In the 1950s and 60s when I was growing up, Igor Stravinsky was a “great composer”. I recall going to a concert some time in the 1960s at the Festival Hall in London where the great man himself conducted his Oedipus Rex – at midnight, since that was the only performing slot available, even for a great man. In the early 1960s when a student at Oxford, I recall buying a recording of his “advanced” works Threni, and Agon. Dodecaphonic, no less!
His star has faded, over the decades.
He is now remembered, affectionately, for his early Russian ballets
The Firebird, Petrushka and ... from time to time .. the Rite of
Spring. His pastiche of themes by Pergolesi (arranged with Samuel
Dushkin) is also often played by violinists. Apart from that, Igor
has been eclipsed by his near-contemporary, Sergei Rachmaninov, whom
he once described as “a six foot six scowl”. Nowadays, his compatriots Prokofiev
and Shostakovich out-play old Igor any month of the year.
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