There's good classical material cropping up on YouTube, amid the gross-out jokes and softcore porn. AWorks has linked to some videos that conductor Donato Cabrera (assistant at the premiere of Doctor Atomic) has put up for general persual. I clicked on the "Stravinsky" tag and found something marvelous — a scene from the BBC TV drama Riot at the Rite. It's a vivid and fairly realistic recreation of the most famous culture riot in history, though the insults shouted from the audience have been translated into British ("Absolute twaddle!" "Rubbish!" etc.). Notice the people fanning themselves vigorously at the beginning; it was eighty-five degrees that day in Paris. There is a lot of attention paid to the dancing, which, to my totally non-expert eyes, looks convincingly Nijinskyish. You can find the remainder of the reenactment on other YouTube videos, including the following exchange between two portly gentlemen: "This is how they danced in prehistoric times." "How would you know?" Let's hope the BBC puts this out on DVD.
