Customer Reviews

Stravinsky Seen and Heard

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At last, a book which discusses the fundamental impulses behind the writing of music. Hans Keller deals specifically with Stravinsky (the great musical chameleon of the twentieth century)and his conversion late in life to the serial method of composing which originated with Arnold Schoenberg in Vienna in the 1920's. These two composers represented the two opposing faces of musical modernism up to the 1950's, and there was no love lost between them. Why then did Stravinsky, after Schoenberg's death in 1951, feel able to use that which had been so alien to him up to that point? Keller examines, clearly and probingly, the hidden similarities between these two composers, and in three brief and enlightening chapters shows clearly how and why Stravinsky felt able to proceed in the way he did. This book is part psychological exploration and part drama, and Keller's arguments are always beautifully expressed. Cosman's drawings, which occupy the remainder of the book, are full of life and capture the composer at work as conductor. An excellent read.