KEEPING SCORE: STRAVINSKY'S RITE OF SPRING - San Francisco Symphony, Tilson-Thomas (DVD)

In 1913, with Europe on the brink of war, a fashionable Parisian audience reacted with hostile frenzy to the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's new work, The Rite of Spring. The ballet's shocking music and dance provoked a riot that evening and soon afterwards was recognized as perhaps the most revolutionary piece of the 20th century. It still has that reputation today.

In this DVD, Michael Tilson Thomas and the musicians of the San Francisco Symphony take you from the salons of St. Petersburg to the villages where Stravinsky found inspiration in the earthly power of Russian folk music and dance. MTT then retraces Stravinsky's journey to the cultural crossroads of pre-war Paris. There, in collaboration with the great impresario Diaghilev and his star dancer Nijinsky, Stravinsky developed the shocking, erotic, and violent evocation of pagan Russia that became The Rite of Spring.

Nearly a century after this wild rainforest of sound was performed, The Rite of Spring remains as exhilirating and liberating as music can be. MTT and the San Francisco Symphony show you why.

Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas

Stravinsky: The Firebird - excerpts
San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas