Revising Stravinsky

David Schiff tries to sort out what’s Stravinsky and what’s Robert Craft in Craft’s revisionist history of his time with the composer. It’s a daunting task. “Are Stravinsky’s ventings on contemporary music, delicious to read but often spiteful and self-serving, omitted here, because, as Craft says, the musical scene has changed beyond recognition – wouldn’t that make them all the more interesting? – or because Stravinsky’s judgements have not stood the test of time, certainly not his dismissals of Britten and Messiaen and the plaudits for Stockhausen? Or because the stinging verdicts were not actually Stravinsky’s?”