Ms. Young refused to perform Wagner at the Sydney Opera House, she said, because the orchestra pit was so confined she felt the audience would never hear the music fully.

C15 Barenboim defends decision to perform Wagner.

They were deformed, he said, by a reconstruction in the 1950's that reconfigured the orchestra pit in a way that left today's most expensive seats with the worst acoustics and made it "impossible to perform Wagner."

In Israel Mr. Barenboim performs Wagner as provocation.

By the same reasoning, maybe there is no more important place to perform Wagner and confront the enigma than in Israel.

When, or whether, an Israeli company will perform Wagner remains unknowable.

On the two occasions, in 1981 and 1991, that the Israel Philharmonic performed Wagner, violent resistance discouraged future attempts.

(They will perform Liszt, Wagner and Strauss at Carnegie.)

He also visited Germany and Austria on different occasions prior to the outbreak of World War I, performing Wagner in the original language in Berlin and other cities.

He has boldly used performances to make political statements, as when he disregarded the de facto ban on performing Wagner in Israel.