Rite of Spring for pianos and percussion, arr. B. Smith

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) exploded onto the international scene by virtue of three scintillating and innovative scores written for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Presented in Paris between 1910 and 1913, Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring (or in its French title, Le sacre du printemps) were fully-danced ballets complete with choreography by Mikhail Fokine and Vaslav Nijinsky. Despite being conceived for dance, Stravinsky’s rhythms were initially thought to be impossible to manage. Particularly in The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky used rhythm as a gateway to access a distant, primitive past, a time when people lived their lives and performed their rituals in more direct connection to natural rhythms. Yet Stravinsky astutely realized that his depiction of primitive man could not rely on simplistic rhythms. Rather, it could be powerfully captured through conflicting, unpredictable patterns that evoke the chaotic element in tribal life. He knew these gestures would be difficult for performers and audiences alike, and The Rite’s riotous premiere still ranks as one of the signature moments in cultural history.
Tonight—not expecting a repeat of that famous night in Paris in 1913—we are honored to present the world premiere of The Rite in a new arrangement by percussionists Brian Smith and Peter White. Smith, a professional percussionist and familiar presence at SMF, explains more about their process and intent:

In this new arrangement, our goal was to create a chamber version of The Rite with the same range of color, complexity, and drama as the full orchestral work. Drawing from orchestral editions, we incorporated a lot of the contrapuntal and harmonic content that was omitted from Stravinsky’s own 1913 four-hand arrangement, the first published version of the piece. We chose an expansive two piano format rather than the range-restricted four-hand format. For the percussion, not only did we arrange all of the orchestral parts—normally covered by five players(!)—to be covered by two players, but we vastly expanded the total number of instruments, incorporating several keyboard percussion instruments not utilized in the full orchestral work. Hopefully the end result is true to the richly colorful and powerful large-scale version of this 20th century masterpiece.

According to Stravinsky’s own description, The Rite is organized in two parts that depict scenes from pagan Russia. Its central theme is the mystery and great surge of creative power in spring. The first part presents the “Adoration of the Earth” and includes eight sections, such as the “Augurs of Spring” (with its iconic, irregular, stamping rhythm), “Ritual of the Rival Tribes,” and “Dance of the Earth.” The entire first part can be understood as extended scene setting, for the action—at least in terms of plot—occurs solely in the second part. Nevertheless, Stravinsky was clearly inspired by the novelty of both the music and what it attempted to represent.
Part Two, “The Sacrifice,” centers on the faithful selection of a single maiden, the “Chosen One,” whose death in a vertiginous sacrificial dance will redeem society. Key motives, such as the initial folk-inspired melody, help unify textures that become increasingly chaotic, with pitch patterns moving in freely atonal directions. The music is also redolent of the composer’s own Petrushka, in which he explored bitonality and a characteristic melody-over-chord-cluster style. Debussy’s influence also seems evident, particularly when one hears the original piano four-hand version. (That version was premiered in June 1912 with Debussy and Stravinsky himself at the keyboards. Oh, to be a fly on the wall that day!) The Rite clearly has an aesthetic appeal and challenges, but it also makes a clear stand in relation to all previous music. Stravinsky deserves full credit—and some would say, full blame—for composing a single work that so transformed music that would come after 1913. Barbaric, poignant, athletic, pagan: The Rite of Spring transformed the cultural world no less explosively than the mortar rounds that would rip Europe apart just months later.

(c) Jason Stell