The Unanswered Question tag:www.artsjournal.com,2008-02-19:/uq/56 2011-12-09T05:29:06Z Joe Horowitz on music Movable Type 4.31-en Restoring the drama to El Amor Brujo tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.48451 2011-12-09T05:26:40Z 2011-12-09T05:29:06Z The two best-known scores by Manuel de Falla - El Amor Brujo and The Three-Cornered Hat - began as stage works. Today, however, we know them as symphonic suites. In the case of Amor Brujo, the loss is formidable:... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq The two best-known scores by Manuel de Falla - El Amor Brujo and The Three-Cornered Hat - began as stage works. Today, however, we know them as symphonic suites. In the case of Amor Brujo, the loss is formidable:... Siegfried at the Met tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.48315 2011-11-30T05:03:12Z 2011-11-30T05:05:39Z The current Times Literary Supplement (UK) includes my review of Fabio Luisi conducting SIegfried and Don Giovanni at the Met, as follows: Notwithstanding its importance as a showplace for rich boxholders -- Mrs. Caroline Astor, who regularly came late and... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq The current Times Literary Supplement (UK) includes my review of Fabio Luisi conducting SIegfried and Don Giovanni at the Met, as follows: Notwithstanding its importance as a showplace for rich boxholders -- Mrs. Caroline Astor, who regularly came late and... Presenting Mahler's Marriage tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.48298 2011-11-29T03:27:43Z 2011-11-29T03:45:03Z The most vivid writings about composers' lives, I find, are the ones they produce themselves: letters, articles, books. A case in point is Gustav Mahler -- a copious and gifted correspondent. I have yet to find a Mahler biography that... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq The most vivid writings about composers' lives, I find, are the ones they produce themselves: letters, articles, books. A case in point is Gustav Mahler -- a copious and gifted correspondent. I have yet to find a Mahler biography that... Ives the Man tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.48043 2011-11-09T04:10:19Z 2011-11-09T04:12:23Z The central premise of Post-Classical Ensemble's three-day "Ives Project" at the Strathmore Music Center last week was that Charles Ives the composer was not a curmudgeonly modernist, but a wholesome and uplifting product of fin-de-siecle America. The central presentation,... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq The central premise of Post-Classical Ensemble's three-day "Ives Project" at the Strathmore Music Center last week was that Charles Ives the composer was not a curmudgeonly modernist, but a wholesome and uplifting product of fin-de-siecle America. The central presentation,... Gershwin Impurities tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.47088 2011-09-06T04:47:34Z 2011-09-06T04:54:16Z The American Repertory Theatre's new Porgy and Bess, with its claims that Gershwin's is a crippled opera that needs fixing, is controversially in the news. I read that "Gershwin purists" are expected to thunder their objections. While I cannot... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq The American Repertory Theatre's new Porgy and Bess, with its claims that Gershwin's is a crippled opera that needs fixing, is controversially in the news. I read that "Gershwin purists" are expected to thunder their objections. While I cannot... The Ives Project tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.46318 2011-07-11T03:51:25Z 2011-07-11T03:57:02Z In 1942, Edith Ives, age 28, wrote her father a 1,700-word letter for his 68th birthday -- decades after Charles Ives had ceased composing. It read in part: "Dear Daddy, "You are so very modest and sweet Daddy, that... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq In 1942, Edith Ives, age 28, wrote her father a 1,700-word letter for his 68th birthday -- decades after Charles Ives had ceased composing. It read in part: "Dear Daddy, "You are so very modest and sweet Daddy, that... Rachmaninoff in Texas tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.46276 2011-07-07T03:44:49Z 2011-07-07T03:49:09Z In Twentieth Century Music, an admirable and much-used survey written in 1974, Eric Salzman devotes 13 pages to Stravinsky, 11 to Schoenberg, and 6 to Berg versus 2 for Ravel, 2 for Shostakovich, 1 for Sibelius, and 1 for... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq In Twentieth Century Music, an admirable and much-used survey written in 1974, Eric Salzman devotes 13 pages to Stravinsky, 11 to Schoenberg, and 6 to Berg versus 2 for Ravel, 2 for Shostakovich, 1 for Sibelius, and 1 for... Mahler in Texas tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.46111 2011-06-28T03:32:44Z 2011-06-28T03:43:15Z For last Saturday's performance of Mahler's Ninth Symphony at the Round Top Music Festival, an orchestra of 88 gifted young musicians rehearsed for 22 hours over the course of six days; there were also more than four hours of sectional... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq For last Saturday's performance of Mahler's Ninth Symphony at the Round Top Music Festival, an orchestra of 88 gifted young musicians rehearsed for 22 hours over the course of six days; there were also more than four hours of sectional... Improvising Stravinsky tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.45979 2011-06-18T04:56:29Z 2011-06-18T15:22:23Z One of my standard rants - typically inflicted on young pianists - is called "The Piano in the 21st Century."I begin by asking if anyone can name an important pianist before 1900 who was not also a composer and/or conductor.... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq One of my standard rants - typically inflicted on young pianists - is called "The Piano in the 21st Century."I begin by asking if anyone can name an important pianist before 1900 who was not also a composer and/or conductor.... Something New and Necessary for Orchestras tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.45704 2011-05-31T04:51:32Z 2011-05-31T04:55:40Z With the fate of American orchestras in the news, the National Endowment of the Humanities has recently awarded $300,000 for a symphonic project -- "Music Unwound" -- that dramatically explores new templates for concerts and new missions for institutions... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq With the fate of American orchestras in the news, the National Endowment of the Humanities has recently awarded $300,000 for a symphonic project -- "Music Unwound" -- that dramatically explores new templates for concerts and new missions for institutions... Schubert on the Trombone tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.45291 2011-05-02T03:56:50Z 2011-05-02T04:03:48Z Among his colleagues, the unclassifiable bass trombonist David Taylor is both famous and notorious. I happen to have known him for something like 25 years. We occasionally play together in my living room. David sight-reads Beethoven cello sonatas and... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq Among his colleagues, the unclassifiable bass trombonist David Taylor is both famous and notorious. I happen to have known him for something like 25 years. We occasionally play together in my living room. David sight-reads Beethoven cello sonatas and... Interpreting Stravinsky (continued) tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.45148 2011-04-25T04:29:33Z 2011-04-25T04:51:34Z Igor Stravinsky, in his polemics, preached "against interpretation." He insisted that his music be performed as written, and as he himself had performed and recorded it. He idealized mechanical instruments. But in 1978 -- seven years after his father's... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq Igor Stravinsky, in his polemics, preached "against interpretation." He insisted that his music be performed as written, and as he himself had performed and recorded it. He idealized mechanical instruments. But in 1978 -- seven years after his father's... Lou Harrison and the Great American Piano Concerto tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.44172 2011-03-08T04:46:40Z 2011-03-08T05:00:10Z The music of Lou Harrison represents a rare opportunity for advocacy. To begin with, he is unquestionably a major late 20th century composer, and yet little-known. Also, he is both highly accessible and stupendously original. And he is the composer... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq The music of Lou Harrison represents a rare opportunity for advocacy. To begin with, he is unquestionably a major late 20th century composer, and yet little-known. Also, he is both highly accessible and stupendously original. And he is the composer... Bruckner and Religion tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.43973 2011-02-28T05:55:19Z 2011-02-28T06:03:18Z For the second time in two weeks, I've heard an unforgettable symphonic performance fortified by intense religious conviction. In Pittsburgh, Manfred Honeck delivered Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony as a profession of faith in God and mankind (see my blog of Feb.... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq For the second time in two weeks, I've heard an unforgettable symphonic performance fortified by intense religious conviction. In Pittsburgh, Manfred Honeck delivered Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony as a profession of faith in God and mankind (see my blog of Feb.... Nixon in China at the Met tag:www.artsjournal.com,2011:/uq//56.43848 2011-02-21T03:35:47Z 2011-02-21T03:39:45Z I first saw John Adams' Nixon in China at BAM in 1987, weeks after my son was born. The opera was as brand-new as Bernie. I connected with its breathless exhilaration - the Nixons' discovery of a new world,... Unanswered Question http://www.artsjournal.com/uq I first saw John Adams' Nixon in China at BAM in 1987, weeks after my son was born. The opera was as brand-new as Bernie. I connected with its breathless exhilaration - the Nixons' discovery of a new world,...