Music: The Master's Voice

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Despite its somewhat circular organization and the author's cloying habit of referring to the composer as "the Master," Music at the Close is clearly an indispensable and humane book for Stravinskyites. All the uproar aside, for instance, where else could a fan learn that Stravinsky was so fond of avocados that his wife Vera invariably carried two or three ripening examples in her purse when they traveled?

As to the correct portrait of the later Stravinsky, in terms of documentary proof it is still by and large Libman's word against Craft's. Yet this is a book that has a convincing ring to it. If that ring is to be challenged, it is now up to Craft—and Columbia Records—to do just that.