Robert Craft
Robert Lawson Craft is an American conductor, noted for his association with Igor Stravinsky and his championing of the music of Anton Webern and other composers of the Second Viennese School.
Craft had a middle-class upbringing in upstate New York. After service as an Army medic during World War II, he studied at Juilliard and Berkshire Music Center and privately with Pierre Monteux. From 1947 to 1950 he conducted the Chamber Arts Society of New York, attracting attention for his adventurous programming.
His conducting led to a meeting with the 65-year-old Igor Stravinsky, who hired him as musical assistant and secretary. Moving to Stravinsky's home in Los Angeles, Craft assisted him with the English text of the opera The Rake's Progress. Craft also conducted two concert series in Los Angeles, the Evenings-on-the-Roof and its successor, the Monday Evening Concerts. Again, he scheduled music of Schoenberg, Webern, Varèse, late Stravinsky, and older music such as that of Gesualdo.
After the premiere of The Rake in 1951, Stravinsky found himself creatively blocked, but also unexpectedly stimulated by hearing Craft's performance of Schoenberg's Septet. The Russian master (generally considered the greatest rival of Schoenberg and his school) now asked Craft to provide some Schoenberg and Webern scores for study. Craft also gave Stravinsky Ernst Krenek's invaluable teaching books on the twelve-tone system. Over the next few years Stravinsky startled the musical world by embracing Schoenberg's system. Craft's position with Stravinsky altered from assistant to collaborator. The composer welcomed Craft's suggestions and advice even to the shaping of some of his late works. Craft also began rehearsing orchestras for Stravinsky to conduct in concert and for a great series of recordings for Columbia Records, making both endeavors possible.
In connection with the composer's 75th birthday, Craft suggested that he and Stravinsky prepare a written interview dealing with the most frequently asked questions and release it to the press rather than subject the old man to long, repetitive personal interviews. This format proved so successful that Craft and Stravinsky co-wrote several volumes of Stravinsky's memoirs and thoughts on music. After Stravinsky's death, Craft continued to edit Stravinsky documentation and write his own memories of life with Stravinsky.
Craft has pursued his own career as a lecturer, conductor, writer, and musicologist. While recording the Columbia Stravinsky cycle, he used odd moments available during studio sessions to produce the first integral recordings of the complete numbered works of Anton Webern. The turn of the 21st century found him recording the works of Stravinsky and of Schoenberg for Koch International Classics, which were subsequently licensed for reissue on Naxos.
He is a highly skilled and precise conductor who could no doubt have established a career of higher profile if he were more interested in the standard repertory and if he had not devoted much of his time to Stravinsky, both during and after the master's life. But he has gone firmly on record as saying the opportunity to know and work with the great man was, without doubt on his part, fully worth the trade-off.
© TiVo
Artistas similares
-
6 A Cappella Mixed Choruses / String Quartet No. 2 / Suite in G major
Simon Joly Singers, Jennifer Welch-Babidge, Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble, Robert Craft, Fred Sherry String Quartet
Música coral (para coro) - Editado por Naxos el 13 dic. 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Greatest Masterpieces Conducted by Robert Craft
Varios - Editado por BNF Collection el 1 ene. 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gesualdo: Prince of Madrigalists
Clásica - Editado por Sony Classical el 17 mar. 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Derniers Ballets
Philharmonia Orchestra, Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble, Orchestra of St. Luke's, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mark Wait, Robert Craft
Clásica - Editado por Naxos el 11 dic. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantatas BWV 198 Trauer Ode & BWV 131 Aus der Tiefe (Album of 1960)
Robert Craft, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por GazzaLadra el 20 mar. 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gesualdo Renaissance (2024 Remastered Edition)
Robert Craft, The Singers of Ferrara
Clásica - Editado por Toblach el 16 sept. 1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Music of Alban Berg: Four Symphonic Excerpts from "Lulu," Der Wein, & Three Movements from "Lyric Suite," for String Orchestra
Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Robert Craft
Clásica - Editado por Soundmark Records el 8 nov. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Varèse (Mono Version)
Robert Craft, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por BNF Collection el 1 ene. 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Aldous Huxley Presents Madrigals of Gesualdo, Vol. 1 (Mono Version)
The Singers of Ferrara, Robert Craft
Varios - Editado por BNF Collection el 1 ene. 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Webern: The Complete Music, Vol. 2
Clásica - Editado por Vinyle Numérique el 13 jul. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Cantatas Nos. 198 & 131
Clásica - Editado por Sony Classical el 3 oct. 1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gesualdo: Prince of Madrigalists
Clásica - Editado por Sony Classical el 17 mar. 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Complete Music of Anton Webern under the Direction of Robert Craft (2021 Remastered Version)
Clásica - Editado por Sony Classical el 1 ene. 1957
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Felicissimo Sonno
Clásica - Editado por Vintage Jukebox el 14 jul. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Robert Craft Conduct Music of Edgar Varèse, Vol. 1
Clásica - Editado por Dnv el 27 feb. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Music of Edgar Varèse (Remastered)
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por RevOla el 4 mar. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schütz: Motets (Mono Version)
Los Angeles Monday Evening Concerts, Robert Craft
Varios - Editado por BNF Collection el 1 ene. 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schoenberg: Suite, Op. 29 & 5 Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16 - Berg: Altenberg Songs, Op. 4 (Mono Version)
Bethany Beardslee, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Robert Craft
Varios - Editado por BNF Collection el 1 ene. 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Berg: Chamber Concerto & 3 Pieces for Orchestra (Mono Version)
Israel Baker, Pearl Kaufman, Robert Craft
Varios - Editado por BNF Collection el 1 ene. 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Antheil: Ballet mecanique - Lopresti: Sketch for Percussion - Chavez: Toccata - Hovhaness: October Mountain
Los Angeles Contemporary Music Ensemble, Manhattan Percussion Ensemble, Robert Craft, Paul Price
Música de cámara - Editado por Naxos Classical Archives el 1 ago. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Madrigals: Già Piansi Nel Dolore
Robert Craft, Charles Scharbach, Cora Lauridsen, Marilynn Horne, Grace-Lynne Martin, Rich Robinson
Lounge - Editado por Don't stop the music el 17 jul. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo