Congratulations, Alex Ross

by tristero

Alex Ross, music critic for the New Yorker, has won a MacArthur Fellowship. He deserves it. Read “The Rest Is Noise”, his history of 20th Century music, and you’ll agree. I have some questions with his emphasis on the influence of Shostakovitch and Britten over the avant-gardists, and some other issues, but there is no denyng the brilliance and focus of his writing. He knows exactly what he is talking about, he really hears music and hears passionately as well as rationally. Ross knows how music works. There are very few musicians, even composers, I would say that about.

Congratulations, sir. Now, back to work with you!