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 an especial 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.© Rovi Staff /TiVo Read more
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 an especial 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.
© Rovi Staff /TiVo
-
Stravinsky Conducts "The Rake's Progress"
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Aug 24, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinski : L'Oiseau de feu (Intégrale), Scherzo fantastique
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Signum Records on Sep 22, 2009
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Apr 1, 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms & Symphony in 3 Movements
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Apr 1, 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps, Symphonie de psaumes & Les Noces
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Mar 19, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky conducts Stravinsky - The Ballets
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Aug 26, 2011
Discothèque Idéale Qobuz16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Igor Stravinsky : Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring)
Igor Stravinsky
Ballets - Released by Sony Classical on Apr 22, 1962
To celebrate the centennial of the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's ground-breaking ballet, Le Sacre du printemps, Sony reissued several historic recordi ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky - Symphonies and Concertos
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Oct 30, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Mavra & Les Noces
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Apr 1, 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Symphony in C & Cantata
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Apr 1, 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Serenade in A Major & Piano Sonata - Schoenberg: Piano Pieces, Op. 33 & Suite for Piano, Op. 25
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Apr 1, 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Petrushka Suite
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Apr 1, 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky Conducts Favorite Short Pieces
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Apr 1, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Rite of Spring | Les Biches
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Signum Records on Mar 31, 2011
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky - Chamber Works 1911-1954 Conducted by the Composer
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Apr 1, 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Apollon musagète - Concerto in D Major "Basle Concerto"
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Apr 1, 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Apr 1, 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Octet & L'Histoire du Soldat
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Avie Records on Feb 12, 2013
If one characteristic of neo-classicism is emphasized in this recording by the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the Eastman Virtuosi, it must be dryness, for ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gesualdo: Madrigals - Stravinsky: Monumentum pro Gesualdo di Venosa
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Apr 1, 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Divertimento from "Le Baiser de la fée" - Danses concertantes - Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments
Igor Stravinsky
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Apr 1, 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Petrushka & The Rite of Spring
Igor Stravinsky
Symphonic Music - Released by Classical Records on May 14, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo