Stravinsky Stephen Walsh

Widely regarded the greatest composer of the twentieth century, Igor Stravinsky was central to the development of modernism in art. Deeply influential and wonderfully productive, he is remembered for dozens of masterworks, from The Firebird and The Rite of Spring to The Rake's Progress, but no dependable biography of him exists. Previous studies have relied too heavily on his own unreliable memoirs and conversations, and until now no biographer has possessed both the musical knowledge to evaluate his art and the linguistic proficiency needed to explore the documentary background of his life—a life whose span extended from tsarist Russia to Switzerland, France, and ultimately the United States.

Stephen Walsh's magisterial, engagingly written two-volume Stravinsky is the most detailed and extensive work available on the life of the man widely regarded as the greatest composer of the twentieth century.

Debussy's life is of extraordinary interest because, like Wagner and Stravinsky, he crossed artistic boundaries, associating as much with poets and artists as with musicians. His father was active in the 1871 Paris Commune and the composer's childhood was thus unsettled, his musical preparation erratic, and his subsequent lifestyle somewhat bohemian by the bourgeois norms of the French musical establishment.

Ravel’s Ma mère l’oye and Fauré’s Dolly are two of the highlights in this bewitching programme of music often associated with childhood—works which amply reward the care lavished on them by Paul Lewis and Steven Osborne in these exquisite accounts.

A beautifully written and original biography of one of the greatest and most popular of modern composers–which also deeply investigates his much-loved music.