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Listen to Key Speakers on Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky

The following 'key speakers' offer their unique insights into the life and music of Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky.

Vladimir Ashkenazy copyright E. Sakata
Vladimir Ashkenazy

Vladimir Ashkenazy first came to worldwide attention by winning the 1962 International Tchaikovsky competition and is a renowned pianist and conductor of Russian repertoire.

Ashkenazy explains what Tchaikovsky means to Russians:

Listen "...they reinstalled Tchaikovsky as a great man and everyone was happy again."

Ashkenazy on Stravinsky's reputation in Russia:

Listen "...his music was totally neglected."

Ashkenazy on Tchaikovsky's 'Romeo and Juliet':

Listen "I think it's one of the world's masterpieces...a perfection."

Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez offers the special insight of being both a fellow composer who met Stravinsky and a conductor of his works.

Boulez's opinion on Stravinsky's neo-Classical works:

Listen "...even when I knew him later I never concealed that. I said 'I don't like this period...'"

Boulez on Stravinsky as a conductor:

Listen "As a conductor...he fascinated people."

Boulez talks about Stravinsky's 'Firebird':

Listen "...the real orchestration of Firebird is maybe the more sophisticated of all the scores by Stravinsky."

Boulez on meeting Stravinsky:

Listen "People were expecting a big clash..."

Boulez on 'Symphonies of Wind' (1920):

Listen "That's an homage to Debussy."

Boulez on Monteux conducting 'The Rite of Spring':

Listen "I wonder...how he did it in 1913 because this rhythmic vocabulary was so new..."

Robert Craft
Robert Craft

Robert Craft has been conducting the works of Stravinsky for over 50 years and was the composer's closest associate.

Robert Craft describes Stravinsky's morning routine:
Listen "In the morning he did exercises - he had a gymnastic trainer."

Robert Craft on 'The Rake's Progress':

Listen "People came from all over Europe just to see Stravinsky..."

Robert Craft describes the performance of 'The Rite of Spring' for Stravinsky's 85th birthday:

Listen "...pictures of Stravinsky were all over New York and the hall was jammed."

Valery Gergiev
Valery Gergiev

Artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre and principal conductor of the LSO, Gergiev is one of the world's great conductors of Russian music.

Gergiev on Tchaikovsky's 'Eugene Onegin':

Listen "Onegin is not only an immortal opera for Russian music lovers."

Gergiev on Tchaikovsky's 'Symphony no. 5':

Listen "Easy to draw immediate parallels with the 5th Symphony of Beethoven..."

Gergiev describes Tchaikovsky's Russianness and universal appeal:

Listen "...his ability to talk to millions..."

Gergiev on Tchaikovsky's opera 'Mazeppa':

Listen "This opera has so many pluses, so much to offer..."

Gergiev on Tchaikovsky's 'Pathetique' Symphony:

Listen "It is unique because of the shape, because of the form...it breaks your heart."

Oliver Knussen
Oliver Knussen

One of the most respected figures in British contemporary music and Conductor Laureate of the London Sinfonietta, he has recorded many of Stravinsky's lesser known works.

Knussen on Stravinsky's late works:

Listen "A composer then at the height of his powers and in his middle seventies could start to learn from people forty years his junior."

Knussen on Stravinsky's 'Abraham and Isaac':

Listen "He had to learn the text phonetically..."

Knussen on Stravinsky's 'Fairy's Kiss'

Listen "This is one of the great masterpieces of all music."

Knussen on Stravinsky's 'Variations (Aldous Huxley in Memoriam)':

Listen "...what Stravinsky described as the sound of broken glass."

Knussen on Stravinsky's 'Faun and Shepherdess':

Listen "One of the most beautiful hidden treasures of Russian music."

Knussen on Stravinsky's 'King of the Stars':

Listen "One of the most staggering five minutes in the history of music."

Knussen on Stravinsky's 'The Flood':

Listen "The Flood was written for television..."

Knussen on Stravinsky's 'Ode':

Listen "He used some music that he had sketched when he had been asked to write the music for the movie 'Jane Eyre' starring Orson Welles."

Knussen on Stravinsky's 'Requiem Canticles':

Listen "Stravinsky called it his 'pocket Requiem'."

Joan Rodgers
Joan Rodgers

Soprano Joan Rodgers is an esteemed interpretor of Russian song. Vladimir Ashkenazy described her identification with Tchaikovsky's works as 'almost uncanny'.

Joan Rodgers describes Tchaikovsky's songs:

Listen It was in the early Spring Op. 38 no. 2

Listen At the Ball Op. 38 no. 3

Listen If I'd only known Op. 47 no. 1

Listen Was I not a little blade of grass? Op. 47 no 7

Listen The relationship between music and text

Listen Cuckoo Op. 54 no. 8

Listen Six Melodies Op. 65

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Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky

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