Robert Craft (1923–2015)

Stravinsky's conversations with his amanuensis, Robert Craft, are irresistibly fascinating. Ranging from literary lights to artists and musicians, the people and places discussed are a connoisseur's delight. This is an absolutely delightful journey into our cultured past through the mind of one of the musical geniuses of the twentieth century.

From the early 1950s until Stravinsky's death in 1971, Craft, awriter and conductor, accompanied the famed composer on his concert tours and even co-conducted his concerts. Between 1958 and 1969 they published five books together, known collectively as the Conversations. This new work is a one-volume version of those five and was compiled by and contains new material by Craft. Entries are presented in order following the stages of Stravinsky's life: Russian,Swiss, French, and American. At show more Craft's prodding, Stravinsky talks about his early musical experiences as a pianist and accompanist, his memories of other composers, the creation of the Firebird and other works, and his relationship with his family. He recalls his friendships with such celebrated people as Matisse, Picasso, Rodin,Debussy, Monet, and others. The book's final section deals with the composer's life in California and the music he created there, and what Craft calls "perspectives of an octogenarian." This is a fascinating portrait of the composer and the geniuses in his circle of friends. George Cohen

For the first time in one volume--the celebrated Stravinsky and Craft Conversations.

Few would dispute that Igor Stravinsky was the greatest composer of the twentieth century. Conductor and writer Robert Craft was his closest colleague and friend, and for over twenty-one years he lived with the Stravinskys in their Hollywood home. In the early 1950s he accompanied the composer on his concert tours, and from the mid-1950s to Stravinsky's death in 1971 he co-conducted his concerts. Together Stravinsky and Craft published five acclaimed collections known as the Conversations series, which sprung from informal talks between the two men.

In this newly edited and re-structured one-volume version, Craft brings Stravinsky's reflections on his childhood, his family life, professional associates, and personal relationships into sharper focus and places the major compositions in their cultural milieux. The Conversations books are the only published writing attributed to Stravinsky that are actually "by him" in terms of fidelity to his thoughts and opinions, making this volume required reading for all fans and students of Stravinsky's music. show less

Theirs always seemed an odd association-the tiny, obsessive master and the lanky, calm young American musicologist and conductor-but each was lucky in the other. Stravinsky found a superb biographer, devoted interpreter and endlessly resourceful companion, and Craft was given entree to a magical world of artistic figures and exotic places. The original Stravinsky, covering 24 years, was published in 1972, a year after the composer's death, and has been long out of print. This is an show more extensively revised edition, more than a third longer than the original, with the years 1948-1971 given fuller treatment, and with updated thoughts by the author. Craft notes that he had hurried the original book and was dissatisfied with it. The reader is the beneficiary of the revision. The sketches of Aldous Huxley, W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, Ingmar Bergman, Arnold Schoenberg, Albert Giacometti and others are intimate, the anecdotes about "I.S." irresistible, the endless travels full of delectable detail. The production is lavish, with some 50 pictures, many in color. show less

An excellent compilation of essays about the arts, mostly music, and literature. The author, while primarily a musician, was deeply imbued with knowledge of all aspects of artistic culture. The most fascinating are his observations on Paul Bowles and Thomas Bernhard, among others.