It was a frigid Saturday evening at Philadelphia’s magnificent Marian Anderson Hall in the Kimmel Center. Thanks to the players in The Philadelphia Orchestra, I fell in love with the music of Igor Stravinsky.

Born in Russia in 1882, the great Russian composer lived until he was 88 years old. He died in 1971 in NYC and had the opportunity to see the early days of heavy metal rock music. Search on the Google… there is no record of his opinion of bands like Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf, or Black Sabbath.

His music’s rhythmic density laid the groundwork for heavy metal bands. Its jarring dissonances contributed to the rise of progressive rock. The primal energy of his compositions is intense and violent. This energy influenced many rock and roll bands. These influences occurred even if the bands didn’t know it at the time.

Others have recognized this connection. You can click the article above for Doug Thomas’ phun piece in Interlude, a great classical music blog.

I had no idea this type of classical music existed. In the darkness of the hall, I feverishly scribbled down pages of notes of this “major” discovery (see below).

Along with the Ozzy Osborne comment, it was cool to learn how different these music halls are from each other. Marian Anderson Hall has a hollow stage, while Carnegie Hall is solid cement.

Dynamo conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin led the 70+ artists of The Philadelphia Orchestra through a rousing rendition of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”. The music was like nothing I had ever seen before… so precise, perfectly violent at times, and transcendent.

Here is a nice clip of Maestro Yannick on Facebook (click here). He talks about playing this iconic piece with one of the world’s greatest orchestras.

I still don’t understand how the audience can sit down without dancing to the music… needless to say I was told to keep still and stop nodding my head like a rocker.

: )

As Uncle Neil says, it’s better to burn out, then to turn to rust.

Click here to follow The Philadelphia Orchestra on Instagram.

Broaden your musical palate.

Below is great sample of “The Rite of Spring” led by Michael Tilson Thomas at Royal Albert Hall twenty-five years ago.

Enjoy…