James Levine's programs bring promise

James Levine is certainly the musical man of the year, although he has led only six concerts so far as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

His programs have been fresh, exciting, varied, and challenging, and the orchestra is playing on a new level with attention to detail -- and plenty of dramatic sweep.

Levine's aim is not to please everybody all of the time. Certainly some members of the audience have resisted the new and demanding works on the programs; Levine is not into supplying easy listening, even in familiar pieces. On the other hand, Symphony Hall has been fuller than usual, and with an infusion both of young people and of distinguished figures in the musical community who did not make a habit of attending performances by Levine's predecessor Seiji Ozawa.

Levine wants to lead the orchestra and public on a journey through a wide range of musical projects and possibilities. One goal is simply to make the BSO a better orchestra, technically stronger, more alert and responsive; this goal is a tool to advance a more central ambition, to bring the BSO into the forefront of international musical life. This is not going to be easy, and it is not going to be cheap; there are almost certainly going to be bumps on the road. But the first steps have certainly been exciting.

It is impossible even now to single out a single program as the best so far, although Berlioz's "Romeo et Juliette" may have been the most completely realized. There have been impressive soloists, especially the electrifying Karita Mattila and the soul-stirring Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus has been singing its heart out. But the focus has been on the orchestra, and performances of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring," Elliott Carter's "Symphonia," Bartok's "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta," Schoenberg's "Verklaerte Nacht," and Dvorak's Seventh Symphony linger in the memory.

Nor were Levine's concerts the only good news from Symphony Hall. The glorious Aeolian-Skinner organ has been restored, and the orchestra enjoys a prestigious list of guest conductors headed by the great Spanish maestro Rafael Fruehbeck de Burgos, whose interpretation of one of the orchestra's signature pieces, Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloe," was one of the great ones. There was also a mesmerizing debut by the veteran Finnish conductor Paavo Berglund.

In most categories there was a lot of competition. How can anyone really say that Opera Boston's lively production of "Nixon in China" was better than its subsequent production of Verdi's "Luisa Miller" with the wonderful young soprano Barbara Quintiliani? The Boston Lyric Opera offered a strongly sung, well-staged production of Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte," and, operating on very limited means, Prism Opera and the Sarasa Chamber Ensemble collaborated on a terrific production of Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito." Soprano Maureen O'Flynn offered a supremely lovely Gilda in Verdi's "Rigoletto" for Berkshire Opera.

"Ayre," a suite of songs Osvaldo Golijov devised for soprano Dawn Upshaw and chamber enemble, brought the house down, but it was only one of many striking new works heard this season from Carter, Thea Musgrave, Michael Gandolfi, Mario Davidovsky, Harrison Birtwistle and others. Emmanuel Music's survey of the vocal and chamber music by John Harbison, on programs Harbison arranged to include relevant pieces by other composers that he loves, was distinguished in conception and performance, and it was a worthy tribute to a figure who has always found time to advance the interests of younger musicians.

Garrick Ohlsson's performance of the Rachmaninoff Third was a comprehensive display of virtuosity, stamina, and inquiring musicianship, but there were other impressive concerto performances by pianists Jonathan Biss, Gil Shaham, Gianluca Cascioli, and Martha Argerich, violinist Gil Shaham, and cellists Truls Mork and Yo-Yo Ma, among others. Pianist Leon Fleisher's Celebrity Series recital, much of it played with both hands, was moving on both the human and musical levels because this great artist was confined for decades to works for left hand alone. His first solo recording with both hands ("Two Hands") in nearly 40 years documents the triumph. But Kyrill Gerstein, Krystian Zimerman, and Dubravka Tomsic also delivered glorious recitals. Mezzo Mitsuko Shirai and pianist Hartmut Hoell, her former husband, still enjoy a rare artistic communion, and hers is one of the most affecting voices of our time. But recitals by Susan Graham and Ben Heppner, among celebrity singers, are not to be dismissed, and a brief hearing of the year's Metropolitan Opera auditions winner, Claudia Huckle, revealed a lustrous voice of world-class potential.

The city abounds in adventurous and capable choruses and enjoys a distinguished oratorio tradition -- this year there were great performances of Handel's "Jephtha" by Craig Smith and Emmanuel Music, and of "Messiah" by the Handel & Haydn Society, led by John Finney, among others. But there is something unearthly about the work of the Blue Heron Renaissance Choir under the scholarly and imaginative direction of Scott Metcalfe.

The city's early-music life remains vigorous and praiseworthy, and the Boston Camerata greeted the holiday season with a vigorous rethinking of its "Mediterranean Christmas" program. But nothing topped the sheer exhilaration of the American premiere of Vivaldi's "Andromeda Liberata" with the Venice Baroque Orchestra under Andrea Marcon, and countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic offered some of the most expressive singing of the season.

And where but in Boston would you find two splendid musicians like Peter Sykes and Christa Rakich producing a series like "Tuesdays With Sebastian"? This is a two-year, 34-concert cycle of the complete keyboard works of J.S. Bach, played on organ and harpsichord. The artists perform out of sheer love for the music; admission to the concerts is a suggested donation of $10, which goes to local charities.

In a time when it is routinely reported that classical music is in trouble, even dying, musicians of every age continue to demonstrate its continuing vitality, and when a performance is good enough, people do come.

Bravi tutti, but James Levine must be the musician of the year. The best part is that these first concerts of his are only a promissory note.