When I was a violin student at The Eastman School of Music in the mid 60s Stravinsky and Robert Craft conducted our student orchestra in an all Stravinsky concert. Stravinsky conducted The Firebird Suite. It was a thrilling, surreal experience. He was old and seemed frail, but when he got on the podium he came alive. It is still unbelievable that such a thing actually happened to me. It is still one of the highlights of my life. I am now 76 and retired.
Mickju That’s incredible, I can’t imagine how surreal that must have been! I’ve been lucky enough to briefly meet a couple of my music/art heroes, and that was wild enough, but to actually play Stravinsky, while being conducted by Stravinsky?! Mein Gott!!! Thank you for sharing. 🙏✌️
Stravinsky remained respect and fond of Rimsky-Korsakov all his life, dedicating his first large work ( Symphony E-flat ) to the old maestro. Reading and hearing from memoirs, we see a father-son, mentor-pupil relationship between the two genius.
Prokofiev also went through Rimsky-Korsakovs hands though he didn’t appreciate his method of teaching despite this he clapped his hands till they hurt at the premiere of Rimsky’s invisible city of Kitzeth. The dull teacher gets a name check in Rimsky’s autobiography need to look it up will post . The teachers name was V P Kalfati i believe for studying harmony.
@@gpcrawford8353 Prokofiev studied under Rimsky in Conservatoire, classroom say near 100 people, he don't have the utmost care like Stravinsky have enjoyed through private lesson at home, so kinda understand the opinion, but still the old master teach with a lucidity so good that students rarely have to ask much
Back when there were 3 television stations, they could put something like this on the air. Now there are 1000 channels and no room for anything half this intelligent.
Yet, we now have the internet with programs like TH-cam where you can dial up something like this and watch it as many times as you like. My guess is that NBC aired this episode one time, and one time only before locking it up in a film vault. How easily you might have missed it if, say, it broadcast on the night of the week you congregated with friends at the local bowling alley.
I heard the Rite of Spring in 1963 for the first time. It changed my life I am now a composer, and have been since that fateful day 60 years ago. Thank you, Igor.
Breakdown: Introduction 0:00 Importance of playing while composing music 1:31 Do your ideas always occur do you at the piano? 3:27 Something about craftsmanship 6:56 Did you have an inventor's attitude towards experiencing music? + Stravinsky childhood/learning music 7:26 Development of Stravinsky's compositions and influential teachers 10:40 On studying with Rimsky-Korsakov 12:32 On Diaghilev 13:43 On Petrushka, Firebird, and Rite of Spring 15:25 On the transition of interests to 18th-century music forms after WWI 17:27 On Stravinsky's use of musical forms + principles as guidance when composing 19:06 Why is it that every new work of yours arouses a certain protest in the public? 23:02 On composing and conducting. What about the performances of your new works? You yourself very often like to conduct them. 23:52 There are many definitions of music. Do you happen to have a special one of your own? 26:27 If I am missing anything please comment below. Thanks!
At 20.00 he refers to technology - "my music of today is so much based on the new musical technology - we use the technology as a material for our technical art"
@@kinda4664 I understand IS was composing up until a few days before his death. I can read into that, if its true, that he never lost his joy in composing. In fact, at one point Stravinsky said that he enjoyed composing more than he liked the music itself.
I had the good fortune to see a concert in the Sydney town hall when Igor Stravinsky conducted his own work "The firebird" in 1961. I was only 18 at the time, but it made an incredible impression on me. Although it was a long time ago, I will never forget that concert with the great maestro conduct the Sydney symphony orchestra.
Ser parte de los mil millones dorados, como dice Vladimir Putin, tiene sus privilegios que el resto del mundo no. Suerte la tuya y de ustedes. Espero que eso cambie en beneficio de la humanidad. CHILE, 24 de julio de 2024
I am speechless. What a treasure. The thing I took from this is that we are all human. Even the great Stravinsky was actually (yes indeed) a human being like anyone else, besides the fact that he was a genius of course. But he was desperately in love, had failures, hated his piano lessons (That really was amazing to hear that. It was just so human!) So different from seeing a static portrait of a composer.
Part of the profound mystery is that the beauty of your words here were bestowed upon you by the great man himself, through the commonality of your humanity - through this video Stravinsky has enlightened you to that reality and now you share your insight with others here - how wonderful !
I was introduced to Stravinsky when I studied ballet in middle school. His music was very impactful on my life and helped me through hard times. I even have a poster of him in my room. I'm very grateful for his incredible music!
This is priceless getting to observe Stravinksy composing at the piano in his home in Hollywood, and then sitting down for a chat where Robert Craft asks the composer questions we all might have about his storied life and career. Having never before experienced up close Stravinksy, the human being, I was struck by his personable and friendly demeanor and loved hearing anecdotes he told about his formative early years. Thank you, John, for posting this.
Fun fact he lived at the bottom of nichols canyon a half measure from ringo's house. Sadly their collaboration was lost in a tragic pool room accident.
Less than 3 minutes into this, I was already floored with awe. IS was as much a genius as Mozart or Beethoven ever were. IS is up there with the greatest of all time. Thanks for posting this.
He deserves being rated very high, but if you look at, for example, Beethoven's output - he just kept getting better, and certainly continued reaching (include looking at his string quartets in this). IS's big three ballets will always be among the most loved, most played, spectacular orchestral works (let alone if they get produced as a full ballet). I think one reason for this is he was at a felicitous point in history where he had every tool at his disposal in terms of melody, harmony, and form - and used them all brilliantly. However, in the works later in his life, he will never be as...good a musical communicator to a non-specialist audience (and frankly, even them) because he fell into things like prioritizing formalism, things like Schönberg's serialism, over pure communication and spectacle. I believe he was mistaken that he was in advance of his audience, in that they would eventually catch up to some of his later works, imho that was true during the big three ballets (and some other works to a lesser degree); instead, finally, his audience of any generation will embrace those works that use the most tools to communicate most effectively in a way that is direct, comprehensible, and as exciting as possible to not only a wide variety of people, but to the most fundamental part of us that receives music as a form of artistic expression. If you cut out his big three ballets, he'd be more popular than Schönberg, but less than Bartok or Hindemith. Just an opinion, ofc, and I dearly love many of his works, but there's a reason why, say, Rachmaninov stuck to a style that worked to fill concert halls for his performances - and his, brilliant though they were, did not include nearly the selection of compositional tools that IS did in his early ballets, many of which IS dropped later on preferring theory and often pseudo-novelty over communication and spectacle. Beethoven lived during a time when his new discoveries (and rediscoveries) still served listeners over attachment to theory. Sibelius took as much crap from critics (to whom elitism and novelty are often The Good Things) as he could, explored within his taste, and when he no longer needed the money, quit. Someone like Medtner simply wasn't in the same league, though he still gets played. Poulenc was. Mozart was younger and also wrote his greatest works later in his life (though with a more limited palette, regardless of genius, due to his place in time). IS was undoubtedly a genius, but that doesn't mean all his works communicate equally effectively. And his wide popularity will always rest primarily on those three, spectacular ballets, written in his youth.
Very glad with this video publication. The world has a lot to see from the past, and a lot to gain for the future when enlightenment becomes part of their awareness. We to are the result of Energy on a Vibratory movement; how can we not like what we are.
I can't believe I'm seeing and listening to this - it's like hearing a god talking about other gods! And Stravinsky speaks English so wonderfully and eloquently - what a pleasure! THIS is why TH-cam is so great! Inspiring! In the words of that legendary impresario Diaghilev, "Etonne-moi!" (Astonish me!) And so you have. From the bottom of my heart, thank you John Randolph for posting this!
As a classically trained dancer - Stravinsky is brutally difficult to dance to. Very unusual but very beautiful - difficult time signatures - unusual keys, unusual intervals. Mr. B was a master of working with Stravinsky. This wonderful interview gives me a deeper appreciation of Mr. Stravinsky - thank you
"Don´t go to the conservatory" 12:32 were the words his composition teacher said, and it makes sense, in a conservatory you will find academic people and pedagogues. I read this in "conversations with Igor Stravinsky" book.
There are some other good things out there that are on DVDs., i.e. documentaries with lots of interviews. I didn't put those up since they are commercially available. Also, if you ever go to the Paley Center in NYC or LA, they have lots of great Stravinsky material...... things that aired on TV in the 60s and 70s.
My #1 favorite classical composer. Every film composer should think him immensely for what he contributed. This man defines genius to the highest degree. Today, we have computers, plugins and with instant gratification, but this man sat down with pen, paper and his mind and composed some of greatest music in the world❤❤❤❤❤
This is an amazing treasure! For me, the gift of this interview isn't in the anecdotes, but in just hearing the sound and timbre of his voice. We have all read his exchanges with Craft and others on the page. But, experiencing the gentle sound and rhythm of his voice... and in English! What a pleasant surprise. Somehow, I always imagined his manner to be different, perhaps more severe, harsh or arrogant. I am so grateful that I happened to be following some path on TH-cam that led to this marvel.
I really liked this conversation with Igor Stavinsky. I love his music. It is so full of life and colours and it dances. I liked what Shopenhauer said: The musical tones inhabit and form a universe of their own and the human mind has created the material and reduced it to order. I understand it like that : music is part of our lives and it is alive in our body, mind and spirit. And when we listen to music or if we study an instrument music makes us a better human being and we are able to think in a clearer manner and distinguish what counts in our life.
What a Great moment in the history of modern music. To hear Stravinsky relate the history of his music . Having lost all his music rights after leaving the USSR , He never gave up. I have a lovely pictures of Igor and his wife in New York and later at Evian Les Bain . When I visit Venice , I visit the graves of Igor and Mrs Stravinsky in St Michelle . Stravinsky took music to a new and great height .
In his Diaries, Robert Craft wrote:" June 13...the 'conversation' between I.S. and me becomes duller, more formal and forced as the hours drag on, but he enjoys being on camera as much as I detest it and is as natural and easy as I am tongue-tied and nervous. Precious little 'Wisdom' is gleaned and 'my' questions are really NBC's." Be that as it may, we can be grateful for the opportunity to see the great man interviewed by a colleague he respected, dealing with issues of interest to any admirer of the 20th century's greatest composer. Many thanks! The footage of him "composing" is of course quite artificial - that was a very private activity for him. He is "working" on Agon, which was premiered four days later - none too likely!
To me that is another questionable statement by Robert Craft; I certainly gleaned a great deal from Stravinsky's comments so Craft's barb frankly baffles me. I've read a lot of Robert Craft's writings over the years but unfortunately I've gradually lost all confidence in it. I think Stephen Walsh was right when he said that Craft's writings were: “textually and therefore materially unreliable to the point of being at times positively misleading in their presentation of the facts.”
We all change through life. As a child I had no problems being photographed, then as I hit adolescence I hated cameras. It was not until I was in my 30s I felt comfortable again having my photograph taken. I therefore am able to accept Carft's statement of his discomfort, but he also had a passion for Stravinsky's music, and he had to defend himself. The relationship of Craft and Stravinsky is complicated. The venom directed toward Craft after Stravinsky's death was quite shocking to me at the time. Without Craft Stravinsky would probably have not written in his later style had he written anything at all. Without Craft we would be without some music I consider among his best. We would be poorer without "Agon", "Movements", "A Sermon, A Narrative and a Prayer", "Requiem Canticles", "The Owl and Pussy Cat".
Hearing such a legendary figure speak for the first time is crazy His personality is so much more out there, yet down to earth and calm than his pictures give off He seemed like a nice guy to have a conversation with He wasnt just a genius composer, he was also a human being with thoughts, desires and things he did not enjoy, just like the rest of us And his english was also really good
Thanks so much for posting! He influenced every composer of the 20th cent. A colossal composer of a magnitude still not fully understood and/or appreciated!
@2:46 *Igor:* _You remember when Beethoven was absolutely deaf..._ *Bob:* _No I am not that old...let me ask my wife..._ Anyway, Igor Stravinsky was one of the most amazing composer of all time. Thank you John for sharing this great clip.
I am shocked that my music education never included this film. Good thing my continuing quest for musical knowledge let me see this film now as a 65 year old performer and composer mostly retired.
This video helps you understand his true genius. When they first play, it sounds like nothing, but when he’s instructed to play a different way, it comes out better and you can actually here the melody
A treasure to hear and watch Stravinsky - his facial expressions and hand gestures and reaching back to events he lived and witnessed (now) over 100 years ago.........."When television is good, nothing - not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers - nothing is better......But when television is bad, nothing is worse..... I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland." Newton Minnow, FCC Chairman, 1961
Joseph Pascarell I did a tv story about that painting (I work for the AP) in Vienna. It’s the most accurate picture of how Mozart actually looked like. For instance the most famous image of him (in the chocolate candies) was painted by a painter who hadn’t seen him in over 30 years when he painted it.
So glad that times haven't changed that much. I look forward to NBC's upcoming interview with John Adams between airings of The Apprentice and Law&Order SVU. Oh, wait...
I have wondered how one would eventually hear the music in their heads back then since they were writing as he is. And to hear that over time he can hear as he wants makes perfect sense. And I'm sure it's amazing
David Raksin, best known as the composer of 'Laura', was a good friend of Stravinsky. He referred to him as 'the old man'. After Copland and Shostakovich, Stravinsky would have to be my favourite 20th-century composer.
Stravinsky knew history and harmony and the history of music theory inside-out. He could strip the elements of music down to the bare bones and work his way out again, reinventing the medium as he went.
I've always found it interesting when Stravinsky talks about composing at the piano. There are many who would say that a composer shouldn't do that but he feels exactly the opposite.
Everytime I see Stravinsky, expecially during his conversations or interviews, I always think " wow...that brain who conceived Rite of Spring"😮... so terribly impressing me , that thougt....
It's so amazing to see Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft together in one video. I just realized that when this was actually filmed, Winston Churchill was also still living. I couldn't imagine living in a world where these amazing people lived.
Wow, Robert Kraft could be Stephen Colbert's doppelganger! On a serious note, it's a treat to see Stravinsky at work/talking with his assistant/protege. IMO, "The Rite of Spring" is one of the great compositions of the 20th century.
You play it, Igor - & I’ll hum it! At a legendary concert in the old Queen’s Hall destroyed by bombing in WW2, the audience wouldn’t let him go...he put on his overcoat for the final calls! FOOTNOTE: Stravinsky could play ‘The Rite of Spring’ all the way through on the piano, before he’d figured out how to write it down! I can’t believe that this gentle soul has been described as ‘insufferable’, but with his fearless genius who can tell? 🙏🏻💔🙏🏽
I wish Stravinsky had been allowed, at 13:42, to elaborate on the subject of arranging Chopin for instruments. Unfortunately, the interviewer derailed this story by pulling an unrelated question out of the air.
Diaghilev commissioned him to orchestrate some piano pieces from Chopin for the ballet Chopiniana (or Les Sylphides, as presente in Les Ballets Russes). Some pieces of this ballet were orchestrated before by Aleksandr Glazunov. Choreography by Mikhail Fokine. Set by A. Benois and costumes by Leon Bakst.
I'm sure Robert Craft had an NBC producer breathing down his neck .... his questions were pretty canned imo .... and likely pre=scripted. They were close confidants as Craft was Stravinky's assistant for decades... Igor well knew the benefits of a show like this one. I'm sure he was well past reminicing on the Ballets Russe
It was great he said his great works were inspired by a teacher who said he should not go to conservatory and by artists who were not musicians: Dylan Thomas, James Joyce, Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau. And all the people he met as expatriate in Paris. He also bows to Webern and Schoenberg as a borrower and beneficiary of their vision. And finally he says composers have conduct live. Nice. Thanks!
@@mrebholz Well, what I think is interesting here is that today artists do not reach across the aisle to broaden the social utility of creativity for people to make life better. Musicians just do music-all the time. They are just writing about the technique of another musician in an academic or economic environment to advance their earnings. They are not advancing society, nor the human condition with any deeper, broader, symbiotic connection. Not cool to me.
I’ve been a huge fan of Stravinsky since my mid 20’s. I’m now 62 and never tire of his works. You can’t listen to him casually. His compositions require sincere thought. Abstract but very enjoyable. It’s nice to hear him speak with his eventual long time associate Robert Craft. Great interview. Thanks for posting.
Very important that this short, as flawed as it is, still exists to enable something "live" of this titan for posterity. He had long before burned himself out as a composer, and was never a good conductor, least of all, of his own compositions, but that was all right, in view of his earlier and truly revolutionary works; everyone has only so much he can give of himself, and he gave us much, deserving reverence for the rest of his life and beyond. He comes across here as a very attractive character, full of age-defying enthusiasm and clear, deep insight. Stravinsky had a hard time in the U.S., with constant money worries, living primarily off his royalties, which were not as munificent as we might assume, forcing him to closely watch his income and savings; only became an American citizen because there was nowhere else in the outside world, laid in ruins by war, to go; yearned to return to his Russian homeland, but that had been long before likewise obliterated; a kind of lost soul, by-passed by an ever-faster-turning world; cherishing memories of his parents, Rimsky-Korsakov (gasp!), a teenage crush on his teacher. Sad, almost tragic, but sweet. Immortal.
As I drew Stravinsky I felt his movement. He has a lot of well coordinated movement of himself. He is a great producer and is always working. Stravinsky was a very hard worker and that can explain the people who achieve the greatest in their field; they are all very hard, constant workers who are all diligently working constantly to discover the next piece of opportunity to advance their Art, Science, or other endeavor. They are all well oiled and run smoothly with enjoyment. This is the secret of their success. They enjoy and love their involvement.
7:30 "If somebody can invent the scale etc…" I'll add my favorite line from the movie "The Score" with DeNiro explaining to Edward Norton about that impenetrable safe-door : " If somebody can build-it it, somebody can 'un-build it".
Sería muy interesante que alguien ponga subtítulos en castellano a este vídeo , y oír las explicaciones y consejos de este gran compositor contemporáneo, gracias.
When I was a violin student at The Eastman School of Music in the mid 60s Stravinsky and Robert Craft conducted our student orchestra in an all Stravinsky concert. Stravinsky conducted The Firebird Suite. It was a thrilling, surreal experience. He was old and seemed frail, but when he got on the podium he came alive. It is still unbelievable that such a thing actually happened to me. It is still one of the highlights of my life. I am now 76 and retired.
Mickju thank you for sharing this story!
That is cool!👍
Wow! I can't even imagine how amazing that must have been.
Congratulations! Thank You so much for sharing your experience !!
Mickju That’s incredible, I can’t imagine how surreal that must have been! I’ve been lucky enough to briefly meet a couple of my music/art heroes, and that was wild enough, but to actually play Stravinsky, while being conducted by Stravinsky?! Mein Gott!!! Thank you for sharing. 🙏✌️
To hear him say “my dear old teacher and friend Rimsky-Korsakov” was amazing! I admire Stravinsky immensely :D
Stravinsky remained respect and fond of Rimsky-Korsakov all his life, dedicating his first large work ( Symphony E-flat ) to the old maestro. Reading and hearing from memoirs, we see a father-son, mentor-pupil relationship between the two genius.
Who was the “very dull” teacher Igor took from at first?
@@mckernan603 some pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov, found no documents about his/her name 😅
Prokofiev also went through Rimsky-Korsakovs hands though he didn’t appreciate his method of teaching despite this he clapped his hands till they hurt at the premiere of Rimsky’s invisible city of Kitzeth. The dull teacher gets a name check in Rimsky’s autobiography need to look it up will post . The teachers name was V P Kalfati i believe for studying harmony.
@@gpcrawford8353 Prokofiev studied under Rimsky in Conservatoire, classroom say near 100 people, he don't have the utmost care like Stravinsky have enjoyed through private lesson at home, so kinda understand the opinion, but still the old master teach with a lucidity so good that students rarely have to ask much
There was a time when public tv was in service of culture and art. There was a time...
The downgrade has been shocking.
And this was commercial TV.
yes, but now we all can watch all things classical here. I used to have to buy videos from a catalog book
Yeah I can't believe this was actually on commercial TV...
@@persianskeptic4814 Bernstein also had a program, I think on CBS, in the 1950s.
imagine video like this only with Mozart or Beethoven... we have to appreciate this so much
NSA has some…
As silly as it might seem, I think about this from time to time. If we only had a time machine...
And others. I got the same feelings about this as you(and others)🙂👍
Or imagine a one on one like this with Lizst or Chopin.....I'd die to see something like this
Meetings of mind,,,on pbs?
Igor speaks English very well. It’s a gem to hear him talk.
Russian-soviet education!
@@pocemonspivom Не надо приплетать сюда советское перехваленное музыкальное образование
he lived in the united states for a long time i believe, after switzerland and france of course
@@pocemonspivom Stravinsky was born 1882. Tsarist education!
Why wouldn't he? ...He was an American citizen
Back when there were 3 television stations, they could put something like this on the air. Now there are 1000 channels and no room for anything half this intelligent.
Infuriating ..isn't it ? 🎵🎹
Dumb down the public so they will accept any old crap that is put on the "boob tube"
Tiktaalik *Liberal.
Another reason why television is becoming more irrelevant by the year. More and more people are flocking to the internet.
Yet, we now have the internet with programs like TH-cam where you can dial up something like this and watch it as many times as you like. My guess is that NBC aired this episode one time, and one time only before locking it up in a film vault. How easily you might have missed it if, say, it broadcast on the night of the week you congregated with friends at the local bowling alley.
I heard the Rite of Spring in 1963 for the first time. It changed my life I am now a composer, and have been since that fateful day 60 years ago. Thank you, Igor.
Same here, but n 1980
Same here, too. I'm glad that along with Mr. Craft that we yet continue to belong to such a particular group.
Breakdown:
Introduction 0:00
Importance of playing while composing music 1:31
Do your ideas always occur do you at the piano? 3:27
Something about craftsmanship 6:56
Did you have an inventor's attitude towards experiencing music? + Stravinsky childhood/learning music 7:26
Development of Stravinsky's compositions and influential teachers 10:40
On studying with Rimsky-Korsakov 12:32
On Diaghilev 13:43
On Petrushka, Firebird, and Rite of Spring 15:25
On the transition of interests to 18th-century music forms after WWI 17:27
On Stravinsky's use of musical forms + principles as guidance when composing 19:06
Why is it that every new work of yours arouses a certain protest in the public? 23:02
On composing and conducting. What about the performances of your new works? You yourself very often like to conduct them. 23:52
There are many definitions of music. Do you happen to have a special one of your own? 26:27
If I am missing anything please comment below.
Thanks!
Chihiro Ogino omg thank you! 🥺💗
Much appreciated
Thanks - great to hear him, but some editing would have improved it
At 20.00 he refers to technology - "my music of today is so much based on the new musical technology - we use the technology as a material for our technical art"
Thank you from the heart.
Crazy how someone at 25 could find his/her sound.. and that sound was to revolutionize an entire century. The mark of a genius.
Stravinsky changed my life--not only the music, but the man himself--his dedication to art.
George Ovitt в
How energetic and articulate he is at age 74
He's aged well over the pass 60 years!
My father and I recently saw Roger Daltry and he was still as energetic as he was in his prime.
Yes, he looks very agile. I wonder if he'd ever happened to lose his zest for life?
@@kinda4664 I understand IS was composing up until a few days before his death. I can read into that, if its true, that he never lost his joy in composing. In fact, at one point Stravinsky said that he enjoyed composing more than he liked the music itself.
The older you are, the more wise you would be. I would’ve thought that it’s like that lol
I had the good fortune to see a concert in the Sydney town hall when Igor Stravinsky conducted his own work "The firebird" in 1961. I was only 18 at the time, but it made an incredible impression on me. Although it was a long time ago, I will never forget that concert with the great maestro conduct the Sydney symphony orchestra.
Ser parte de los mil millones dorados, como dice Vladimir Putin, tiene sus privilegios que el resto del mundo no. Suerte la tuya y de ustedes. Espero que eso cambie en beneficio de la humanidad. CHILE, 24 de julio de 2024
OMG!
He is moving
Like human..
He is !
Hello how are you
@@edwardteller5879.
No comparison unique because he is so human on his approach to the world!
To the listener!
I am speechless. What a treasure.
The thing I took from this is that we are all human. Even the great Stravinsky was actually (yes indeed) a human being like anyone else, besides the fact that he was a genius of course. But he was desperately in love, had failures, hated his piano lessons (That really was amazing to hear that. It was just so human!)
So different from seeing a static portrait of a composer.
יאיר ג. תגובה יפה.
wholeheartedly agree.
Part of the profound mystery is that the beauty of your words here were bestowed upon you by the great man himself, through the commonality of your humanity - through this video Stravinsky has enlightened you to that reality and now you share your insight with others here - how wonderful !
I was introduced to Stravinsky when I studied ballet in middle school. His music was very impactful on my life and helped me through hard times. I even have a poster of him in my room. I'm very grateful for his incredible music!
TH-cam algorithm ..THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
This is priceless getting to observe Stravinksy composing at the piano in his home in Hollywood, and then sitting down for a chat where Robert Craft asks the composer questions we all might have about his storied life and career. Having never before experienced up close Stravinksy, the human being, I was struck by his personable and friendly demeanor and loved hearing anecdotes he told about his formative early years. Thank you, John, for posting this.
Fun fact he lived at the bottom of nichols canyon a half measure from ringo's house. Sadly their collaboration was lost in a tragic pool room accident.
Jamie Spenser - I do like fun facts, but that reference to the pool room accident whizzed right by me. Explain?
Less than 3 minutes into this, I was already floored with awe. IS was as much a genius as Mozart or Beethoven ever were. IS is up there with the greatest of all time. Thanks for posting this.
In a survey of 600 composers Stravinsky was voted #1 of all time, with Bach at #2, and Beethoven at #3
He deserves being rated very high, but if you look at, for example, Beethoven's output - he just kept getting better, and certainly continued reaching (include looking at his string quartets in this).
IS's big three ballets will always be among the most loved, most played, spectacular orchestral works (let alone if they get produced as a full ballet). I think one reason for this is he was at a felicitous point in history where he had every tool at his disposal in terms of melody, harmony, and form - and used them all brilliantly. However, in the works later in his life, he will never be as...good a musical communicator to a non-specialist audience (and frankly, even them) because he fell into things like prioritizing formalism, things like Schönberg's serialism, over pure communication and spectacle.
I believe he was mistaken that he was in advance of his audience, in that they would eventually catch up to some of his later works, imho that was true during the big three ballets (and some other works to a lesser degree); instead, finally, his audience of any generation will embrace those works that use the most tools to communicate most effectively in a way that is direct, comprehensible, and as exciting as possible to not only a wide variety of people, but to the most fundamental part of us that receives music as a form of artistic expression.
If you cut out his big three ballets, he'd be more popular than Schönberg, but less than Bartok or Hindemith. Just an opinion, ofc, and I dearly love many of his works, but there's a reason why, say, Rachmaninov stuck to a style that worked to fill concert halls for his performances - and his, brilliant though they were, did not include nearly the selection of compositional tools that IS did in his early ballets, many of which IS dropped later on preferring theory and often pseudo-novelty over communication and spectacle.
Beethoven lived during a time when his new discoveries (and rediscoveries) still served listeners over attachment to theory. Sibelius took as much crap from critics (to whom elitism and novelty are often The Good Things) as he could, explored within his taste, and when he no longer needed the money, quit. Someone like Medtner simply wasn't in the same league, though he still gets played. Poulenc was. Mozart was younger and also wrote his greatest works later in his life (though with a more limited palette, regardless of genius, due to his place in time).
IS was undoubtedly a genius, but that doesn't mean all his works communicate equally effectively. And his wide popularity will always rest primarily on those three, spectacular ballets, written in his youth.
@@donkeychan491 wasn't Bach voted #1?
Great Russian composer. It Is hard to define how influential he was to music ! His ideas are even used by modern metal musicians!
Very glad with this video publication. The world has a lot to see from the past, and a lot to gain for the future when enlightenment becomes part of their awareness. We to are the result of Energy on a Vibratory movement; how can we not like what we are.
I can't believe I'm seeing and listening to this - it's like hearing a god talking about other gods! And Stravinsky speaks English so wonderfully and eloquently - what a pleasure! THIS is why TH-cam is so great! Inspiring! In the words of that legendary impresario Diaghilev, "Etonne-moi!" (Astonish me!) And so you have. From the bottom of my heart, thank you John Randolph for posting this!
As a classically trained dancer - Stravinsky is brutally difficult to dance to. Very unusual but very beautiful - difficult time signatures - unusual keys, unusual intervals. Mr. B was a master of working with Stravinsky. This wonderful interview gives me a deeper appreciation of Mr. Stravinsky - thank you
It's amazing what we can find in the Internet. Thank God we can enjoy this kind of videos today.
"Don´t go to the conservatory" 12:32 were the words his composition teacher said, and it makes sense, in a conservatory you will find academic people and pedagogues. I read this in "conversations with Igor Stravinsky" book.
I love Stravinsky so much!!! Thank you very much for sharing this! I'd love to watch all of the video tapes with Stravinsky, he's wonderful!
There are some other good things out there that are on DVDs., i.e. documentaries with lots of interviews. I didn't put those up since they are commercially available. Also, if you ever go to the Paley Center in NYC or LA, they have lots of great Stravinsky material...... things that aired on TV in the 60s and 70s.
Wow! That's just perfect! Thank you for letting me know!
John Randolph can you reply with some titles of the commercially available content. Thanks!
And good one to start with would be Once at a Border.
Thanks!
I could just sit down and see him compose whole day and never get bored
My #1 favorite classical composer. Every film composer should think him immensely for what he contributed. This man defines genius to the highest degree. Today, we have computers, plugins and with instant gratification, but this man sat down with pen, paper and his mind and composed some of greatest music in the world❤❤❤❤❤
08:44 "...My dear uncle, that's my invention. Let me alone!" That was epic! 😂
th-cam.com/video/MqlSi1LhKzs/w-d-xo.html
STRAVINSKY 🤘🤘
Stravinsky was always characterized by moving one Styles to another whith absolute ease! He was a great composer! Thank You for sharing the interview.
One of my favorite composers! Always love to listen to Stravinsky since I was very young.
This is an amazing treasure! For me, the gift of this interview isn't in the anecdotes, but in just hearing the sound and timbre of his voice. We have all read his exchanges with Craft and others on the page. But, experiencing the gentle sound and rhythm of his voice... and in English! What a pleasant surprise. Somehow, I always imagined his manner to be different, perhaps more severe, harsh or arrogant. I am so grateful that I happened to be following some path on TH-cam that led to this marvel.
I really liked this conversation with Igor Stavinsky. I love his music. It is so full of life and colours and it dances. I liked what Shopenhauer said: The musical tones inhabit and form a universe of their own and the human mind has created the material and reduced it to order. I understand it like that : music is part of our lives and it is alive in our body, mind and spirit. And when we listen to music or if we study an instrument music makes us a better human being and we are able to think in a clearer manner and distinguish what counts in our life.
Great music makes us better people.
@@estherfreyre8485 Yes, thank you dear Esther.
What a Great moment in the history of modern music. To hear Stravinsky relate the history of his music . Having lost all his music rights after leaving the USSR , He never gave up. I have a lovely pictures of Igor and his wife in New York and later at Evian Les Bain . When I visit Venice , I visit the graves of Igor and Mrs Stravinsky in St Michelle . Stravinsky took music to a new and great height .
His enthusiasm is contagious
This is simply wonderful. Like a piece of the puzzle, to help this world make sense. Thank you for this upload.
Somewhere he occasionally noticed that the purpose of music is to impose harmony of the world.
The man who wrote The Firebird. Enough said.
Perhaps he would have been good friends with Jack Humbert, who designed the *Pontiac Firebird.*
@@TheMICMusicInspirationChannel I wonder how we would have reacted to a car being called Firebird.
In his Diaries, Robert Craft wrote:" June 13...the 'conversation' between I.S. and me becomes duller, more formal and forced as the hours drag on, but he enjoys being on camera as much as I detest it and is as natural and easy as I am tongue-tied and nervous. Precious little 'Wisdom' is gleaned and 'my' questions are really NBC's." Be that as it may, we can be grateful for the opportunity to see the great man interviewed by a colleague he respected, dealing with issues of interest to any admirer of the 20th century's greatest composer. Many thanks!
The footage of him "composing" is of course quite artificial - that was a very private activity for him. He is "working" on Agon, which was premiered four days later - none too likely!
To me that is another questionable statement by Robert Craft; I certainly gleaned a great deal from Stravinsky's comments so Craft's barb frankly baffles me. I've read a lot of Robert Craft's writings over the years but unfortunately I've gradually lost all confidence in it. I think Stephen Walsh was right when he said that Craft's writings were:
“textually and therefore materially unreliable to the point of being at times positively misleading in their presentation of the facts.”
I'm with you. Besides, Craft didn't seem to hate being on camera talking about Stravinsky after the man's death, which I'm sure he didn't do for free.
I agree ...
well said..
We all change through life. As a child I had no problems being photographed, then as I hit adolescence I hated cameras. It was not until I was in my 30s I felt comfortable again having my photograph taken.
I therefore am able to accept Carft's statement of his discomfort, but he also had a passion for Stravinsky's music, and he had to defend himself. The relationship of Craft and Stravinsky is complicated. The venom directed toward Craft after Stravinsky's death was quite shocking to me at the time.
Without Craft Stravinsky would probably have not written in his later style had he written anything at all. Without Craft we would be without some music I consider among his best. We would be poorer without "Agon", "Movements", "A Sermon, A Narrative and a Prayer", "Requiem Canticles", "The Owl and Pussy Cat".
Когда я вижу какое признание и почет заслуживают мои соотечественники за рубежом, я очень грущу, что о них не говорят родине.
Stravinsky, the greatest composer of the 20th Century!
Hearing such a legendary figure speak for the first time is crazy
His personality is so much more out there, yet down to earth and calm than his pictures give off
He seemed like a nice guy to have a conversation with
He wasnt just a genius composer, he was also a human being with thoughts, desires and things he did not enjoy, just like the rest of us
And his english was also really good
Thanks so much for posting!
He influenced every composer of the 20th cent. A colossal composer of a magnitude still not fully understood and/or appreciated!
@2:46
*Igor:* _You remember when Beethoven was absolutely deaf..._
*Bob:* _No I am not that old...let me ask my wife..._
Anyway, Igor Stravinsky was one of the most amazing composer of all time. Thank you John for sharing this great clip.
I am shocked that my music education never included this film. Good thing my continuing quest for musical knowledge let me see this film now as a 65 year old performer and composer mostly retired.
If their defense, I think this is pretty hard to come by.
This is an incredible find. Saved! Thank you so much for sharing this.
The greatest composer of the twentieth century, in my opinion
... sure
Nicola Sfredda I would probably include Sergi Rachmaninov with him though. I'm sure they would have been aquatinted.
The greatest and the shrewdest. Ciao.
one of the greatest in my opinion
In my opinion, Frank Zappa is right there with him.
I best started reading Poetics in Music, a series of six lectures given by Stravinsky. I recommend it.
Million thanks for the recommendation. Here it is: monoskop.org/images/6/64/Stravinsky_Igor_Poetics_of_Music_in_the_Form_of_Six_Lessons.pdf
what a music -historical jewel !! the same maestro talking about the creative proces, the music production !!
Thank you for sharing this precious document!!
This video helps you understand his true genius. When they first play, it sounds like nothing, but when he’s instructed to play a different way, it comes out better and you can actually here the melody
To see one of the "great" composers actually composing is a rare treat
Outstanding Interview A very educational conversation with the great Stravinsky. Thank you. Out.
😮 wow! Stravinsky😱
Thank you very much for sharing this wonderful video.
A treasure to hear and watch Stravinsky - his facial expressions and hand gestures and reaching back to events he lived and witnessed (now) over 100 years ago.........."When television is good, nothing - not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers - nothing is better......But when television is bad, nothing is worse..... I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland." Newton Minnow, FCC Chairman, 1961
This is extremely informative and inspiring, it makes me want to compose more.
Love the picture of Mozart on the wall :-)
Joseph Pascarell I did a tv story about that painting (I work for the AP) in Vienna. It’s the most accurate picture of how Mozart actually looked like. For instance the most famous image of him (in the chocolate candies) was painted by a painter who hadn’t seen him in over 30 years when he painted it.
UTTERLY FASCINATING - rivetting to hear history FIRST HAND! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
What a Jewel!!, thanks for sharing.
So glad that times haven't changed that much. I look forward to NBC's upcoming interview with John Adams between airings of The Apprentice and Law&Order SVU.
Oh, wait...
Maybe if John Adams could play a sexual assault victim or something. He could be a guest star on either one of those shows.
@@bonmot7850 Or be the perp and get cancelled.
Köszönöm a feltöltést!
I have wondered how one would eventually hear the music in their heads back then since they were writing as he is. And to hear that over time he can hear as he wants makes perfect sense. And I'm sure it's amazing
Very beautiful and warmingly human! This is just amazing 👏 😢😢😢.
David Raksin, best known as the composer of 'Laura', was a good friend of Stravinsky. He referred to him as 'the old man'. After Copland and Shostakovich, Stravinsky would have to be my favourite 20th-century composer.
Stravinsky knew history and harmony and the history of music theory inside-out. He could strip the elements of music down to the bare bones and work his way out again, reinventing the medium as he went.
I've always found it interesting when Stravinsky talks about composing at the piano. There are many who would say that a composer shouldn't do that but he feels exactly the opposite.
Everytime I see Stravinsky, expecially during his conversations or interviews, I always think " wow...that brain who conceived Rite of Spring"😮... so terribly impressing me , that thougt....
Igor Stravinsky was truly a Genius!
Many thanks for sharing this unique documentation!
So precious. Greatest 20th century composer. Love all his musical periods.
Thanks to John again for putting this videos ,, this are diamonds for any igor Stravinsky fans .
It's so amazing to see Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft together in one video. I just realized that when this was actually filmed, Winston Churchill was also still living. I couldn't imagine living in a world where these amazing people lived.
Wow, Robert Kraft could be Stephen Colbert's doppelganger! On a serious note, it's a treat to see Stravinsky at work/talking with his assistant/protege. IMO, "The Rite of Spring" is one of the great compositions of the 20th century.
This is like taking a composition lesson with Stravinsky
David Moser McKay knowing about the composer AND hearing himself doing a composition lesson? That’s 2x1 mate, and I appreciate a lot that
Amazing document, one of the greatest composers of XX century. Greatest one, perhaps
incredible footage! jaw dropping!
A genius. This is such a wonderful video and thrilling to listen to one of the greatest composer's that has ever lived. Sublime! 😊✨🎵
You play it, Igor - & I’ll hum it!
At a legendary concert in the old Queen’s Hall destroyed by bombing in WW2, the audience wouldn’t let him go...he put on his overcoat for the final calls!
FOOTNOTE: Stravinsky could play ‘The Rite of Spring’ all the way through on the piano, before he’d figured out how to write it down!
I can’t believe that this gentle soul has been described as ‘insufferable’, but with his fearless genius who can tell?
🙏🏻💔🙏🏽
On the wall behind lS at the piano is if l am not mistaken the unfinished j langes portrait of Mozart❤
Yes, Joseph Lange's Mozart Portrait
The broadest composer to ever live and the most brilliant in my opinion.
And koji kondo!
@@leilamoon1827 When it came to video game music, I agree.
Man I wish we could hear him play the piano at the end. What a brilliant man.
Love the portrait of Mozart that is on the wall behind him right over his head. Love Stravinsky
Brilliant man! Bravo Stravinsky! You will always be remembered.
This is priceless!
feel honoured to see him at work. One of my absolute favourite composers
I wish Stravinsky had been allowed, at 13:42, to elaborate on the subject of arranging Chopin for instruments. Unfortunately, the interviewer derailed this story by pulling an unrelated question out of the air.
I know I was super eager to hear his response, which I am sure must have been fascinating. Too bad the other guy just changed the subject.
Pulled from ass not from air
Diaghilev commissioned him to orchestrate some piano pieces from Chopin for the ballet Chopiniana (or Les Sylphides, as presente in Les Ballets Russes). Some pieces of this ballet were orchestrated before by Aleksandr Glazunov. Choreography by Mikhail Fokine. Set by A. Benois and costumes by Leon Bakst.
I'm sure Robert Craft had an NBC producer breathing down his neck .... his questions were pretty canned imo .... and likely pre=scripted. They were close confidants as Craft was Stravinky's assistant for decades... Igor well knew the benefits of a show like this one. I'm sure he was well past reminicing on the Ballets Russe
Whoever posted this THANK YOU!. So wonderful to listen to this for artists of any form. Wouldn't it be amazing to have talks like this on television.
It was great he said his great works were inspired by a teacher who said he should not go to conservatory and by artists who were not musicians: Dylan Thomas, James Joyce, Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau. And all the people he met as expatriate in Paris. He also bows to Webern and Schoenberg as a borrower and beneficiary of their vision. And finally he says composers have conduct live. Nice. Thanks!
Michael Hayes
Seems to be a common thing: Jean Michel Jarre mentioned something similar, he goes to the city to see paintings to get inspiration.
@@mrebholz Well, what I think is interesting here is that today artists do not reach across the aisle to broaden the social utility of creativity for people to make life better. Musicians just do music-all the time. They are just writing about the technique of another musician in an academic or economic environment to advance their earnings. They are not advancing society, nor the human condition with any deeper, broader, symbiotic connection. Not cool to me.
I’ve been a huge fan of Stravinsky since my mid 20’s. I’m now 62 and never tire of his works. You can’t listen to him casually. His compositions require sincere thought. Abstract but very enjoyable. It’s nice to hear him speak with his eventual long time associate Robert Craft. Great interview. Thanks for posting.
Howly sh't. Odd to see a composer like Sravinsky moving.
Why, was he paralytic?
Dumb Kitty
There are even old video from the Soviet Union of Aram Khachaturian.
wtf??? he lived into the 1970s, dullard
@@Marcel_Audubon Das not nice, ya' know?
@@segmentsAndCurves sometimes the truth ain't nice, but it's still the truth
Cheers and Vivat for the Master I. Stravinsky !
Very important that this short, as flawed as it is, still exists to enable something "live" of this titan for posterity. He had long before burned himself out as a composer, and was never a good conductor, least of all, of his own compositions, but that was all right, in view of his earlier and truly revolutionary works; everyone has only so much he can give of himself, and he gave us much, deserving reverence for the rest of his life and beyond. He comes across here as a very attractive character, full of age-defying enthusiasm and clear, deep insight. Stravinsky had a hard time in the U.S., with constant money worries, living primarily off his royalties, which were not as munificent as we might assume, forcing him to closely watch his income and savings; only became an American citizen because there was nowhere else in the outside world, laid in ruins by war, to go; yearned to return to his Russian homeland, but that had been long before likewise obliterated; a kind of lost soul, by-passed by an ever-faster-turning world; cherishing memories of his parents, Rimsky-Korsakov (gasp!), a teenage crush on his teacher. Sad, almost tragic, but sweet. Immortal.
Thanks for this inspiring footage. Listening to him talk is very interesting.
Stravinsky was a real person?!?
Hahahahaha
No someone made him up.
parisians thought so when they rioted in 1911 when le sacre was premiered at the paris opera house
I was at his funeral!!!!!! So I hope so, haha
@@danilorainone406 The Sacre's première was in 1913.
As I drew Stravinsky I felt his movement. He has a lot of well coordinated movement of himself. He is a great producer and is always working. Stravinsky was a very hard worker and that can explain the people who achieve the greatest in their field; they are all very hard, constant workers who are all diligently working constantly to discover the next piece of opportunity to advance their Art, Science, or other endeavor. They are all well oiled and run smoothly with enjoyment. This is the secret of their success. They enjoy and love their involvement.
This video needs to be watched by ALL classical musicians
Inmenso placer sentimos al escuchar la voz de este genial y Maravilloso Maestro.
Mil gracias.❤❤
7:30 "If somebody can invent the scale etc…" I'll add my favorite line from the movie "The Score" with DeNiro explaining to Edward Norton about that impenetrable safe-door : " If somebody can build-it it, somebody can 'un-build it".
Makes me so happy to watch these interviews of wise and wonderful people
I want a teacher like him
Warren Zevon got to study with him. Can't you hear the Stravinsky influence in "Werewolves of London?" :)
I love all of Stravinsky’s music and the way he explains music! ❤
Sería muy interesante que alguien ponga subtítulos en castellano a este vídeo , y oír las explicaciones y consejos de este gran compositor contemporáneo, gracias.