First Rites (deconstructing Stravinsky)

Strap yourself in for 5 minutes of mayhem! I once played in an orchestral performance so chaotic that the local newspaper critic described it as "like a Cubist deconstruction of the music". Although "The Rite of Spring" is perfectly formed it's also overflowing with great ideas and possibilities; the music often seems as if it could go off in almost any direction. I've explored just a few of these possibilities here - Stravinsky did something similar with other composers such as Pergolesi. To his dense polychords and shifting metres I've added tempo modulation and sample transformation via Reason's Grain synth.
The illustrations are by Nicholas Roerich, a fellow Russian who designed the original stage sets and worked with Stravinsky to develop the story for the ballet. Hard to believe this was all created in 1913.

Видео First Rites (deconstructing Stravinsky) канала Stephen Godsall