bigger is occasionally better

to go with the handful of chamber concerts we're seeing soon, we're also going to two huge orchestral performances.

the first is a showing of eisenstein's alexander nevsky, with the music provided by the philadelphia symphony performing prokofiev's score for the movie, accompanied by a full chorus (the philadelphia singers chorale). the only other movies we've seen live music were warner brothers cartoons, and this is a wee bit different. (there was a forgettable attempt to provide video for holst's the planets, but well, i've forgotten it.)

we've also gotten tickets for a 100th anniversary performance of stravinsky's the rite of spring, with all the dancing. neither one of us is all that fond of the rite, but we're taking a friend who thinks that stravinsky can do no wrong, and in any case, the dance part is rarely performed because of large ensemble required (both orchestra and dance troupe). since the original staging caused rioting in paris, we figure we might as well see what all the fuss was about. it's also not like 100th anniversaries of famous music come along that often. i should live so long as to see the 100th anniversary performance of appalachian spring (2044).