparent in film, the first segment played here at 5:55, reminds me of a french industrial band with this song from the nineties: The Young Gods: “Les Enfants” at the two minute, 20 second mark. To my ear it’s clear Stravinsky inspired The Young Gods, and/or their collaborators *also the whole bombastic rising french horn theme and drums continues at the end for the big rise
A few additional notes: The riot was caused by the choreography at least as much as by the music. After the first performance ended in a riot, every following performance did as well. Ar some point lots of people were coming not to see the ballet or listen to music, but to riot. As a woman spectator asked, “Excuse me, do you know when the riot starts?” Bella Bartok’s ballet “The Miraculous Mandarin,” first performed in 1926 in Cologne, also caused a riot.
Carolina Crown preformed excepts of Einstein on the Beach in 2013 and it was very interesting to preform, one of the hardest shows I’ve ever preformed but man it was wild and fun to be apart of. Ironically the Blue Devis preformed the ReRite of Spring the same year, it was such a cool take of the piece and by far my favorite show they have preformed.
I used to watch Disney’s Fantasia over & over again when I was like a baby and the Rite of Spring section was always one of my favorite parts! Funny that what was so weird to audiences was just normal film music to my baby brain. Also I noticed that part you pointed out at 13:51 kinda reminds me of spooky cave levels in early article games.
Great article! Williams was amazing in how he found go back and forth between lush romantic harmony and modernistic styles, with a little jazz thrown in. The Rite of Spring passage quoted at 13:13 is repeated almost exactly in the JAWS main theme! Williams also got his Stravinsky on quite boldly in The Dune Sea / Jaws Sandcrawler, and especially in Battle of Hoth (Imperial Walkers) from Empire, which is WILD.
Stravinsky?!?!? As In Igor Stravinsky?!? LET’S GO!!! Come On Charles You Can’t Mention “The Rite Of Spring” Without Mentioning The “Firebird Suite” More Specifically “The Infernal Dance Of King Kashchei And His Subjects” By Igor Stravinsky. I’ve Been A Huge Fan Of That Tune Ever Since I Was In Middle School.🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
The Rite of Spring is actually my favourite piece of classical music and I know it by heart odd meters and all, and I’m not even a musician. If I remember correctly, as avant-garde as the music was, the audience was actually more taken aback by the choreography than by the music itself. In fact, the original choreography was only performed 8 times until it was reconstructed in the 80s. Also, even though there was undeniably an unruly behaviour during the première, the term riot is a huge exaggeration and it was first used in some reviews that came out several years after the première.
I just want to see a cinematic rendition of Stravinsky, Ravel and Debussy : sitting side by side on the premiere, going full stink face like a bunch of bros at a concert as the polychords start to rumble ! x) Also : You absolutely need to make a “Listen…” article on the different version of One Winged Angel from FFVII over the years it’s like the Rite of Spring on steroids !
Very good article ! I love the image of the new path to take for musical adventure. When I was a guitar teacher, I used to apply classical techniques I learned, but they always wanted to know why you can’t put your neck hand’s thumb on the neck. Now I see how guitar techniques have evolved, I think I’d teach quite differently.
My exposure to Stravinsky was thanks to the original Disney’s Fantasia which put the story of evolution (until the death of the dinosaurs!) to the entire suite. However, I listened to it a lot on CD on it’s own as a teen, then I got into metal in late teens and there a so many similarities in the feelings I get.
Theme suggestion for article: Shostakovich, a man who often used quite a lot of dissonances, but also wrote his 24 preludes and fugues in all keys (major and minor) where the prelude i A major literally have no vertical dissonances at all! At any given moment you only hear notes belonging to triads in major or minor. I love dissonances and harsh sounds, but this is one of my favourite pieces of all times. The abundant key changes gets to really shine.
Hey, this time my prog-rock-afficinado self can contribute to comments on Stravinsky’s influence. The part at 6:58 reminds me of Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother, and several others evoke early Alan Parsons Project to me (typically Fall of the House of Usher). Thanks for the article and also for shouting out Philip Glass!
FYI: I don’t know how much is it known outside Italy, but we have a similar story from a theatre show In the early 20’s Luigi Pirandello, a genius screenwriter who wrote a lot about society, masks and roles (not only in theater) premiered “Six Characters in Search of an Author” (Sei personaggi in cerca di autore). This show was really modern and bizarre for the time: through the plot the characters started talking with the author, in the seatings, and interacted with him talking about their story and what they wanted as characters for themselves. It is said that in the first years this was shown, people rioted, throw their papers and got really enraged with the “4th wall break” and the post-modernism of the show. It is one of the most beloved work of Pirandello, with “il fu mattia pascal”, “uno, nessuno, centomila”, “Enrico IV” and many more. If you cannot find and english version of the show or the book, there is a film modernization of the book called “happy family” from Gabriele Salvatores.
I recall a performance in the early 2000’s by the NYP – Messiaen’s “Éclairs sur l’Au- Delà” More and more people in the “expensive” seats (probably subscription holders) got up and left with every movement. IAs Rodney Dangerfield often said:: “Tough crowd. Tough crowd”. Me? I touchingly enjoyed it! But then, I’m a Messiaen fan. Love ‘The Rite’ too! Thank you for exposing your viewers to it!
I love The Rite of Spring with my whole soul but keeping up with the counting is HARD. I think it would be interesting to watch you do the last section, Sacrificial Dance, Clap along you can find on youtube! I’ve been working on practicing as i’m not good with switching time signatures that change the length of the beat in general. Its fun!
13:30 this is Polytonality where you have multiple tonic notes the harmony revolve around. In this specific point it’s betwen Fb major and Eb major which when combined create the chord the string section is playing as a whole. There are a lot of examples for Polytonality and Polyrhythm in this piece.
9:04 Camille Saint-Saëns was also in the audience at that time. At the beginning where the bassoon solo plays, he asks the person sitting next to him what that instrument is, and was told that it was of course a bassoon. To which he replies “If that’s a bassoon, I’m a baboon”. He later then stormed out of the theater because he was all baffled by what he was seeing, and decided the whole piece was atrocious.
Speaking of Steve Reich you reminded me of his piece piano phase. Oddly (because it sounds a bit abrasive) sometimes I used it to go to sleep and I think it was because of what you were saying about your brain just sort of giving in, going into a sort of trance that made me calm looping anxious thoughts. Would love it if you explored this piece as well though not sure how you could integrate it in an interesting article like this 😅
one reminder of Rite of Spring is that much of it (ok, about half) is something the last few generations have heard as children because of Disney’s Fantasia. I first saw it at age 4 in 1974 (and soon again in 1977), and segments of it were occasionally repeated on Wonderful World of Disney in the 70s, a Sunday evening tradition. There’s something to be said for exposure to interesting/different music when a kid. You take it as ‘normal’ because it is there with everything else your parents have around them, side by side. There’s nothing “wrong” with it because you had no basis of comparison to decide that something else was ‘”right”. Now there are exceptions to that, of course, and some things will always feel more right than others just because of the innateness of the tonic-dominant relationship and harmonic series. But the young exposure is a factor even as much as how many action films since are inspired by it. I note that even Debussy’s Faun, considered today one of the gentlest and most relaxing pieces, was greeted by the audience negatively given its extensive tritones and the total unfamiliarity with the whole-tone scale, at least according to Bernstein’s Harvard Lectures.
Fun article, I love every piece you have discussed in it…what a diverse collection of riot inducing music! Reich and Glass are an acquired taste for sure, but rewarding when you get past the barriers of expectation. Stravinsky’s Rite has surely become less ‘offensive ‘ since 1913 and like you said, film composers have helped to make that transition more smooth for our modern sensibilities…as for the historical aspect, I know Ravel is said to have been there with Les Apaches, but I have never heard that Debussy was in attendance at the riot premiere, but I have heard that Saint Saens was there and hated it…great article
A massive part of this is /context/. When you contextualize a score that uses a nebulous time signature or meter, and a nebulous key center as lining up with the actions of a film, it suddenly /make sense/ in a way that it isn’t as easy to understand otherwise. Further still, Rite of Spring is extraordinarily clever insofar as it creates its own little motifs, and then proceeds to weave them across instruments and keys, and those are what give the music its structure, no matter how bizarre it gets. It feels very similar to the minimalists in that regard, and to some of the complex woven stuff of, say, Hamasyan’s ‘The Grid’ and ‘Out of the Grid’.
I bought the Reich record in the late 70s a few years after it came out. I discovered cannabis at the same time. Needless to say, I really liked it. I graduated to Stockhausen and Bitches Brew soon after. Needless to say when I discovered Stravinsky a few years later, I felt is was totally easy listening. Love it to this day. Just one thing : DON’T CALL IT BIZARRE. I’d rank Lawrence Welk as bizarre. Not Stravinsky. What sounds normal in Stravinsky today is that his music became foundational to cinematic scores.
i played this in college and did not enjoy playing it lol, it’s not my least favorite thing i’ve played, but only because i played this one piece where the double basses had so many snap pizzes that we all got blood blisters. this is my least favorite performance that didn’t physically injure me. it was also definitely the biggest trainwreck i’ve ever played in. the first night, we got to the finale, and after having practiced it forever in rehearsals, one of the percussionists missed their entrance, and the lower winds, brass and strings all followed suit. we just had to start playing and hope we all finished together, and by some miracle we did. the audience couldn’t tell we’d done anything wrong and we got rave reviews.
i had the honor of performing stravinskys mass a couple of years ago as part of a choir i grew up performing anything from gregorian chants, to renaissance 8 voice masses, bachs baroque contrapoints, mozarts first viennese school, up to romantic music and the occasional modern piece, estonian minimalist Arvo Pärt comes to mind. never have i ever been in touch with something like stravinskys mass, i takes a lot of time to get used to and for your ears not to resent the things that they are hearing. especially since the choir and orchestra mostly play in key, but only themselves, the two most of the time have completely different keys, that are just played over each other. once you get used to it and especially when you perfom it, you start to understand what he is going for and what he is trying to convey imo.
I’ve been buried so deeply in the really weird end of classical music for so long that returning to the Rite is just so comfortable and mundane now. Still one of my favourite pieces, but when you’ve spent 20 minutes listening to a guy saying he’s sitting in a room, playing the recording back, recording the playback, and doing that again and again until it’s just room harmonics with the rhythm of human speech most things sound normal. Ever heard the sound of a trombone replicated by a string ensemble and some woodwinds? Ever seen a score of a woman straight up having a breakdown? Ever heard the sound of someone opening all the stops and pressing all the keys on an organ then turning it on? Classical music got really weird before committing the self unalive in the 20th century. Like, I’m very sad that new concert music in the western classical tradition is truly dead as a cultural practice, but I’m glad it got weird on the way
The Rite of Spring is an interesting case because Vaslav Nijinsky, who choreographed the ballet, was later admitted to a psychiatric hospital due to schizophrenia. He’s said to have turned psychotic from working on Stravinsky’s piece. He was well known for doing impressive ballet moves, as he was the highest jumper in Europe. Instead, people got a very modern interpretive dance which mimicked the music through angular movements. They wanted to be impressed by traditional ballet, and got angry! It was also difficult for the dancers to perform these new moves, which were focused on maintaining imbalance in your stance. That’s why they later replaced the choreography with Léonide Massine’s.
Lol, two weeks ago we watched a documentary about a single picture by Picasso wich also broke all esrablished painting styles, themes, approach to the expressed subject and so on. And a guy in the documentary said: “when people react with anger on a piece of art, it means that the the siciety isn’t ready for it.”
I love minimalism. Specially Steve Reich. Music for a large ensemble, octet… And manu other works (violin phase…). And i LOVE Stravinskij!! The rite of spring Is one of the biggest masterpiece of the entire hiatory of music. Petroucka, the firebird and hiatoire du soldat, simphony 2, tango fir piano .. what composer!!! Ah! Read “poetics of music”, it is enlightening
charles I am HERE for this article! I am so glad that some jazzers actually get the draw of ‘classical (orchestral)music… unlike one idiot from my jazz course who said that tuning your instruments was ‘so classical’… to mean it as an insult?? I wish more like you were studying with me then – would have made it bearable probably!
“Einstein On the Beach” is a challenge, but P.D.Q. Bach / Peter Schickele did a great send-up called “Einstein On the Fritz”, which gives a sort of Phillip Glass treatment to Bach Prelude #1, “Three Blind Mice”, and a few other pieces. Of course, all Schickele managed to bless us with is the prelude. 🙂 youtu.be/NpL0J5l5qEE As it turns out, Schickele and Glass were friends. 🙂
The Rite of Spring thing is kind of apocryphal, because most of the people who reported on it were journalists that didn’t attend the concert and got the info from Igor or his publisher – sort of a “any PR is good PR” thing, and a good chunk of musicolgists think this may have been fabricated to drum up press on the new work.
I always say, if I could travel back in time to any point it would be to 29th May 1913 so I could witness the premiere of The Rite of Spring. It’s my favourite moment of art history, and the Ballets Russes has inspired me so much over the years. Would definitely love more Ballets Russes scores looked at on the website! All four of Nijinsky’s ballets caused some form of controversy or scandal, which could make good companion pieces to this article.
What I was expecting, and what I was surprised the Charles didn’t talk about in this is Fantasia. Not everyone watched Fantasia and not everyone watched at the same age, but for me. The music in Fantasia cannot be separated in my mind from the visuals. So when I hear Rite of Spring my mind automatically conjures T-Rex, stegosaurus, volcano. But yes, definitely Stravinsky and some other early 20th century classical composers had a huge impact on people like John Williams, Danny Elfman, Jerry Goldsmith. I’d love to see a more comprehensive breakdown of this or of Bolero
It’s ironic that if I were shown these musical pieces back when I was in the late school years where music was one of the main subjects I did, or in fact any other classical music, I would have thought this was not worth looking into for a second. It all sounded boring to me. In fact, the more out there pieces would have just weirded me out. Knowing the context now and how it has influence on music nowadays really shows me a different angle that allows me to appreciate all of this so much more. Definitely wouldn’t call myself a music theory geek, but it’s pulled me along I will say!
I expected to hear a mention of Satie’s ballet Parade. The story came from Jean Cocteau, Leonide Massine did the choreography, the performing troupe was the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo and Pablo Picasso did the sets and costumes. Some loved the performance while others shouted it down. Satie called a music critic an ass for his review and was sentenced to eight days in jail. Cocteau repeatedly yelled out “ass” at the trial and was beaten and arrested for the outbursts. John William’s music does hearken back to Stravinsky but in a much more controlled and polite way. Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring did not attempt to make the listener comfortable by including moments of familiarity as does Williams. Also, if you listen to Holst’s The Planets you will hear many sections that were purposefully mimicked in the Star Wars score. Williams is a wonderful composer but he creates solely from what already conventionally exists. He was masterful exploring Southern music in his score for the Reivers and his score for the film Jane Eyre is some of the most beautiful music he has written. But, it is very obvious that Williams is a postmodern composer who works very deftly in pastiche. He is a stylist and one of the best ever. Sondheim often copied styles in his compositions. Listen to the music from Follies and you’ll hear several different styles of music represented in the score.
I have a really weird relationship with Einstein on the Beach. Back in 2008-2009, I’m in highschool, and Grand Theft Auto IV comes out. I’d eaten up GTA San Andreas as a youngin’, and I’d loved the music. Specifically I loved listening to the in-game radio while I cruised the highways that ringed San Andreas and chilled out. I listened to KDST a lot – classic driving rock radio. Loved it. And so, I get GTA IV, and I start playing. And, while the early game is slow and I’m focused on the story, it eventually opens out and I’m looking for that cathartic release I had cruising San Andreas. But, It’s Liberty City, it’s New York in miniature. You can’t hop on a highway and just tear off. So, the first thing I do is start messing with the game world. At first, I basically remove all the traffic and all the pedestrians. But it doesn’t do it. Then I try ramping them up, and driving in the moderate (and way, way, way less than real NYC) traffic. And that isn’t doing it. Until I get into this really nice, black Ferrari-alike car. And I’m getting ready to tear down the street. but, as I pull away, by some random chance, it’s got the atmospheric music radio station. The sky in game is grey, the sun setting with a few rays of light, and I’m surrounded on both sides by skyscrapers while Phillip Glass’s Pruit Igoe is playing. It’s the most a city has ever felt real to me in a game. It is the most batman/gotham/noir feeling a game has ever been for me. And I just fell in love. Whenever I’d go for a drive, I’d grab a nice car, turn to The Vibe radio station and hope that Pruit Igoe was playing.
Charles, this is semi-related, have you listened to Nostalgia In Times Square by the Mingus Big Band, 1993? Absolute banger album. I’m normally not a big band guy, usually find it too bombastic and a little distasteful sometimes (no offence guys!), but this is so nicely arranged, so many romantic and delicate tunes. Also sort of has a little of that Stravinsky wildness in tracks like Weird Nightmare, and Don’t Be Afraid, the Clown’s Afraid Too (although they maybe have a bit of that distasteful whack going on to some extent). Still find the whole album super cool, and is one of the things that first got me into jazz around ten years ago. This, Kind Of Blue and Charlie Hunter’s ‘Rhythm Music Rides Again’ will always hold a special place in my heart. Idk where this stupid fkn rant came from but Nostalgia In Times Square dudes, check it out. Edit: that really got me into jazz* the love comes from a kid, Nintendo and article game music, Jamiroquai, EW&F and whatever else was funkin’ around after 1993, funk influences in rock, jazz influences in metal, etc., I’m just manic on music rn, love it all and how it all intertwines so damn much.
Feels like a musical equivalent of visual artists throwing sincerely random splashes of paint at a canvas, being uwu quirky special and unusual and then selling it for millions. If you mush up your mind enough, of course that stops bothering you. The Rite of Spring however, that’s just glory! I just like that chord. RUM dum dum dum RUM dum RUM dum dum dum…
Why didn’t you mention John Cage’s 4’23”, another riot inducer? The pianist opens the keyboard box, just sits there for 4 minutes and 23 seconds, then closes it again. Or Nam Jun Paik’s piano recital where he bounced off the stage, cut an audience member’s necktie with scissors ( it happened to be John Cage, it was an hommage), ran out of the theater, then called the audience through a telephone placed on the top of the piano to tell them it was over! Every year, it gets harder to incite a riot!
Hello charles, i was wondering if you could make a article on the cramps specifically the Song goo goo muck. Ive known the band for over a year and its gotten a little more recognition for being featured in shows like Stranger Things and recently wednesday. Anyways i find the Song to have very interesting drums and would love for you to check it out
The romantic period (and I consider impressionism to be a subset of romanticism) is my favorite period. It’s not so much the philosophical trends of the composers as much as it is the fact that the music serves a higher goal than mere theory. Consequently, there is a broadening of the aesthetic palette. That which is unpleasant is more unpleasant than merely tension between two pitches. That which is beautiful includes periods of great intensity. Reich is interesting. I first got into his stuff with the album Different Trains. That’s a brilliant work. He bases the minimalistic patterns from interviews of train riders from Auschwitz and the US and uses the minimalistic repetitions to simulate the clacking of trains over the tracks, and even their whistles. In one sense, his stuff is gimmicky, but in another it works if you are willing to listen to the story he’s telling with it.
You know what’s crazy? I’ve listened to Einstein at least 5 times, in its entirety, just in my college years alone. The music of Philip Glass and Steve Reich made me want to become a composer. I may not write all my music in the minimalist style, but some hints of it are in all my works. It’s all amazing and I just love to get lost in it.