from 01/12 Boston Globe


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Barry Guerrero on January 13, 2003 at 06:25:46:

The maestro's light touch
As James Levine prepares to lead the BSO, he's not setting the tempo in hiring

By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff, 1/12/2003

When the Boston Symphony Orchestra hired James Levine as its new music director, the reviews in the orchestra world were unanimous: What a catch. But his hiring came with a catch of another kind: With his schedule already packed, the superstar maestro couldn't start for three years.

Fifteen months after taking the job, and 20 months before he begins it full time, Levine continues to work quietly, behind the scenes, on potential programs and on developing his relationship with the orchestra. He promised when he was hired that ''there is no point in doing things a certain way simply because that is the way they have been done before.''

Take the way Levine and the BSO will hire musicians before he takes over in September 2004. A committee of players will have the authority to select new hires. Levine doesn't even have to be at the auditions. If that doesn't sound like a dramatic departure from the norm, consider this: Only one other US orchestra can make hires without the music director.

That's Levine's other home, the Metropolitan Opera, where he has made his reputation in part by building a better orchestra.

''Choosing the players is the main difference between being a music director and a guest conductor,'' said Judith Kurnick, vice president for communications at the Philadelphia Orchestra.

But in Boston, orchestra managers decided it would be too difficult to fill slots if they had to coordinate with Levine's schedule. In addition to serving as artistic director of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, he is chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic. (By September 2004, his commitment to that orchestra will have ended.) Levine declined requests to be interviewed for this story, but the BSO is happy with the arrangement for hiring new musicians.

''It's a question of trust and empowerment,'' said Mark Volpe, the BSO's managing director. ''We have an orchestra that cares so deeply about the standards of the orchestra and cares so deeply about creating artistic chemistry. And two, with Mr. Levine, you're talking about maybe the busiest conductor around today. This is a period where we do have vacancies and will probably have a few more vacancies, and there's no way we wanted him coming in with 12 or 13 positions unfilled.''

In the orchestra world, picking players is a key responsibility of the music director.

''It is one of the most important parts of my duties, because in American orchestras, once someone is hired, that is a lifetime contract,'' said Paavo Jarvi, music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

In Cincinnati and other cities, orchestra administrators work around the intense travel schedules of their music directors. In St. Louis, violinist Itzhak Perlman - enlisted as a musical adviser until a replacement for ailing music director Hans Vonk can be found - has participated in all four sets of auditions to fill vacancies. In Minnesota, where music director designate Osmo Vanska was hired in May 2001 - like Levine, more than two years before he could start - orchestra management has made sure the incoming conductor was able to attend auditions for a second horn and a piccolo player.

''I think it's essential,'' said Robert Neu, general manager of the Minnesota Orchestra. ''A music director has to put his stamp on the orchestra.''

James Levine, though, is a special case.

When told that the orchestra with the unorthodox procedure is the BSO, Neu backed off his statement. ''I'm not going to second-guess Mr. Levine,'' he said. ''I think he's a god.''

''His track record of putting together the Met orchestra is extraordinary,'' said Martha Gilmer, vice president for artistic planning at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. ''So whatever process he's put in place, it seems to be working.''

Challenges of distance

Not everyone is so enthusiastic.

Norman Lebrecht, the author of ''Maestro Myth: Great Conductors in Pursuit of Power'' and a noted contrarian, was critical of the BSO's decision to hire Levine with such a long delay before he takes over. ''His appointment, however, will not take effect until 2004,'' he wrote in November 2001, ''by which time the surgeon will be past 60 and the patient will have been on traction for so long that a recovery can be ruled out.''

Ouch.

In a phone interview from London last week, Lebrecht said he was shocked to hear of the hiring arrangement. And, in general, he wonders how effective Levine can be in planning from afar.

''You have to be there to receive the ideas and create something collaborative,'' said Lebrecht. ''You can't do it by e-mail, you can't do it by phone, you can't do it by whipping into Boston for a few minutes and squeezing in a few meetings. Can you imagine any company, large or small, submitting to that management?''

The BSO's Volpe has no complaints. For one thing, his meetings with Levine usually last three or four hours. Volpe travels to New York about every three months. Over lunch or dinner, or sometimes in a boardroom, Levine cracks open his legendary notebooks, in which potential programs are scribbled. They talk about the orchestra's strengths and Levine's hopes for the future. (These include more opera and regular touring.) Volpe helps him deal with logistical issues raised by his planned programs and shares knowledge of BSO history.

''The guy has a huge appetite,'' Volpe said. ''He has a big repertoire, from early music to new music. He's got - I don't know, 50 or 60 programs. Not for a second are they lined up in sequence, not for a second do I think anything is set. Does he have enough ideas to fill up four or five seasons? Yeah. But to suggest we have the first four or five years locked in is a total fallacy.''

The orchestra has also been developing its relationship with Levine, forming a liaison committee. Last year, for example, many of the players felt that Levine's program as guest conductor - which featured Gyorgy Ligeti's ''Ramifications'' and Charles Wuorinen's ''Grand Bamboula'' - was particularly taxing for the string sections.

So after one of the concerts, flutist Fenwick Smith, chairman of the players committee, and other musicians visited Levine's dressing room to talk. Smith said he suspects last week's program - which he considers challenging but not as physically demanding - was Levine's response.

And Smith considers the audition arrangement a sign of Levine's respect for the orchestra.

It is an orchestra that Levine is going to inherit, one way or another. After all, Seiji Ozawa selected 74 of the BSO's 93 current players during his long tenure. When he arrives full time, Levine will likely operate in the customary way, Volpe said.

For now, Levine will participate in the hiring process when he chooses. In town for his regular yearly guest program last week, Levine attended auditions for a new timpanist. (He didn't hear the audition of another recent hire, violinist and assistant concertmaster Juliette Kang - but Kang comes from Levine's Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.)

''If that's what they had to do to get what they wanted, then that's the new model,'' said Carla Johnson, general manager of the St. Louis Symphony. ''Is it the best? We won't know until they're 10 years down the line.''

Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers(AT)globe.com.



This story ran on page N1 of the Boston Globe on 1/12/2003.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.



Follow Ups: