As the video beings and you hear "Spring" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons lightly playing in the background, you see that it fits nicely within the confines of the 17th- century scene playing out before you. But as the film progresses and you follow two cellists onto stage and take their place to perform, something seems amiss, but you're not quite sure what just yet. Then you realize that they are not wearing wigs, something that would simply not be in that time period. Musicians playing for that caliber of an audience would certainly be dressed properly, which included a freshly powdered wig. The music begins, and they're playing a duet that is for all intents and purposes highly appropriate, albeit sans wigs.
Then, something begins to happen that causes an uneasiness in the crowd. They speed up - something completely out of the ordinary for 17th century music. They speed up, faster and faster, until the music is in a frenzy, ever increasing in tension to a distorted level that would make the likes of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra swell with envy. Stylistically, they continue in an almost neoclassical style, but highly compromised, to be sure. The crowd is restless and cannot believe their ears, or their eyes, as the pair of writhing cellists dig into their instruments, creating sounds unheard of in this era, and surely, profoundly out of character. However, as the music reaches its climax and begins to settle back, unpredictably so does the audience, quite unsure of what they've just witnessed and heard. There are ladies with almost obscene smiles on their faces, as though they've witnessed something quite profound, and perhaps even obscene. Yet they seem pleased, like they liked it. If ever there were a scene that would have caused a riot, surely it was this, and not the comparatively placid premiere of Stravinsky's "Le Sacre du Printemps."
Then, something begins to happen that causes an uneasiness in the crowd. They speed up - something completely out of the ordinary for 17th century music. They speed up, faster and faster, until the music is in a frenzy, ever increasing in tension to a distorted level that would make the likes of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra swell with envy. Stylistically, they continue in an almost neoclassical style, but highly compromised, to be sure. The crowd is restless and cannot believe their ears, or their eyes, as the pair of writhing cellists dig into their instruments, creating sounds unheard of in this era, and surely, profoundly out of character. However, as the music reaches its climax and begins to settle back, unpredictably so does the audience, quite unsure of what they've just witnessed and heard. There are ladies with almost obscene smiles on their faces, as though they've witnessed something quite profound, and perhaps even obscene. Yet they seem pleased, like they liked it. If ever there were a scene that would have caused a riot, surely it was this, and not the comparatively placid premiere of Stravinsky's "Le Sacre du Printemps."