The Cambridge Companion to Stravinsky by Jonathan s> Cross (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 737 Cross, Jonathan (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Stravinsky. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003. xv + 327 pp. Musical extracts.Listof works.Notes. Bibliography.Index. fI 7.95: $26. oo (paperback). IGOR' STRAVINSKII, one of the most influential composers of the twentieth century, vies only with Shostakovich, amongst Russians, for the number of books written about him during the last decade. In terms of popularity, to judge by concert and stageperformancesof his music in London, forinstance, he is on equal terms with his compatriots, Prokof'ev and Shostakovich.But, regrettably, much of the debate over the latter's music tends to be overpoliticized , whereas Stravinskii'smusic demands and responds to technical analysis. And it is, indeed, the analytical approach which dominates this collection of articles on the first Russian composer in the well-established Cambridge Companion series. The book opens with a valuable chronological summary of the life and works of this most protean of composers by Anthony Gritten. Thereafter come fourteen chapters divided into three sections, as follows. Part One, 'Originsand Contexts'comprises:Rosamund Bartletton Stravinskii'sRussian origins;ChristopherButler on him as modernist;and Arnold Whittall on the composer in context. Part Two, 'The Works',consists of Anthony Pople on the early works;Kenneth Gloag on Petruslka,TheRiteofSpring and LesJNoces; Martha M. Hyde on the composer's neo-classicism; Jonathan Cross's discussion of Stravinskii'stheatres;and Joseph N. Straus'sassessment of his serialworks. Part Three is devoted to Stravinskii'sreception: Nicholas Cook on the composer conducting his own works;Max Paddison on 'Stravinskyas devil: Adorno's three critiques'; Craig Ayrey on 'Stravinsky in analysis: the anglophone traditions';Stuart Campbell discusseshis critical reception; and the leading Dutch composer LouisAndriessendiscusseswithJonathan Cross the influenceof Stravinskiion hiswritingand on that of othercomposers.The main part of the book ends (asso many collections on Russian music seem to begin or end)with Richard Taruskin. It may be invidious to pick out individualcontributions,but some subjects are more self-explanatory than others, and a few words may suggest the flavourof the less transparent.In Part One Dr Bartlettbegins and ends with the composer's momentous visit to Russia in I962; Professor Butler's consideration of modernism asks whether Stravinskiiwas a revolutionary, describes his 'traditional' phase, and then enquires whether his American years may be called a third phase; ProfessorWhittall does not focus entirely on Stravinskii'sRussian past, but also considers his musical dialogues with other contemporarycomposers. Part Two, no less interestingly, analyses in detail the works of various periods;these themes are self-explanatorybut some of the items in PartThree call for furtherclarification.Dr Ayrey'spiece, one of the most detailed and densely annotated in the Companion, analyses the late RequiemCanticles (I965-66); the fascinating interview with Louis Andriessen reveals, amongst other things,hisprofoundrespectfor the detail of Stravinskii'sscoringand his 738 SEER, 82, 3, 2004 conviction of the latter's ongoing influence on twenty-first-centurymusical thought. Finally, Professor Taruskin, never dull, takes as his theme 'the mutually defining relationship, Stravinskyand us' (p. 26I); the most original part of his contribution, however, is the discussion of the Cantata (I951-52) and the composer'sconsequent brushwith spuriouschargesof anti-Semitism. This well annotated and illustratedbook is completed by a chronological list of Stravinskii'sworks.Though not a volume for the average concertgoer, it will provide a valuable guide for music studentsand scholarsas well as for music lovers who have the desire and technical knowledge to engage more fullywith a majorphenomenon in modern music. Richard Taruskin,not one to hold back, asserts that it could almost be said that 'twentieth-century European and Euro-Americanmusical culturehas been created in the image of Stravinsky'(p. 260). To reverse a suggestion often made by reviewers of outstanding Russian books, Jonathan Cross's Companion deserves to be translatedinto Russianand publishedin the countrywhere the heritageof one of its greatestcomposersseems to be stillonly partiallyappreciated. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies ARNOLD MCMILLIN University College London Smirnov, Dmitri. A Geometer of SoundCiystals.A Bookon PhilipHerschkowitz. Studia Slavica Musicoligica, 34. Verlag Ernst Kuhn, Berlin, 2003. viii + 264 pp. Musical extracts. Notes. Bibliographies. Index. ?59.95 (paperback). WHOwas Philip Herschkowitz?He was a composer who had virtuallyno performancesof his work, and a teacher who...