Musical storytelling Spano Conducts: Scheherazade and The Rite of Spring

Who doesn’t love the story of 1,001 Arabian Nights? In Scheherazade, Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov used the full might of the symphony orchestra to retell a few of those tales. Heavy brass portray the sultan while a violin solo spins out the beginning of each of Scheherazade’s tales. Balancing the program is another of music’s most famous tales, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, a ferocious story of sacrifice and rebirth where the orchestra and...