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
Similar artists
-
Stravisnky: L'oiseau De Feu & Apollon Mausagète
Classical - Released by Urania on 3 Feb 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky & Donatoni
Classical - Released by Naxos Sweden - dB on 20 Oct 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Igor Stravinsky: Apollon Musagète / L'Oiseau de Feu
Igor Stravinsky, Orchestra Sinfonica Di Roma Della RAI
Classical - Released by Mangora Classical on 15 Mar 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Le Sacre Du Printemps
Classical - Released by Il Loggione Records on 22 Nov 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Le Sacre Du Printemps (Classical Music Masters)
Classical - Released by Il Loggione Records on 22 Nov 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky, The Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York
Classical - Released by Hallmark on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sergei Prokofiev-Maddalena. Igor Stravinsky-Mavra
Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev
World - Released by JSC Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga Musica on 1 Dec 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17, "Little Russian"
Igor Stravinsky, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Infinity on 7 May 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements
American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein
Classical - Released by American Symphony Orchestra on 18 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du Printemps)
Igor Stravinsky, The Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York
Classical - Released by Vinyle Numérique on 11 Oct 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Historic Chamber Recordings 1934-45 Duo Concertante, Serenade in A Major, Concerto for Two Pianos, Piano Rag
Igor Stravinsky, Joseph Szigeti, Soulima Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Soundmark on 1 Jan 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Rite Of Spring Conducted By Stravinsky (1929)
The Walter Staram Concerts Orchestra
Classical - Released by Herts Classical on 5 Oct 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Los Grandes de la Musica Clasica - Igor Stravinski Vol. 3
Philharmonia Hungarica, ORF Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Stuttgart
Classical - Released by ClassicalPirosDigital on 8 Jun 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Mavra
American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein
Opera - Released by American Symphony Orchestra on 16 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classical Revision: Stravinsky
Lounge - Released by PMI Collins Classics on 23 Sep 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concerts (Classical Music Masters)
Classical - Released by Il Loggione Records on 16 Feb 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leopold Stokowski - Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by JamadaDigital on 16 Jan 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pétrouchka (Classical Music Masters)
Classical - Released by Il Loggione Records on 23 Feb 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Las Nuevas Fronteras - Stravinski - Prokofiev
Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by JamadaDigital on 21 Feb 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Firebird - Petrushka (Alternate Mix)
Classical - Released by YOYO USA, Inc. on 1 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
La Carrière Du Libertin (Acte 1 & Acte 2) : Anthologie Igor Stravinsky Vol. 8
Pop - Released by Rendez-Vous Digital on 15 Sep 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo