Experiencing Stravinsky ─ A Listener's Companion

Hear the name Igor Stravinsky and the first thing that comes to mind is a composer of ponderous, serious music. But did you know Stravinsky lived much of his life in Hollywood, which influenced his work? That an innovative orchestral arrangement he prepared of The Star Spangled Banner nearly got him arrested in Boston? That he collaborated on musical projects with Pablo Picasso and George Balanchine? In Experiencing Stravinsky, music historian Robin Maconie takes a completely fresh approach to understanding the great composer s works, explaining what makes Stravinsky s sound so unique and what we, as listeners, need to know in order to appreciate the variety and brilliance of his compositions. Experiencing Stravinsky is more than another work of music appreciation. In the author s deft hands, Stravinsky s long musical career is a guided tour through 20th-century history, from Czarist Russia and two world wars to the height of the Hollywood era and the birth of the information age and it is an operating manual to getting the most out of his music.

Robin Maconie is a composer and musicologist. He is the author of several books on music and philosophy, including Avant Garde: An American Odyssey from Gertrude Stein to Pierre Boulez (Scarecrow, 2012), Musicologia: Musical Knowledge from Plato to John Cage (Scarecrow 2010), and Other Planets: The Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen (Scarecrow, 2005).