The Firebird / The Rite of Spring

Submitted by Jon Taylor on 16 February 2013 - 10:03pm

Cover:

Artist:

Igor Stravinsky

album-ID:

a_55

Nationality:

Russia

Year:

1 913

Release-year:

1997

Num-of-tracks:

Track-listing:

Firebird: Introduction*Firebird: Firebird*Firebird: Firebird Variation*Firebird: Round Of The Princess*Firebird: King Katchei's Infernal Dance*Firebird: Lullaby*Firebird: Finale*Rite Of Spring: Adoration of the Earth*Rite Of Spring: Sacrifice

Length-in-mins:

Nominator:

Bean

meeting-ID:

m_21

Now-num:

Spotify-URL:

3zCntb5eiSSMa6myrIfzGm

Short-title:

firebird

nominator-ID:

u_3

Meeting-date:

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

MusicBrainz-URL:

53a54f2c-fd50-3d7f-9750-440b64db7a41

Spotify-link-type:

album

Discogs-URL:

Stravinsky-BRT-Philharmonic-Orchestra-Brussels-Alexander-Rahbari-Loiseau-De-Feu-Firebird

-Le-Sacre-De/release/1242697

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117

reviewers-IDs data

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71

reviewed by

Glyn Lewis

Tell Tchaikovsky the news

5

1-9

Don't know if you've noticed but classical music is a bit different to pop. There's a whole different set of values, conventions, behaviours and hairstyles, so where do you go when you're trying to assess music on its originality, uniqueness, bravery and so on and you don't really know the context? I guess the answer is you can't really say that much. Having said that, I did enjoy bits and pieces of these two works. There were some exciting and striking rhythms, some absolutely mad use of dynamics that had me fiddling with my volume control constantly, some tuneful and straightforward sections and some passages that were far less immediate.

That was one of the things that struck me, and it doesn't seem that uncommon in classical music, whereby there are movements within the same work that seem to be aimed at quite different audiences. Some with stonking immediately identifiable simple, hum-along themes and some far more complex and subtle, which require a number of plays to get to grips with. The Finale of the Firebird was one that fitted into the former category; a grand theme that was easy to recognise and understand but which actually gets a bit annoying after a number of plays, as it is so simple and nothing much happens. And you have to play it a number of times to make sense of the earlier movements, which were less immediate and which I eventually started to enjoy.

The Rite of Spring I wasn't so sure of, some gorgeous, lovely passages but also some difficult awkward stuff in there and the idea of riots at the debut performance didn't seem so far fetched, as I did find it somewhat aggravatingly dissonant and irritating in places, even to the point of feeling physically uncomfortable. But perhaps that's what it's supposed to do? I'm not really too sure. I'd better go look it up in Wikipedia.
40

reviewed by

Richard Norbury

Possibly opens the floodgates for all those old jazz and world music classics to be nominated.
35

reviewed by

Matthew Baker

the wrong of spring

Caused a riot in Paris in 1913, but would hardly raise an eybrow these days. Maybe the sudden musical jolts would keep waking you up if you nodded off at any point. You can bang on about musical theory all you like but it just sounds like 'classical music' to me.
29

reviewed by

Neil Hornsey

Typical pompous classical nonsense

2

8-9

Typical pompous classical nonsense. Way too dramatic for its own good. Stick some female vocal harmonies on top, and some classic DX7 synths and Igor might have something.