Biography
Alexandre Tansman, an inventive and highly active composer, pianist, and conductor, absorbed nearly every stylistic current of the twentieth century into his output, among them impressionism, neo-classicism, polytonality, atonalism, serialism, jazz, and film scores. Although later works by established composers seldom reveal such transparent debts, the presence of Stravinsky and the French composers active during Tansman’s own generation remains audible throughout his scores. Born in Poland, he trained in law while cultivating music as a secondary pursuit. At twenty-two he captured both first and second place in a Warsaw composition competition, an achievement that led him to settle in France. He stayed there for the remainder of his life, interrupted only by the years of the Second World War, which he passed in the United States. In Paris he formed lasting friendships with Honegger and Milhaud. The young conductor Vladimir Golschmann actively promoted his music. Tansman soon established himself as a sought-after pianist and conductor, appearing throughout Europe, North America, and the Far East. He and Stravinsky developed an enduring personal bond that placed the latter at the center of Tansman’s musical thinking. The Nazi occupation of France compelled him to flee once more to the United States, where he devoted himself to writing film scores until his return to France in 1946. His catalogue comprises six operas, seven ballets, seven symphonies, eight string quartets, and concertos for violin, viola, guitar, orchestra, and two for piano. As a memorial to Stravinsky he composed the vocal-instrumental work Stèle and authored a biographical study.
Singles
