A century on, Stravinsky’s ‘Rite’ still summons the caveman

LONDON, May 27: – A hundred years ago this week, the premiere of Russian emigre composer Igor Stravinsky’s pounding, pagan, pulsating “The Rite of Spring” caused a near riot in Paris and changed the face of modern music. It still makes conductors’ hair stand on end. “I have to admit that when we come to the moment just before the last dance, and the bass clarinet goes down, my blood pressure is up, I have this sort of adrenaline surge,” Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen told Reuters recently in  London.    (AGENCIES)