Moussorgski - Tableaux D'une Exposition, Stravinsky - Le Sacre Du Printemps / Andreï Vieru, Dan Grigore / Musique D'Abord / Harmonia Mundi Audio CD 2008 / HMA 1951616

UPC 794881867424

The Rite of Spring (French: Le Sacre du printemps) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Vaslav Nijinsky with stage designs and costumes by Nicholas Roerich. When first performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 29 May 1913, the avant-garde nature of the music and choreography caused a sensation. Many have called the first-night reaction a "riot" or "near-riot", though this wording did not come about until reviews of later performances in 1924, over a decade later. Although designed as a work for the stage, with specific passages accompanying characters and action, the music achieved equal if not greater recognition as a concert piece and is widely considered to be one of the most influential musical works of the 20th century.

Pictures at an Exhibition is a suite of ten piano pieces, plus a recurring, varied Promenade theme, composed by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874. The piece is Mussorgsky's most famous piano composition, and it has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists. It became further widely known through various orchestrations and arrangements produced by other composers and musicians, with Maurice Ravel's 1922 adaptation for full symphony orchestra being the most recorded and performed.

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