Barenboim brings James Levine back to Europe
mainThe Berlin Staatsoper director has secured the return to Europe, after a long absence, of the former Metropolitan Opera music director, James Levine.
Levine will conduct Mahler’s 3rd symphony with Barenboim’s Staatskapelle next week, on October 31, at the Berlin Philharmonie.
The question is: why?
I thought he’d retired through ill health. At least it’s a nice straightforward programme…
Retired from the MET, yes,but luckily not from conducting.Following his triumphant return to the Chicago Symphony with Mahler2 in Ravinia last year,he did a subscription concert(Mozart,Schoenberg and Berlioz)with them last fall and Haydn’s Creation,this summer, again at Ravinia.
Levine is not retired from the Met.
Unless you call Zauberflöte, Verdi Requiem, Tosca, Luisa Miller, Trovatore,
nealy 40 p-erformances this season at the Met retired!
Interesting. Looks like he is obsessed with this piece.
From his bio found somewhere online:
“In March 2010, in Berlin, he conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 in his debut with the
Staatskapelle Berlin …”
Did he really conduct that concert? I was actually in the Konzerthaus Berlin hearing the aforementioned Mahler 3. But it was Barenboim who was conducting. Levine pulled out due to illness, as far as I could remember.
Levine’s CSO recording of Mahler 3 has been among my favorites ever since its release on LP. That album also featured a cover by Maurice Sendak — the best cover art the symphony has yet received.
That name of yours is way too long, why not shorten it to just “Anal”?
Why bother? People with Analysierungsvermögen like yours will do the simplification by yourselves. And we all know what you can comprehend when you see crimson fountaingrass (pennisetum setaceum).
Your life is also way too long. You should have cut it down to the first 4 years.
Reminds me of Klemperer “conducting” zombie-like in the Royal Festival Hall at the end of the 1960s in a chair, setting up a record for the length of Beethoven’s 4th. I fell asleep.
It seems that you spoiled one of the last chances to hear a performance by an iconic conductor. That concert, and Levine’s coming Berlin concert, are to be listened to with empathy.
Ungeheuer:Why?Because of giving self important people an opportunity for stupid questions.
It’s the freedom of expression, stupid.
This is true, but most of us weigh our thoughts before we put them out in public. Otherwise, we sound like…well, like Ungeheuer.
Okay,sorry i forgot this includes also verbal rubbish.Sorry,all my fault.But again,you fulfill all expectations brillantly,true to your form
Why ? Weil er einer der besten lebenden Dirigenten ist . Deshalb !
Querulanten gibt es immer.
I pray to God all those critical of Levine just because of his illness that IF you are lucky enough to reach his age, that you be in perfect health and that your grandchildren don’t treat you like a dotard and your children rushing you into a nursing home.
James Levine remains, but for some physical limitations, in every sense a distinguished conductor. Those who think rehearsing and conducting can only be accomplished by beating a stick in silence (as though humans didn’t have language to convey ideas) then you’re sorely deprived.
Bravo. Well stated. 95% of what a conductor does is accomplished in rehearsal. There is more to what an audience ultimately experiences in performance on stage. We are fortunate to still enjoy Maestro Levine’s artistry, as we have countless other conductors who were counted out before their time.
He was invited to conduct Mahler 6 in Berlin by Barenboim back in 2011, but cancelled. Barenboim substituted with a dull as dishwater Mahler 9th.