David Hurwitz

[Mirror Image]

Sometimes he drives me nuts, as when he talks up some forgotten composer or other and then he plays a few clips that prove what a mediocrity that composer really is. (Honestly, Julius Röntgen anybody? Even worse, Don Gillis?) His snooty dismissal of the music of Pierre Boulez is all the more disheartening, as it's just another tiresome knee-jerk reaction against the avant-garde that will prevent even more people from discovering the music for themselves.

But his recent video on "Conductors Behaving Badly" is very worth hearing, and says a lot about the state of music performance today. (Theater people could do a parallel "Directors Behaving Badly.")

Anyone who dismisses the avant-garde just because they don't like it but uses their influence to get people not to listen to this music, deserves to have their channel taken down. He is doing a disservice to classical music, IMHO. He's no better than those 70-80 yr. old people who go to a concert just to hear Beethoven or Mozart, but leave before Ligeti or Nono is performed.

[Daverz]

Sometimes he drives me nuts, as when he talks up some forgotten composer or other and then he plays a few clips that prove what a mediocrity that composer really is. (Honestly, Julius Röntgen anybody? Even worse, Don Gillis?) His snooty dismissal of the music of Pierre Boulez is all the more disheartening, as it's just another tiresome knee-jerk reaction against the avant-garde that will prevent even more people from discovering the music for themselves.

But his recent video on "Conductors Behaving Badly" is very worth hearing, and says a lot about the state of music performance today. (Theater people could do a parallel "Directors Behaving Badly.")

I like Röntgen and Gillis.   Why do you need to counter him by being a snob?

[(poco) Sforzando]

I like Röntgen and Gillis.   Why do you need to counter him by being a snob?

Why do you feel a need to label me? Like whatever you like, and I will do the same. I am simply a private citizen expressing my opinion on these composers. I am not a professional critic whom others look up to as an expert, trying to get a few yucks out of calling a highly respected composer "garbage" and tossing his work into the trash bin in a 30-second video, without bothering to make a reasoned case for his assertion.

[Mirror Image]

Why do you feel a need to label me? Like whatever you like, and I will do the same. I am simply a private citizen expressing my opinion on these composers. I am not a professional critic whom others look up to as an expert, trying to get a few yucks out of calling a highly respected composer "garbage" and tossing his work into the trash bin in a 30-second video, without bothering to make a reasoned case for his assertion.

Ah, yes:

https://www.youtube.com/v/h3VDGnxq8sk

Quite frankly, I don't see the reason for even making this video. It's one thing to dislike a composer, which we all do and will continue to do, but it's another matter when you do something childish as making a video of yourself 'throwing out the trash' like Hurwitz has demonstrated here. The reality of the matter is pretty simple: I dislike a lot of the fourth-rate/fifth-rate composers that he puts up on a pedestal like they're some kind of buried treasure, but I'm not going to use my status as a critic with whom many people are watching/reading to tell someone else that what they like is garbage. I agree with you that he has a following and I think he uses videos such as this one on Boulez as a way of forcing his opinions on people who may, otherwise, like the composer. One thing you don't want to do as a critic is alienate your readers/viewers by subjecting them to your own tirades. If you have something informative and that's well-reasoned as to why you dislike something, then there's nothing wrong with that, but, for me, this video on Boulez is a bridge too far. And no, I don't see the humor in at all. I like Boulez's music and I think anyone with an ear for these post-war avant-garde composers will too if they stop listening to people like Hurwitz and use their own ears.

[Daverz]

Hurwitz's flippant dismissal of Boulez says more about Hurwitz than it does about Boulez.  I suspect his attitude has little to do with the actual music.

[71 dB]

Hurwitz's flippant dismissal of Boulez says more about Hurwitz than it does about Boulez.  I suspect his attitude has little to do with the actual music.

The trick is to learn to take the opinions of other people in a realistic manner. Whatever opinions Hurwitz had, he would always disagree with some people. Personally I am not into Boulez at all so I happen to be on the same side with Hurwitz on this, but there are certainly things I disagree with Hurwitz. I don't take that too seriously. He has got his taste and he knows some stuff much better than I do so I might learn something from him.

That said, I haven't watched a single video of his this year. I got a new Mac mini recently and turns out Youtube recommends videos based on cookies so my new browser doesn't know I watched Hurwitz on my old computer/browser and doesn't know to recommend them to me. So, I have been watching videos by a Finnish guy "Aleksi Himself" walking around Helsinki burping and collecting superchat money from foreigners. 

[Artem]

Hurwitz seems like a great entertainer. I think if there were more people like him on youtube, there'd be more interest in classical music, perhaps. I don't watch all his videos, but the ones he does about my favourite composers I find useful and enjoyable.

As much as I like Samuel Andreyev's videos and learn a lot of things from them even more than from Hurwitz, I often feel like taking a nap during them.

[Biffo]

Hurwitz seems like a great entertainer. I think if there were more people like him on youtube, there'd be more interest in classical music, perhaps. I don't watch all his videos, but the ones he does about my favourite composers I find useful and enjoyable.

As much as I like Samuel Andreyev's videos and learn a lot of things from them even more than from Hurwitz, I often feel like taking a nap during them.

Thanks for the mention of Samuel Andreyev, I have bookmarked one of his videos (Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire) for later listening and as a way in to some of the others.

[DavidW]

To complicate things Hurwitz has praised some of Boulez's compositions in his reviews. Maybe he likes to a troll a bit in his videos.

[Brian]

Thanks for pointing out the Conductors Behaving Badly video - I had assumed it was about harassment claims, but really it turned out to be very interesting, smart, one of DH's best videos. Even if I maybe agreed with 85% of it, the occasional disagreement only made it more interesting to listen to, since he was actually discussing and not just yelling. Heck, even MI might like it.

I am always intrigued by sound samples of Röntgen, because they are so genial, cheery, and tuneful, and then I listen to the complete work and it is always devoid of any structure or drama. The only pieces of his that I totally recommend so far are the string trios, which are totally unpretentious little salon pieces of about 15 minutes each that you'd be happy to have played by friends in your salon, if you had one.

To complicate things Hurwitz has praised some of Boulez's compositions in his reviews. Maybe he likes to a troll a bit in his videos.

Quarantine is boring after all, and trolling is fun!

[(poco) Sforzando]

To complicate things Hurwitz has praised some of Boulez's compositions in his reviews. Maybe he likes to a troll a bit in his videos.

Maybe? 

[Mirror Image]

Hurwitz seems like a great entertainer. I think if there were more people like him on youtube, there'd be more interest in classical music, perhaps. I don't watch all his videos, but the ones he does about my favourite composers I find useful and enjoyable.

As much as I like Samuel Andreyev's videos and learn a lot of things from them even more than from Hurwitz, I often feel like taking a nap during them.

Truth be told, I get more out of Andreyev than I ever did out of Hurwitz. Honestly, I'm not looking to be 'entertained' but I want to come away from a video having learned something I didn't know before and this is why I like Andreyev's videos. I never felt bored when watching Andreyev and I can hear the passion he has for this music in every video he posts. All I get from Hurwitz is that he dislikes this or loves that, but I dislike it when he goes off on a tangent about something that I have absolutely no desire in listening to and the Boulez video has completely turned me against him. There's just no sense in posting something like that and I don't care if he was trying to be funny or not. I don't find it amusing in the slightest.

[steve ridgway]

Anyone who dismisses the avant-garde just because they don't like it but uses their influence to get people not to listen to this music, deserves to have their channel taken down. He is doing a disservice to classical music, IMHO. He's no better than those 70-80 yr. old people who go to a concert just to hear Beethoven or Mozart, but leave before Ligeti or Nono is performed.

True, it'd be more helpful to recommend some well selected avant-garde compilations that would give listeners an overview of the music. And as Ligeti and Nono were born a mere 90 odd years ago they'd be far too young for 70-80 year olds to have any interest in.

[Mirror Image]

True, it'd be more helpful to recommend some well selected avant-garde compilations that would give listeners an overview of the music. And as Ligeti and Nono were born a mere 90 odd years ago they'd be far too young for 70-80 year olds to have any interest in.

I honestly doubt this troll is even capable of such a list. I certainly wouldn't take him seriously if did post something like that. I think these videos have actually done his site ClassicsToday a great disservice as we now get to see what a goon he truly is. I'll stick to MusicWeb for real classical reviews, although Jens Laurson is writing for ClassicsToday now, so there is hope for that site yet.

[Leo K.]

It's funny, I almost disagree with everything Mr. Hurwitz says. I don't believe the HIP movement has destroyed the passed down tradition of orchestral playing. I don't believe that Roger Norrington is the evil of all evils. I don't believe you can truly objectively say a recording is great. The list can go on! But it sure is fun.

Regarding Boulez's music, any publicity is good publicity. I often listen to something a critic blasts and find I dearly love it, haha!

[Mirror Image]

It's funny, I almost disagree with everything Mr. Hurwitz says. I don't believe the HIP movement has destroyed the passed down tradition of orchestral playing. I don't believe that Roger Norrington is the evil of all evils. I don't believe you can truly objectively say a recording is great. The list can go on! But it sure is fun.

Regarding Boulez's music, any publicity is good publicity. I often listen to something a critic blasts and find I dearly love it, haha!

Again, I'm not looking to be entertained. I mean there's a time and place to be funny, but there's nothing funny about Hurwitz, tbh. I'm more interesting in learning than being entertained, although there obviously is nothing wrong with being able to pull off both simultaneously, but Hurwitz fails on both points.

[Brian]

Mirror Image, by my count you have posted on this thread 23 times in the last 60 days. I question why you continue to contribute given that all 23 of the posts carry the same message ("I don't like his videos, I don't like his voice, I don't like his opinions, I don't like that other people watch him"). If you feel that way, maybe a more productive and healthy attitude - both for those of us who like to talk about the videos in this thread, and for your own time and energy! - would be to just ignore Hurwitz and ignore this discussion.

Of course, the purpose of this is not to censor you. But your opinion has already been made clear, many times, and surely you would be happier and healthier if you moved on to some other topic. Put it another way. I, like Dave, have a blind spot (perhaps unfortunate) when it comes to Boulez. Would you like me to find the Boulez thread and write 23 posts repeating that I don't like his compositions?

[Brahmsian]

Mirror Image, by my count you have posted on this thread 23 times in the last 60 days. I question why you continue to contribute given that all 23 of the posts carry the same message ("I don't like his videos, I don't like his voice, I don't like his opinions, I don't like that other people watch him"). If you feel that way, maybe a more productive and healthy attitude - both for those of us who like to talk about the videos in this thread, and for your own time and energy! - would be to just ignore Hurwitz and ignore this discussion.

Of course, the purpose of this is not to censor you. But your opinion has already been made clear, many times, and surely you would be happier and healthier if you moved on to some other topic. Put it another way. I, like Dave, have a blind spot (perhaps unfortunate) when it comes to Boulez. Would you like me to find the Boulez thread and write 23 posts repeating that I don't like his compositions?

Amen!

[ritter]

Would you like me to find the Boulez thread and write 23 posts repeating that I don't like his compositions?

Over my dead body! 

Good day, Brian!

[Brian]

Over my dead body! 

Good day, Brian!

Hello! Good point, maybe I should name a different composer. New example: Ludovico Einaudi