When Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" opened, the debate about it was so fierce that a riot ensued and the theatre suffered a fire. One account tells how one man, so enthralled with the music and ballet, did not notice the man above him rhythmically banging on his head. Listening to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's recording, one can still feel the power that incited such violent reaction when it was originally performed.

The entire piece is eerie, from the lonely, mournful opening bars of clarinet and other reeds that build into an intense cacophony sometimes rising up triumphantly before falling again to portray the sound of dread. At times, one can almost hear a heavy metal sound n the music, like in the intense throbbing, pulsating beat and heavy deep string bass in the second piece, "Harbingers of Spring." At every turn there is a new discontentment for the senses, in many different ways. Some time the music slithers along the floor, as in the introduction. Other times, it performs a solemn shuffle, almost for a funeral dirge, and in "Spring Rounds". Other times, it charges forward like an army as in, "Harbingers."

This piece is a beast, a monument to originality and experimentation, teaching us that ugliness can be beautiful in it's own way.