Born: 1882, Oranienbaum, Russia
Died: 1971, New York City

“If, as is nearly always the case, music appears to express something, this is only an illusion and not a reality.”

Igor Stravinsky’s biography reads like the history of Western music from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th. He moved away from the late-romantic vocabulary of his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov in his early works, revolutionized music with The Rite of Spring, pioneered neo-classicism in the subsequent decades, and joined the serialists towards the end of his life. Throughout, Stravinsky was at the forefront of the musical avant-garde, first in Russia, then in Paris, and finally in Los Angeles, where he settled in 1940.

Further listening:
The Rite of Spring (1913)
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka
Salonen (Deutsche Grammophon)

Symphony in Three Movements (1945)
London Symphony Orchestra,
Michael Tilson Thomas (Sony Classical)

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