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 & Donatoni
Igor Stravinsky, Franco Donatoni, Karin Dornbusch
Classique - Paru chez dB Productions le 20 oct. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Masters of the Roll - Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky
Classique - Paru chez James Stewart Music le 20 juil. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
La Carrière Du Libertin (Acte 2 & Acte 3) : Anthologie Igor Stravinsky Vol. 9
Pop - Paru chez Rendez-Vous Digital le 15 sept. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Master of Classic Music, Stravinsky - Jeu De Cartes
Igor Stravinsky, Berliner Philharmoniker
Classique - Paru chez Oscardigital le 18 août 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Firebird and Other 20th Century Masterpieces
US Army Concert Band, Colonel Thomas Rotondi, Jr., Igor Stravinsky, Edward Elgar, Ottorino Respighi
Classique - Paru chez Altissimo le 1 sept. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Urban Classical Music
Classique - Paru chez Classic Records le 21 févr. 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grandes Compositores - Stravinsky
Symphonieorchester von Radio Prag, Česká filharmonie
Classique - Paru chez Piros - Álvaro le 6 avr. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Pulcinella (Stravinsky) (1953)
Mary Simmons, Glenn Schnittke, Philip MacGregor, The Cleveland Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky
Ballets - Paru chez Naxos Classical Archives le 7 août 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
Igor Stravinsky, The Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Classique - Paru chez Sunday Club Records le 13 août 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring
The London Festival Orchestra, René Leibowitz
Classique - Paru chez Violet Hill Records le 16 mai 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Petrushka & The Rite Of Spring
Ernest Ansermet, Suisse Romande Orchestra
Classique - Paru chez Big Eye Music le 1 janv. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pierre Boulez Collection, Vol. 7
Soloists & Domaine Musical Ensemble, Pierre Boulez
Classique - Paru chez Sinetone PCA le 11 févr. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Symphony in C & Symphony in 3 Movements
Ernest Ansermet, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Musique symphonique - Paru chez Sunday Club Records le 12 févr. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: The Firebird Ballet Suite
Lorin Maazel, The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Ballets - Paru chez Sunday Club Records le 2 déc. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
Igor Markevitch, The Philharmonia Orchestra
Classique - Paru chez Sunday Club Records le 4 nov. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best of Stravinsky (Remastered)
Divers - Paru chez Classic Records Ltd. le 27 avr. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo