Igor Stravinsky : NPR

Jeremy Denk Maps Centuries of Music History on 'c.1300-c.2000'

Jeremy Denk's c.1300-c.2000 comes out Feb. 8 on Nonesuch. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

Review

Jeremy Denk Maps Centuries of Music History on 'c.1300-c.2000'

January 31, 2019 • Hear the resourceful pianist trace 700 years of Western music, from the delicate medieval counterpoint of Guillaume de Machaut to the minimalism of Philip Glass.

Gustavo Dudamel Opens Carnegie Hall Season With 'The Rite Of Spring'

Gustavo Dudamel led the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra to open the new season of concerts at Carnegie Hall Thursday, Oct. 6. Chris Lee/Carnegie Hall hide caption

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Chris Lee/Carnegie Hall

Gustavo Dudamel Opens Carnegie Hall Season With 'The Rite Of Spring'

WQXR radio

October 3, 2016 • The charismatic conductor first heard Stravinsky's rambunctious music when he was just 8. Watch him lead the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela live on Thursday night.

Drum Fill Friday: Classical Headbanging Edition

John Bonham of Led Zeppelin at the Los Angeles-area Inglewood Forum in 1973. Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage hide caption

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Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage

Drum Fill Friday: Classical Headbanging Edition

August 8, 2014 • In classical music, percussionists go wild with drums of all shapes and sizes. Can you guess which pieces spotlight the timpani, snare and bass drums?

First Listen: The Bad Plus, 'The Rite Of Spring'

The Bad Plus' new album, The Rite of Spring, comes out March 25. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

First Listen: The Bad Plus, 'The Rite Of Spring'

March 16, 2014 • A jazz trio plays the score to Igor Stravinsky's gloriously noisy, 101-year-old fever dream of a ballet as literally as possible — and still manages to sound like itself.

The Rite of Spring

Audio for First Listens is no longer available after the album is released.

100 Years After The Riot, The 'Rite' Remains

Michael Tilson Thomas conducts the San Francisco Symphony. Bill Swerbenski/San Francisco Symphony hide caption

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Bill Swerbenski/San Francisco Symphony

100 Years After The Riot, The 'Rite' Remains

May 29, 2013 • San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas guides us through the infamous Rite of Spring premiere, the music's longevity and its surprising singability.

100 Years After The Riot, The 'Rite' Remains

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We Asked, You Created: Your 'Rite Of Spring' Videos

A still from Ann Robideaux' choreography for the last minute of The Rite of Spring. courtesy of Ann Robideaux hide caption

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courtesy of Ann Robideaux

We Asked, You Created: Your 'Rite Of Spring' Videos

May 29, 2013 • Check out our favorite videos from our Rite of Spring call, ranging from beautiful to nutty, live action to stop motion, porcine to feline. No cats, bananas or cyborgs were harmed in the making of these motion pictures — though grass and weeds got what was coming to them.

Filmmaker Prashant Bhargava and jazz musician Vijay Iyer's project Radhe Radhe: a visually and sonically dazzling collaboration. KPO Photo/courtesy of Carolina Performing Arts hide caption

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KPO Photo/courtesy of Carolina Performing Arts

Colors Swirl In A Real Rite Of Spring

May 28, 2013 • Composer and pianist Vijay Iyer and filmmaker Prashant Bhargava transport Igor Stravinsky's imagined springtime religious ritual to India, where such a celebration is real: the joyous Hindu holiday called Holi. Watch excerpts of the film and hear the entire musical performance.

Stephen Malinowski

Watch A Mind-Blowing Visualization Of 'The Rite Of Spring'

May 27, 2013 • Composer and artist Stephen Malinowski has created an incredibly illuminating — but very easy to understand — path into exploring Stravinsky's music, thanks to what he calls his "Music Animation Machine."

Why Jazz Musicians Love 'The Rite Of Spring'

Flutist Hubert Laws is one of many jazz artists to have recorded an adaptation of themes from The Rite of Spring. Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images hide caption

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Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Why Jazz Musicians Love 'The Rite Of Spring'

May 26, 2013 • A 100-year-old ballet, composed by a Russian for a French audience, has become something of a standard in an idiom which didn't exist when it premiered. Whether covered, quoted or praised, Stravinsky's masterwork has inspired multiple generations of improvisers.

Leonard Bernstein's 'Rite of Spring' Thrill Ride

Leonard Bernstein leads the London Symphony Orchestra. He called Stravinsky's famously savage Rite of Spring "extremely tuneful and dancy, rhythmically seductive, beguiling." Ian Showell/Getty Images hide caption

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Ian Showell/Getty Images

Deceptive Cadence

Leonard Bernstein's 'Rite of Spring' Thrill Ride

May 25, 2013 • Watch the energetic conductor take flight conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky's iconic score. A recently released DVD of a 1966 performance includes an interview with Bernstein, in which he says the famously brutal music "makes a marvelous kind of savage sound."

Then The Curtain Opened: The Bracing Impact Of Stravinsky's 'Rite'

An image from the 2013 production of Le Sacre du Printemps by the Joffrey Ballet, Chicago, reflects the hard jumps and stamps of Vaslav Nijinsky's original choreography. Herbert Migdoll/Joffrey Ballet hide caption

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Herbert Migdoll/Joffrey Ballet

Deceptive Cadence

Then The Curtain Opened: The Bracing Impact Of Stravinsky's 'Rite'

May 25, 2013 • The aggressively modern ballet premiered in Paris in 1913, and provoked a response just as striking as the music and dance.

Then The Curtain Opened: The Bracing Impact Of Stravinsky's 'Rite'

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The Cocktail Party Guide To Igor Stravinsky

Don't be caught "Stravinsky deficient" while out with your music-loving friends. Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images hide caption

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Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Deceptive Cadence

The Cocktail Party Guide To Igor Stravinsky

May 24, 2013 • Don't know neo-nationalism from neoclassicism? Bone up on the surprisingly multifaceted career of Igor Stravinsky, the man who gave us the iconic Rite of Spring.

Sidney Insists On Stokowski's Stravinsky

Pablo Helguera

Deceptive Cadence

Sidney Insists On Stokowski's Stravinsky

May 24, 2013 • Fridays are funner with a classical cartoon at noon from Deceptive Cadence.

Igor Stravinsky's 'Rite Of Spring' Counterrevolution

After his shocking ballet, The Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky branched out in surprising directions. Erich Auerbach/Getty Images hide caption

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Erich Auerbach/Getty Images

Deceptive Cadence

Igor Stravinsky's 'Rite Of Spring' Counterrevolution

May 24, 2013 • Not long after his shocking ballet, the composer branched out into a broad range of styles, ushering in new musical trends far from the violent tone of his iconic Rite of Spring.

Igor Stravinsky's 'Rite Of Spring' Counterrevolution

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Where's Your Awesome 'Rite Of Spring' Video?

Elementary school students in Maplewood, N.J. prepare to enact their own Rite. courtesy of Seth Boyden Demonstration School hide caption

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courtesy of Seth Boyden Demonstration School

Deceptive Cadence

Where's Your Awesome 'Rite Of Spring' Video?

May 23, 2013 • We've gotten some really funny and creative entries so far in our video project celebrating the Rite of Spring centennial. Where's yours? Check out some videos, grab the music and get cracking — you only have until Tuesday, May 28.

Come Dance The 'Rite Of Spring' With Us!

It's fun to stay at the ИМКА: Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring triggered an uproar at its world premiere in Paris a century ago. Now we're asking you to help celebrate the centennial by creating a dance of your own. Keystone-France/Getty Images hide caption

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Keystone-France/Getty Images

Deceptive Cadence

Come Dance The 'Rite Of Spring' With Us!

May 23, 2013 • We're inviting you to create your own video using the last minute of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Dance it, animate it, improvise it, whatever you like — and then upload your creation to YouTube before May 28th. We'll be featuring some of the best videos on NPR Music in the weeks ahead.

Pianist Daniil Trifonov: Disappearing Into Chopin

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Favorite Sessions

Pianist Daniil Trifonov: Disappearing Into Chopin

WGBH Radio

February 6, 2013 • Hear the 21-year-old Russian play Chopin etudes, colorful Fairy Tales by Nikolai Medtner and an explosive arrangement of music from Stravinsky's Firebird at the WGBH studios in Boston.

Plays Chopin and Medtner

53:24

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Concerts

Stravinsky Gets His 'Rite: Remixed'

WNYC Radio

July 18, 2008 • In a concert presented by the Wordless Music Series, the collective of composers and musicians known as the Metropolis Ensemble presents The Rite: Remixed. Sounds from the acoustic musicians were torn apart in real time by laptops, adding riotous new sounds to Stravinsky's manic piece.

Metropolis Ensemble in Concert on Wordless Music Series, WNYC

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Music Interviews

Stravinsky's Riotous 'Rite of Spring'

March 21, 2008 • Just in time for the change of the season, music commentator Miles Hoffman considers the lingering reputation of Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring as the shocker that altered the art world. The work has been called "one of the most daring creations of the modern musical mind."

Stravinsky's Riotous 'Rite of Spring'

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A Thanksgiving Feast For The Ears And Eyes

Slimming Down the Classics

November 21, 2007 • Like overeating at Thanksgiving, composers can overindulge on music. Commentator Miles Hoffman discusses the reaction some composers had to the "musical bloat" of the Bruckner and Mahler years. The result was a leaner musical waistline.

Slimming Down the Classics

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Music Lists

Five Modern Classical Pieces for Pop Listeners

November 21, 2007 • In his new book The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, critic Alex Ross explores the richness of classical music created in turbulent times. Out of 100 years of music, Ross picks five classics for curious listeners.

Halloween Tricks And Audio Treats

Musical Mayhem: Top 5 Creepy Classics

91.7 WVXU

October 24, 2008 • From the ancient "Day of the Dead" melody to depictions of ghouls and witches, composers have long tapped into the dark side to serve up some deliciously devilish music.