In the classical thread, I mentioned that my favorite opera is
Wozzeck, by Alban Berg. I'm not an opera fan per se, but this one affected me in a way that no other opera had before (or since). Won't bore you to death here; let's just say I consider
Wozzeck to be among the very greatest musical works of the 20th century.
Stravinsky is a composer I haven't gotten around to, you could say.
The Rake's Progress is unknown to my ears. I've heard the story of
The Rite of Spring's debut, but I know the work itself only from excerpts and from its reputation: scholars point out that in its primal savagery, the music of the
Rite seemed to presage the cataclysm of the Great War.
That's interesting, because
Wozzeck was composed after the War by a man who had first hand experience in it as an army conscript.
Wozzeck is not explicitly about the War, but its story of an unstable soldier in an uncaring world who spirals into paranoia and madness seems to sum up the composer's post-War feelings.
Sorry, Igor (or is that Mr. Stravinsky?), but my favorite piece of ballet music is Maurice Ravel's
Daphnis et Chloe, which I waxed lyrical about in that other thread. I said it there and I'll say it here: if there's one piece of music on this earth that can depict the lush beauty and Earthpowerful essence of Andelain, it's
Daphnis et Chloe. Springtime in Andelain? Oh yeah, baby. I think the
Rite of Spring would more appropriately depict the Sunbane desecrating the Hills.
