  The composer in 1965, at home in California discussing his work and its evolution with Rolf Lieberman, conducting an orchestra rehearsal in Hamburg, holding a press conference in London, and discussing creativity with old friend Balanchine. Also contains footage of Balanchine rehearsing a new version of Stravinsky’s Le Noces with ballerina Suzanne Farrell. When Leacock flew out to Beverly Hills to meet and film Igor Stravinsky, he was told to get a good sound person, but instead he called a friend, Sarah Hudson not only because she was an old friend and very attractive, but because he knew he could teach her to take sound and that Stravinsky would adore her, which he did. |
The problem was the many languages spoken in the Stravinsky household. French, German, even Russian when Nabokov appeared. How could he expect people to understand what was going on if he didn’t himself. But these mixed layers of languages, like the music that accompanies them, seem natural, even when one has to guess at their meanings. Happily Leacock whispers in your ear along the way, which gives the film a sense of personal discovery. And it’s full of stories, that explain half-forgotten mysteries and some that are purely gossip, which makes it one of the most entertaining films ever made about anybody. The fact that anybody is Igor Stravinsky makes it a marvel. One such story which was thought too inelegant to include in the film at the time, was Stravinsky’s reaction to a remark that Pablo Casals had made about him in a film we had done.
“Stravinsky,” he said, “always has to be a la mode.”
D A Pennebaker
A film by Richard Leacock and Rolf Lieberman
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