In Sunday’s (5/12) New York Times, Anthony Tommasini writes, “It’s one week and counting until James Levine’s return to the podium. Next Sunday at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Levine conducts the Met Orchestra in what should be a revealing and rewarding program: the Prelude to Act I of Wagner’s ‘Lohengrin’; Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, with the pianist Evgeny Kissin, who has given some of his most penetrating performances with Mr. Levine; and Schubert’s magisterial Symphony No. 9 in C. This will be Mr. Levine’s first performance in over two years. … This is a time to cheer the return of a musician who has been the most influential American conductor on the international scene since Leonard Bernstein, an artist who for more than 40 years has made the Met his home base and, well, made the Met the Met. But significant artistic questions hover over the company right now. … No one expects Mr. Levine to have comparable reach and stamina today. You can understand why the Met wants to keep this master musician working in any capacity for as long as he can. But it is one thing to dispense wisdom and give exceptional performances; it is another to run the Met’s artistic affairs. The Met has to decide what it wants and needs from a music director.”
Posted May 13, 2013
