The Classical Music Thread

Igor Stravinsky & the New York Philharmonic - "Le sacre du printemps" (1940)

I enjoyed this highly praised piece of modern classical this week with its bright production job & stunningly original arrangement holding up really well all these years later. There's a darkness to this orchestral ballet that must have been quite intimidating at the time & I find it inconceivable that an individual has had the breadth of mind to produce something so significant with such a disparate array of different melodic parts. I'd imagine that it would certainly have helped that the composer is also conducting the orchestra here as his vision is beautifully realised. The influence on some of the great soundtracks of more modern times is obvious too ("Star Wars" in particular).

For fans of Sergei Prokofiev, Béla Bartók & Arnold Schoenberg.

3.5/5

Giacomo Puccini's "Teatro alla Scala: Tosca" (1954)

A 110-minute Italian opera from the Romanticism movement that's broken up into in three acts. Unfortunately, I found the first act (which makes up the first half of this release) to be a bit of a chore but I quite liked the second & third acts, particularly the final one. I tend to enjoy the more dramatic & firey sections the most with the more theatrical stuff largely going over my head.

For fans of Giuseppe Verdi, Gioachino Rossini & Georges Bizet.

3/5