Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) in USSR

Born a Russian, Stravinsky adopted French, then American citizenship and only returned to the USSR at Khrushchev’s bidding for three triumphant days of concerts (1st - 3rd October 1962). The Soviet intelligentsia were summoned to attend the neo-orthodox programme, of which only the last part was appreciated by the Politburo, namely a wind instrument arrangement of the Song of the Volga Boatmen. Before that, only Yevgeny Mravinsky in Leningrad, feigning ignorance of the unwritten ban on the music of this ‘cosmopolitan puppet’, introduced not only Petrushka to the Russian public, but also other works like Agon, the De natura sonoris of its time.

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PRD 250 330

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