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Unanswered Question

Joe Horowitz on music

Yannick’s Hollow Parsifal

February 11, 2018 by Joe Horowitz 2 Comments

The highwater mark for Wagner at the Metropolitan Opera in recent decades was the 2013 Parsifal, handsomely directed and strongly cast. The crucial ingredient, however, was Daniele Gatti’s leadership in the pit. The Francois Girard’s production has now returned, led by Yannick Nezet-Seguin. As he is the company’s new music director, comparisons to Gatti are … [Read more...] about Yannick’s Hollow Parsifal

Rethinking “Classical Radio” — Part Two

February 7, 2018 by Joe Horowitz Leave a Comment

Sudip Bose, the superb music critic for The American Scholar (he is also Managing Editor), writes about PostClassical Ensemble’s radio showcase “PostClassical”: “When I find time to listen to the radio these days, I rarely encounter a program that gives me the same sense of excitement and discovery that I felt as a child. But a few weeks ago I did, while listening to . . . … [Read more...] about Rethinking “Classical Radio” — Part Two

Another Cheap Shot at Wagner

February 3, 2018 by Joe Horowitz 3 Comments

Was Richard Wagner a "monster"? No so far as I can tell. Here's my book review of Simon Callow's opportunistic "Being Wagner" in this weekend's "Wall Street Journal": In 1866, a Munich newspaper reported that Minna Wagner, the recently deceased wife of the composer Richard Wagner, had lived in “direst penury.” She was reduced to accepting poor relief notwithstanding … [Read more...] about Another Cheap Shot at Wagner

Exalting Bruckner at Carnegie Hall

January 19, 2018 by Joe Horowitz 3 Comments

Daniele Gatti

Bruckner’s symphonies are communal rites of spiritual passage. For maximum impact, they require a proper hall and appropriate congregants. In New York City, Lincoln Center’s Geffen Hall – formerly Fisher Hall, and Philharmonic Hall before that -- is too dry and plain for Bruckner, and the New York Philharmonic audience that habituates that troubled space is restless and … [Read more...] about Exalting Bruckner at Carnegie Hall

America’s Most Exceptional Orchestra

January 16, 2018 by Joe Horowitz Leave a Comment

Setting aside PostClassical Ensemble, the guerilla DC chamber orchestra I co-founded fourteen years ago, the most exceptional American orchestra I know is the South Dakota Symphony. South Dakota’s “Copland and Mexico” festival, which concluded last Sunday afternoon, had many highlights. The performance of Silvestre Revueltas’s Sensemaya was lots better than the versions you … [Read more...] about America’s Most Exceptional Orchestra

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About Joe Horowitz

Joseph Horowitz is an award-winning author, concert producer, film-maker, broadcaster, and pianist/composer. He is one of the most prominent and widely published writers on topics in American music. As an orchestral administrator and advisor, he has been a pioneering force in the development of … [more] about Joseph Horowitz

About Unanswered Question

When a few years ago Doug McLennan invited me to write an ArtsJournal blog, I thought about it and said no. Having been born as long ago as 1948, I remain somewhat a stranger to the internet. And, as I am always writing a book (a form of therapy) when I am not producing concerts, I felt I didn't … [more] about The Unanswered Question

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