For the last ten years the Aurora Orchestra has been astonishing audiences with its feats of memory. Beethoven, Brahms and Shostakovich symphonies have all been given the treatment. This was the most remarkable of them all, however: Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, with its notorious rhythmic complexities, and a score that strikes terror into the heart of seasoned players, even with the music in front of them.
The performance was preceded by a 40-minute multi-media introduction, devised by Jane Mitchell and directed by James Bonas, that started by placing the work in the context of its 1913 Paris premiere, choreographed by Nijinsky for the Russian impresario Diaghilev. Two excellent actors, Karl Queensborough and Charlotte Ritchie, brought the scenario to life, taking the parts of the leading characters.
