Russian winter

Thursday night I went to a rather wonderful concert featuring works of Rachmaninov and Stravinsky.

On the aural menu were Stravinsky's Jeu De Carte, Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 4 and finally Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite Of Spring).

I'm not overly familiar with Rachmaninov so his Piano Concerto was a pleasing discovery.

The highlight for me, inevitably perhaps, was Le Sacre du Printemps. I've had it on CD for a while but it was only after hearing it performed live that I fully appreciate what a mad, radical piece of music it is. It's such a massive aural assault that it no longer seems a stretch of the imagination to think that it caused a riot at its 1913 world première in Paris. It's the classical equivalent of Never Mind The Bollocks: Stravinsky was a punk at heart.

Fortunately for you, the concert was recorded and filmed by the BBC. You can either listen to the concert by going here or you can watch the performances of Piano Concerto No. 4 and Le Sacre du Printemps by going here.

Be quick, though: both the audio and video are only available on the BBC website for one week.