Stravinsky's Piano: Genesis of a Musical Language

by Graham Griffiths

Overview

Stravinsky's reinvention in the early 1920s, as both neoclassical composer and concert-pianist, is here placed at the centre of a fundamental reconsideration of his whole output – viewed from the unprecedented perspective of his relationship with the piano. Graham Griffiths assesses Stravinsky's musical upbringing in St Petersburg with emphasis on his education at the hands of two extraordinary teachers whom he later either ignored or denounced: Leokadiya Kashperova, for piano and Rimsky-Korsakov, for instrumentation. Their message, Griffiths argues, enabled Stravinsky to formulate from that intensely Russian experience an internationalist brand of neoclassicism founded upon the premises of objectivity and craft. Drawing directly on the composer's manuscripts, Griffiths addresses Stravinsky's lifelong fascination with counterpoint and with pianism's constructive processes. Stravinsky's Piano presents both of these as recurring features of the compositional attitudes that Stravinsky consistently applied to his works, whether Russian, neoclassical or serial and regardless of idiom and genre.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781316632178
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/21/2016
Series:	Music since 1900
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	354
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Graham Griffiths is Honorary Research Fellow in Musicology at City, University of London. He studied at Edinburgh University and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, obtaining his doctorate at Christ Church, Oxford. In 1989 he founded Grupo Novo Horizonte de São Paulo which, under his direction, premiered forty-one new works by twenty-three Brazilian and Danish composers. Since his return to the UK Griffiths has guest-lectured at the universities of Bath, Bristol, Canterbury Christ Church, Middlesex and Oxford - and at the St Petersburg Conservatoire - on a wide variety of topics including music of the twentieth century, Stravinsky, neoclassicism, Brazilian contemporary music and Russia's earliest women composers. His affiliation with City, University of London dates from 2010. He was appointed Honorary Research Fellow in 2015.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Becoming a Russian musician; 2. Becoming a neoclassicist; 3. Stravinsky's piano workshop; 4. Departures and homecomings; Conclusions.

Editorial Reviews

"… an eloquently written monograph that traces the influence of Stravinsky’s pianism on his compositional process … Stravinsky’s Piano is a resounding success that will be celebrated by the Stravinsky community for years to come."
Music and Letters

"This is a well-written, engaging book that delves into technical discussion of compositional processes while remaining eminently readable … Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and professionals."
K. Boyd, Choice

'With this extremely readable book, Griffiths has made a significant contribution to Stravinsky research. His focus on the concept of ‘pal’tserazvitiye’ is particularly fascinating. His next research project is eagerly awaited.' Mai Ikehara, Ongakugaku: Journal of the Musicological Society of Japan

From the Publisher