Klarinet Archive - Posting 000167.txt from 1998/12

From: HatNYC62@-----.com
Subj: [kl] James Levine
Date: Fri, 4 Dec 1998 16:52:26 -0500

>>There are others who "double on brass." James Levine, the Principal
Conductor and Artistic Director of the Metropolitan Opera, I believe is also
the new Principal Conductor of a major German orchestra: Hamburg? I'm not
certain which one. He is still all over the Met, even though a lot of people
wish he'd quit opera because the quality of his conducting (and the sound of
the orchestra on nights he directs) have declined in the last few years.
Simple burn-out, perhaps, and the orchestra knows him almost TOO well.<<

Excuse me, but you simply don't know what you are talking about. James Levine
is not only one of the most brilliant musicians alive today, he is probably
the most respected conductor who appears at the Met. I know a lot of people in
the orchestra and they believe in him as a musician and respect him
tremendously. I don't know of ONE person who wishes he would quit, though
anyone who does would certainly be in the minority.

Levine has built the Met from mediocre status into perhaps America's finest
orchestra (I believe it is the finest overall, and certainly for me the finest
Mozart orchestra I have ever heard).

Certainly Gergiev has much to offer, and he has done good things at the Kirov.
But if you believe he is preferred over Levine for Mozart or Wagner, you are
misinformed.

David Hattner, NYC

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