The End of an Era

[+ g56whiz]

I'm spending the afternoon listening to a live broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera of Mozart's Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail. It's Jimmie Levine's last outing in the pit as Music Director of the Met.

Aside from the shrill Constanza it's pretty good.

 

As someone who was around at the beginning of his career, it is hard to overstate his influence on the Met, its orchestra or musical life in New York and beyond. The Met orchestra is arguably the best ensemble in New York or even the US. There's a reason its Carnegie Hall appearances are packed. But what he has accomplished is even more impressive if you remember what the Met orchestra was like when he took it over. There were nights when it sounded as if they tuned there instruments at home. Toward the end of his career Karl Bohm who conducted the premiers of several Strauss operas was virtually ignored by the horn section of the orchestra. Things like that just do no occur anymore and the professionalism and pride that working with Jimmie Levine has created is no doubt the reason.

 

I now live where Live in HD is my only exposure to the Met. And the Levine performances I've seen of late make it clear that his conducting of late has relied on the innate musicianship of this colleagues. His time to give up the baton has sadly come. Fortunately he'll stick around for a few more operas next season and to impart his enormous knowledge to young performers.

 

So hail and farewell and many many thanks for all the wonderful nights in the Grand Tier.

[+ nycman]

His time to give up the baton has sadly come.

 

Sadly, "his time to give up the baton" was 8-10 years ago.

 

His ego has unfortunately caused him to severely damage the very institution he supposedly loved.

[AdamSmith]

There is some argument that large ego is part of what it takes (for many) to do this job. If so, the ancillary costs -- dealing with the person's trying to hang on too long, etc. -- may be the inevitable price. We are none of us automata.

 

(Who in any event may be subject to the same travails, if effectively constructed: see HAL 9000.)

[gallahadesquire]

Conducting, especially against an adverse set of instrumentalists, is difficult at best.

 

I asked my Intro to Music Professor, John Harbison, what he thought the most difficult musicians, as a group, were. I was expecting "English Horn players" or "French Horn players," but he said "The New York Philharmonic."

 

The Late Sir Colin Davis was going to perform his first performance of Mozart's Requiem with the newly-inaugurated Tanglewood Festival Chorus. At our first combined rehearsal with orchestra, Sir Colin looked at the instrumentalists and said, "I'm going to work with the Chorus. You play Mozart." which they did, in one of the most moving performances of that piece I've ever heard.

 

Similarly, Sir Colin did an amazing interpretation of Messiah the following summer.

 

Another musician I am sorry to have seen leave in my lifetime.

[whipped guy]

I'm spending the afternoon listening to a live broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera of Mozart's Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail. It's Jimmie Levine's last outing in the pit as Music Director of the Met.

Aside from the shrill Constanza it's pretty good.

 

As someone who was around at the beginning of his career, it is hard to overstate his influence on the Met, its orchestra or musical life in New York and beyond. The Met orchestra is arguably the best ensemble in New York or even the US. There's a reason its Carnegie Hall appearances are packed. But what he has accomplished is even more impressive if you remember what the Met orchestra was like when he took it over. There were nights when it sounded as if they tuned there instruments at home. Toward the end of his career Karl Bohm who conducted the premiers of several Strauss operas was virtually ignored by the horn section of the orchestra. Things like that just do no occur anymore and the professionalism and pride that working with Jimmie Levine has created is no doubt the reason.

 

I now live where Live in HD is my only exposure to the Met. And the Levine performances I've seen of late make it clear that his conducting of late has relied on the innate musicianship of this colleagues. His time to give up the baton has sadly come. Fortunately he'll stick around for a few more operas next season and to impart his enormous knowledge to young performers.

 

So hail and farewell and many many thanks for all the wonderful nights in the Grand Tier.

I spent yesterday afternoon listening as well. It had been ages since I had listened to Mozart's Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and as such I enjoyed the performance. Plus, the only time that I had seen the piece in the theatre was with Maestro Levine at the helm. He did have a way with Mozart and especially with Idomeneo which as I recall was the first time that I had heard him conduct in the house. That my recollection of that Entführung long ago was that there was more froth to the conducting is possibly an indication that his time to retire is indeed upon us.

 

In any event, if one listens to old broadcasts the difference between how the orchestra sounded pre and post Levine being in charge is like night and day. Until Levine took over there never any substance to the sound of the orchestra. It was almost laughable at times to hear the soaring melodies of Puccini and Wagner being played by a second rate pit band while the greatest operatic voices were on stage.

 

Even though Levine began to work wonders with the orchestra from the vey beginning when he first appeared on the scene, as I posted in another thread here on the subject, he was not the greatest of conductors. I found his Bel Canto and Verdi lacking in the sense that he trivialized and made things sound as if they were being played by the Village Band of Bussetto. Yet said band was playing more accurately and with a better sound, but he did not quite get the style correctly.

 

For those that remember my posting in the other thread I implied that he was still Fausto Cleva albeit standing in front of a much better sounding orchestra. Then something happened in the 1980's and he got his Italian opera credentials together. Verdi's accompaniments no longer sounded "um pa pa", but had meaning. His slapdash approach to Rossini was replaced with a certain precision that was worthy of Carlo Maria Gulini. Indeed in an interview he admitted that conducting Rossini was more difficult that conducting Wagner where one could hide behind the great colors of orchestral sound. With Italian opera and especially the Bel Canto the orchestra is more exposed and as such precision is the order of the day. That Levine was able to master both Rossini and Wagner, two polar opposites if there ever were, is certainly a feather in his cap. Indeed, there was always something special about his Wagner where he was able to milk things for all that they were worth and as such drew the listener into the emotional depths of the music.

 

So like g56whiz thanks for many great nights in the Grand Tier as well! Of course way back when I could not afford the Grand Teir, but it has now become my preferred location at the MET. I find it to be the best compromise regarding price, acoustics, and vantage point and especially since I like to watch the conductor and orchestra (especially the bass drum and cymbal players) in action!

[+ honcho]

I took a conducting course a couple of years ago; it really showed me that I'm not a dom top

[bostonman]

His ego has unfortunately caused him to severely damage the very institution he supposedly loved.

 

I'd sooner say that about Gelb than Levine. (Though whether Gelb actually loves the Met is a debatable question.)

[whipped guy]

I'd sooner say that about Gelb than Levine. (Though whether Gelb actually loves the Met is a debatable question.)

Gelb is a marketing maven, not an opera connoisseur. He is all about the bottom line and in that regard he probably has done well for the MET, but I can't say that in the last few years that I have consistently left the house (or listened to broadcasts) feeling totally satisfied. Yes, there have been some once in a lifetime great performances, but he has engaged and promoted certain singers solely on their box office star power.

 

Was it not Gelb who said that Anna Natrebko was the greatest Lucia? As if, Callas, Sutherland, and I dare say even Roberta Peters never sang the role. I'm not nocking Netrebko because in the right repertoire she is quite fine, but such a statement is ludicrous and smacks of marketing hype.

 

I will say that since his tenure the MET's repertoire has become more adventurous. As an example I give him credit for promoting Donizetti's Tutor Trilogy, but in doing so lots of MET patrons left the theater this season not knowing what constituted great Bel Canto singing. Still the MET profited handsomely from the ticket sales, and that's probably all that mattered to him.