Stravinsky’s cataclysmic ballet The Rite of Spring, he explained was ‘unified by a single idea: the mystery and great surge of the creative power of spring’.

The orchestral score, with its high pitched woodwind and irregular, pounding rhythms, combined with the strange, jaunty movements of the dancers were considered outrageous at its 1913 premiere and resulted in a riotous outcry from the audience. Now, the piece is rightfully considered a masterpiece. It changed the musical landscape forever with its use of rhythms as a central focus, and is performed regularly by orchestras around the world.

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