The Rite Centenary

It was another unforgettable evening at the Cultural Centre last night: the centenary of the the first performance of Stravinsky's Rites of Spring, a revolutionary piece of ballet music at the time. The concert was rendered much more enjoyable because I just saw the film Coco & Igor earlier in the week about certain background relating to that controversial piece of ballet music.

The concert however started with something far more classical: Mozart's Symphony No. 31, one of his most popular symphonies. At the baton was Oleg Caetani, a rather tallish gentleman who looks a bit like Michel Piccoli and whose slender frame hides a soul of passion. He whipped the HKPO into a very energetic performance of Mozart's symphony. The symphony started in a kind of grandeur which one seldom finds in Mozart's symphonies, followed by the  habitual soft, stream like flow of his graceful melodic lines and then various passages of very catchy melodies which I heard I don't know how many times  previously but each time with undiminished delight. Music really has to be heard and not talked about. What's the point if you don't hear it and feel its sound, its textures, its rhythms and its moods.

The second piece was another favourite, Chopin's Syphides, a suite of ballet music with very many pieces which have often been presented independently of the ballet but the arrangements we hear have been re-arranged by various composers as follows: Nocturne in A flat by Stravinsky, Valse in G Flat and Mazurka in D Op 33 No. 2, Mazurka in C minor and Prelude in A flat Op 28 No. 7 by Roy Douglas, Valse in C sharp minor Op 64 No. 2 by Glazunov and the final Grande Valse also by Stravinsky. Stravinsky described his two arrangements as "intoxicating". When first presented the ballet had the best dancers, like Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karasavina and the legendary Nijinsky . Such music is best heard with the ballet when we hear not only the music but actually see the movement of dancers on the stage: their grace, their elegance and sometimes, their power.


The highlight of the evening was of course, Stravinsky's Rites of Spring in which not only were there revolutionary choreography but also a revolutionary way of writing music, full of stridence, dissonance, silence and dramatic changes in the level and texture of sound, blending grace, a certain tenderness with harshness and violence symbolizing the kind of primitive, raw energy of some ancient race with almost insupportable tension produced by his sudden switches between softness and a weird harshness. It requires perfect discipline and lightning fast switches of mood whilst the timpanis and drums provide a strong, persistent primitive rhythm which never quite leaves the main action of the themes, sometimes louder, sometimes softer, sometimes faster, sometimes slower, sometimes more urgent, sometimes less but always insistent. Combined with the use of winds, brass etc, it was an overpowering experience that one can never hope to be able to replicate with no matter how good a home high fi system. The impact differs by magnitudes of several orders! It has to be heard to be believed. My friends gave it a standing ovation. I would have too had the space in front of my narrow seat not been occupied by my back pack. The orchestra and Caetani fully deserve the same. A simply stupendous and magnificent performance.    .