Igor Stravinsky: (Critical Lives)

Igor Stravinsky was a celebrated composer in an age increasingly obsessed with celebrity. He was a true modern; a man of his time: in Paris he dined with James Joyce, Pablo Picasso and Marcel Proust; and by the end of his life was being feted by both the White House and the Kremlin as a prime piece of Cold War capital. But his colourful life would mean little to us were it not for the brilliant and original music he produced, music that reflected and shaped his own times, and which continues to sing today.

About the Author :
Jonathan Cross is Professor of Musicology at the University of Oxford, and Tutor in Music at Christ Church, Oxford. He is the author or editor of many books including The Stravinsky Legacy (1998), The Cambridge Companion to Stravinsky (2003) and Harrison Birtwistle: The Mask of Orpheus (2009).

Review :
[an] elegant, often resonant study this is a concise and stimulating account of Stravinskys life and works. All the major compositions are discussed in some detail and very few of the smaller gems are neglected . . . this life-and-works is absolutely essential, a model of its kind. In my view, Jonathan Crosss brief Stravinsky in the Reaktion series of Critical Lives could not be bettered. Indeed, it is a model of elegant lucid writing and clear organisation, providing an overview of the composers life and work with a useful light-handed aperçu of current scholarship, and enlivened by the authors own distinctive literary persona and critical perceptions. Much additional colour, too, is provided by his evident visual sensibility not, Im afraid, a conspicuous feature of most musicological publications . . . Cross also vividly emphasises the importance of the wider cosmopolitan cultural context of interwar Paris with which Stravinsky totally identified himself in the genesis of his neoclassical works as a compelling survey of the life and compositional career in relation to the changing cultural contexts, Jonathan Crosss brilliantly written book is now an essential acquisition. The debates will continue and new perspectives emerge, for we long to know where this extraordinary art sprang from. This book, especially in its reflections on dislocation and the emotional distancing of certain stylistic elements, will play a valuable part in that debate. The music itself endures, indestructible and indispensable. Here is an up-to-date introduction, which addresses more recent discoveries and revelations genuine or otherwise within a beautifully written and thought-provoking narrative . . . Drawing on recent scholarship, Jonathan Cross depicts Stravinsky's character and private life in vivid detail, and persuasively demonstrates how the composer was very much a man of his time not simply a lone genius who impacted the musical world. Jonathan Crosss work on an artist often regarded as the greatest (or at least the most influential) composer of the 20th century tells his story fluently and authoritatively . . . Crosss approach intersperses biography with a discussion of the works themselves, including some technical description. Theres a sprinkling of appropriate photographs throughout, and the text is consistently easy to read. A composer of extraordinary works and a man of extraordinary talents (and contradictions), the famously guarded Igor Stravinsky is brilliantly unpicked in a new biography . . . Crosss musical readings are vivid and jargon-free, and even when we leave the colourful familiarity of the early ballets for the complexity of The Rakes Progress and Stravinsky's serial experiments, we lose none of the narrative clarity . . . Whatever his personal weaknesses, Stravinsky stood on the cusp of worlds in both art and life, straddling not only the East-West divide but also pre and post-war eras, modernism and the neo-classical. The result is a unique vantage point, a 'creative life full of extraordinary encounters'. With Cross as our guide, these are encounters that we too share drawn in, intimately close, to a composer who kept the world at arms length. Cross takes us through Stravinskys entire life, painting him as a creator of twentieth-century music and culture while showing how Stravinsky was subject to the force of alienation in several different guises . . . Cross has produced an account of the life of Igor Stravinsky that is at once sophisticated and thoughtful. Cross is a well-known Stravinsky scholar, having written The Stravinsky Legacy and edited The Cambridge Companion to Stravinsky. True to form, his contribution to the Critical Lives series is deeply insightful, highly engaging, but not technical, and he gives the reader a multifaceted understanding of Stravinskys life and music. Cross effectively interweaves and connects biographical details, pivotal life events, approachable musical analysis, and broad cultural trends. Particularly cogent is his use of complementary personal anecdotes and large-scale influences in Stravinskys works. Musicians and non-musicians alike will enjoy this excellent contribution to studies of Stravinskys life and times. True to form for Critical Lives, Jonathan Cross packs a rich life into a lean yet bountiful biography in Igor Stravinsky . . . the combination of Crosss comprehensive research, succinct writing, and a realistic view of his all-too-human subject are all, to say the least, highly admirable. Even when Cross is giving the reader a brief window into the music worlds somber mood just after Stravinskys passing, a time when were all prone to gild the lily, the narrative doesnt wander anywhere near idolatry. A fitting examination of the man Cross refers to as the twentieth centurys most celebrated composer. Cross compares his subject to the famous nesting matryoshka dolls of Russia. What one first perceives as a whole is a series of wholes that only deepen the mystery once the doll owner has begun unwinding the layers. So, too, with Stravinsky . . . Cross eye and ear for detail and ability to add something quiet but significant to the larger conversation about his subject make Igor Stravinsky well worth reading. Jonathan Cross creates a literary masterpiece in his quest for the real Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky. Through his eloquent and authoritative narrative of Stravinskys extraordinary life, Cross traces Stravinskys compositional process while acknowledging the composers need for objectivity and his tendency to hide behind masks and myths musically and personally.