Levine will change music's landscape
The Boston Symphony Orchestra and its public have not greeted a new music director since 1973, so the eyes and ears of the musical world will be on James Levine when he officially becomes the orchestra's 14th music director with a special gala concert Oct. 22.
His appointment is not just news for our city's flagship musical institution; what he does and how he does it have the potential to influence how music is programmed, prepared, and received in other cities across the country and the world -- and it will certainly influence how our other local groups go about their business.
The blast-off event is a performance of Mahler's mighty meditation on Goethe's "Faust," the Eighth Symphony, once dubbed "The Symphony of a Thousand" because of its prodigious requirements -- extra players, a large chorus, a boy choir, and eight major vocal soloists. It will make a mighty noise, and Levine has also chosen it to open his first Tanglewood season next summer.
At 61, Levine has long been the most prominent American conductor since Leonard Bernstein, and a major figure on the world stage for more than 30 years. His career has been centered at the Metropolitan Opera since he was in his late 20s, and he will continue as music director there. Back in the '60s, Herbert von Karajan was nicknamed "the general music director of Europe" because he simultaneously held three major posts; nothing quite like Levine's prestigious double play has happened in America before. Everyone wants to know how he will carry it off.
Levine was already committed to the Met's opening night this season before accepting the BSO appointment; that's why the season opens Sept. 30 with a guest conductor, Daniele Gatti, and continues with programs led by Charles Dutoit and Andre Previn before Levine arrives. Levine has promised to open the next BSO season.
He has probably conducted more performances of more music than any other living conductor; because of his heavy schedule and work ethic, his admirers have worried about his health for years, and concern has escalated in recent seasons. So amid all the celebrations and hope for the future, there are nonmusical reasons for a measure of concern.
But there are strong musical reasons for rejoicing, and these are the qualifications that won him his job. He has transformed the Met orchestra into one of the great ensembles of the world. The Boston Symphony has occupied a leading place among world orchestras for most of its existence, but it has been a while since it was consistently and unquestionably at the very top of the heap. The board, players, and public want that back, and many believe that Levine can lead the orchestra there.
At the same time, Levine has an artistic profile and agenda that differ significantly from those of his predecessor Seiji Ozawa, and the prospects are exciting because risk is involved. He wants to bring a lot of music from the last half-century into the regular repertoire, and specifically a lot of American music.
He leads seven programs in the first part of the season. Two of them feature evening-length works -- in addition to the Mahler, he will lead Berlioz's "Romeo et Juliette." But his other early-season programs feature Elliott Carter, Gyorgy Ligeti, and Witold Lutoslawski alongside more familiar 20th-century masters such as Richard Strauss, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartok, and Messiaen, along with a sprinkling of repertoire works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Dvorak.
The remaining five programs of his first season, after New Year's, feature world premieres by John Harbison, Charles Wuorinen, and Milton Babbitt, alongside more popular fare.
Levine's position in the musical world means that leading soloists are eager to appear with him, and there will be quite a parade of popular artists from the Met. Jane Eaglen, Karita Mattila, and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson all appear before Christmas, along with cellist Lynn Harrell and BSO principal oboe John Ferrillo (formerly principal oboe of the Met). But it is significant that five of Levine's programs are without soloists, something unprecedented in recent BSO history, although this was how his most celebrated predecessor, Serge Koussevitzky, planned programs. The focus was always on the orchestra -- and on the man conducting it. What Levine's focus will be is what so many want to know.
