Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Well-Considered

A.C. Douglas thinks that the Times ought to have been "more circumspect" about publishing Anthony Tommasini's article looking at the situation the Met and the BSO find themselves in because of James Levine's health issues.

Au contraire: is the Times supposed to ignore the fact that Peter Gelb and Mark Volpe - Levine's bosses - are both making "candid statements about the need to have serious talks with Mr. Levine to assess what he can realistically commit to," according to Tommasini's article?

Au contraire: Jeremy Eichler report on this issue a couple of weeks ago in the Globe.

Of course there's concern all over, and of course everyone wants Levine well and able to conduct, but given his position as a public figure and the leader of two major musical institution, the possibility that he'll have to limit his workload or even step down from one post or otherwise have a restricted role needs to be out in the open.

3 comments:

Henry Holland said...

Rule of thumb when considering anything that AC/DC writes: the opposite is true.

The BSO finally announced their new season, the last one of the major US orchestras to do so.

It's an interesting season --the pairing of Oedipus Rex with Bluebeard's Castle seems especially inspired-- but the chances of Levine conducting anywhere near all of his scheduled performances is certainly nil.

The BSO needs to start the search for a new principal conductor ASAP. Levine's health has been in decline for years and it's ludicrous to keep planning seasons (and the attendant promotional campaign) around a man who is now approaching Carlos Kleiber levels of canceling.

Lisa Hirsch said...

You exaggerate: I've agreed with ACD at least annually for the last five years.

I didn't get a BSO season announcement from their press office. THAT is weird.

Lisa Hirsch said...

Okay, I actually started moaning when I saw the Ades program. But I'll take a few others of those, too. Lots of Schoenberg and Harbison; that program with Christian Tezlaff looks great; POLLINI; Susanna Malkki's program; Ligeti Double Concerto on an otherwise eh program with a great conductor. I might even go to Masur's program for Freire. And you're right about the Stravinsky/Bartok pairing!