Expositions and Developments

by Igor Stravinsky, Robert Craft

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1962.

Genres: Music

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential composers of 20th century music.

He was a quintessentially cosmopolitan Russian who was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the century. He became a naturalized US citizen in 1946. In addition to the recognition he received for his compositions, he also achieved fame as a pianist and a conductor, often at the premieres of his works.

He also published a number of books throughout his career, almost always with the aid of a collaborator, sometimes uncredited. In his 1936 autobiography, Chronicles of My Life, written with the help of Walter Nouvel, Stravinsky included his infamous statement that "music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all."

Reviews

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

here's a more lengthy interview between stravinsky and his protege, robert craft. the two explore the great composer's life, from childhood to his late years in los angeles. this goes into more depth than CONVERSATIONS WITH IGOR STRAVINSKY, which i have read over and over throughout the years. if you've read the more popular book and are a fan, pick this up (if you can find it) ... fills in some of the gaps that the other books have left out.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of the "conversation" books so far (although they are anything but conversational and Robert Craft's non seqitur follow ups to Stravinsky's rambling associations are occasionally hilarious).