Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky was one of music's truly epochal innovators; no other composer of the 20th century exerted such a pervasive influence or dominated his art in the way that Stravinsky did during his seven-decade musical career. Aside from purely technical considerations such as rhythm and harmony, the most important hallmark of Stravinsky's style is, indeed, its changing face. Emerging from the spirit of late Russian nationalism and ending his career with a thorny, individual language steeped in 12-tone principles, Stravinsky assumed a number of aesthetic guises throughout the course of his development while always retaining a distinctive, essential identity.
Although he was the son of one of the Mariinsky Theater's principal basses and a talented amateur pianist, Stravinsky had no more musical training than that of any other Russian upper-class child. He entered law school but also began private composition and orchestration studies with Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov. By 1909, the orchestral works Scherzo fantastique and Fireworks had impressed Sergei Diaghilev enough for him to ask Stravinsky to orchestrate -- and subsequently compose -- ballets for his company. Stravinsky's triad of early ballets -- The Firebird (1909-1910), Petrushka (1910-1911), and most importantly, The Rite of Spring (1911-1913) -- did more to establish his reputation than any of his other works; indeed, the riot which followed the premiere of The Rite is one of the most notorious events in music history.
Stravinsky and his family spent the war years in Switzerland, returning to France in 1920. His jazz-inflected essays of the 1910s and 1920s -- notably, Ragtime (1918) and The Soldier's Tale (1918) -- gave way to one of the composer's most influential aesthetic turns. The neo-Classical tautness of works as diverse as the ballet Pulcinella (1919-1920), the Symphony of Psalms (1930), and, decades later, the opera The Rake's Progress (1948-1951) made a widespread impact and had a special influence upon the fledgling school of American composers that looked to Stravinsky as its primary model. He had begun touring as a conductor and pianist, generally performing his own works. In the 1930s, he toured the Americas and wrote several pieces fulfilling American commissions, including the Concerto in E flat, "Dumbarton Oaks."
After the deaths of his daughter, his wife, and his mother within a period of less than a year, Stravinsky emigrated to America, settling in California with his second wife in 1940. His works between 1940 and 1950 show a mixture of styles but still seem centered on Russian or French traditions. Stravinsky's cultural perspective changed after Robert Craft became his musical assistant, handling rehearsals for Stravinsky, traveling with him, and later, co-authoring his memoirs. Craft is credited with helping Stravinsky accept 12-tone composition as one of the tools of his trade. Characteristically, though, he made novel use of such principles in his own music, producing works in a highly original vein: Movements (1958-1959) for piano and orchestra, Variations: Aldous Huxley in Memoriam (1963), and the Requiem Canticles (1965-1966) are among the most striking. Craft prepared the musicians for the exemplary series of Columbia Records LPs Stravinsky conducted through the stereo era, covering virtually all his significant works. Despite declining health in his last years, Stravinsky continued to compose until just before his death in April 1971.
© TiVo Staff /TiVo
Artistes similaires
-
Stravinsky: Petrushka & Le sacre du printemps
Musique symphonique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 3 janv. 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Pulcinella
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 1 avr. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinski : L'Oiseau de feu (Intégrale), Scherzo fantastique
BBC National Orchestra Of Wales, Thierry Fischer
Classique - Paru chez Signum Records le 22 sept. 2009
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky conducts Stravinsky - The Ballets
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 26 août 2011
Discothèque Idéale Qobuz16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Firebird Suite & Petrushka Suite
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 12 juin 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky Conducts 1961 - Movements for Piano and Orchestra, Octet, The Soldier's Tale
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 1 avr. 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky conducts Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring & The Firebird (2023 Remastered)
Igor Stravinsky, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Classique - Paru chez Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording le 5 déc. 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Concerto in D & Symphony in 3 Movements
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 1 avr. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fanfares and Fuckoffs
Frank Zappa, Frej Larsson, Jonas Lindeborg, Igor Stravinsky
Classique - Paru chez EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE le 6 juin 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Orpheus & Apollon musagète
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 1 avr. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky: Threni, Mass, Babel, Anthem and Canticum Sacrum
Classique - Paru chez Soundmark le 4 juin 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky Conducts: The Wedding, The Soldier's Tale Suite, Agon, Petrushka Suite
Classique - Paru chez Soundmark le 31 mai 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mysterious Classical Music
Classique - Paru chez Paradise Classical le 26 juil. 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Igor Stravinsky : Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring)
Ballets - Paru chez Sony Classical le 22 avr. 1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky - Symphonies and Concertos
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 30 oct. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Petrushka Suite
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 1 avr. 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Igor Stravinsky - Le sacre du printemps (100th Anniversary Collectors Edition)
Classique - Paru chez Sony Classical le 26 avr. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Igor Stravinsky: Violin Concerto, Pulcinella Suite, Jeu de Cartes, Movements
David Oïstrakh, Bernard Haitink, Otto Klemperer, Igor Stravinsky, Margrit Weber, Ferenc Fricsay
Symphonies - Paru chez Praga Digitals le 1 juin 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps (Stereo Version)
Igor Stravinsky, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Classique - Paru chez BNF Collection le 1 janv. 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Fire Bird (Classical Music Masters)
Classique - Paru chez Il Loggione Records le 2 mars 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Petrushka & The Rite of Spring
Musique symphonique - Paru chez Classical Records le 14 mai 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo