London Philharmonic Orchestra: Markus Stenz conducts The Rite of Spring

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An evening of varied music by Beethoven, Stravinsky and Larcher spanning two centuries.

One day in St Petersburg in 1910, Igor Stravinsky had a vision: 'I saw in my imagination a solemn
pagan rite; sage elders, seated in a circle, watching a young girl dance herself to death… sacrificing her to propitiate the god of spring.'

When Stravinsky set his vision to music for the Ballet Russes three years later, the result was one of the most controversial and consistently electrifying pieces of music in history – a piece in which rhythm suddenly took priority over melody in a terrifying and unprecedented example of musical brutality.

Markus Stenz conducts The Rite of Spring following Beethoven's arresting First Symphony and Thomas Larcher's Violin Concerto, written in 2008 and performed by the 2014 Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist of the Year, Patricia Kopatchinskaja.