You’re tearing me apart!
So, if you wondering when the spit is going to hit the fan (to quote another great ’50s teen angst opus), well, the date you’re looking for is October 9, 2010. Why is that date so special or unusual, you ask? Well, for the currently ailing James Levine, it’s the day he’s supposed to be in two places at more or less the same time.
At 1:00 PM, the maestro is scheduled to conduct Das Rheingold at the Met, a performance that will be simulcast in HD. Then, at 8:00 PM, this same maestro is supposed to lead the Mahler Resurrection symphony for, you guessed it, the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
That’s the Boston Symphony Orchestra that’s in Boston, you know, four hours from New York by car or train, or an hour and a quarter by air?
Well, car and train are out, surely. With split-second coordination a car could be waiting at the stage door at 4:00 to whisk Levine to LaGuardia for a 5:00 flight to Boston Logan, arriving if all goes well 6:15, then a quick rush through traffic to Symphony Hall, a shower and a change of clothes… Or else, maybe a private jet and a helicopter…
No, wait. Why are we even discussing this insanity? This sort of multi-city marathon is a feat that perhaps a 35 year old in perfect health might pull off, in an emergency: you know, like if the regular conductor of the Boston Symphony fell ill, and nobody else knew the work.
But none of that applies here. Rather, we have a man approaching 70, in very poor health, who had to cancel more than half his engagements last season. And, yet, for some reason that might make sense to a madman, his management (with the cooperation of the Met and the BSO) has deliberately booked this frail fellow for (ironically) back to back performances of two difficult works in different cities. On the same day, let’s not forget.
Now, in case you’re thinking, oh, this is just an oversight or a typo or something, let’s take a look at the schedule of Levine’s performances (i.e., not counting rehearsals) for the period of just over two weeks at the beginning of the season.
- September 27 Met (Opening night)
- September 30 Met
- October 2 BSO (Opening night)
- October 4 Met
- October 7 (morning) AM BSO
- October 7 BSO
- October 8 (matinee) BSO
- October 9 (matinee) Met
- October 9 (evening) BSO
- October 12 BSO
So, obviously, somebody involved here, most likely everybody involved here, is full of shit. And La Cieca is going on record saying that all of them deserve to have it blow up in their fucking faces.
Calm down, everyone.
Forget, plane, train, and car.
Levine will take the Bolt Bus like the rest of us who escape to New York from Boston. If there is a delay He can chat to the audience via Skype ( bus has wireless) until he makes it to Symphony Hall.
And if he orders his ticket now, he’ll get it for $1!
Might be time for LC’s Luisi calendar again: http://parterre.com/2010/04/29/levinespringen/
This is insane. Basically he’s got performances in Boston
Oct 7th, 8th, 9th. And to try to cram in a New York performance into the mix. Whoever ok’d this is not dealing with a full deck.
All these posts have inspired me to create my latest application for Iphone and Ipad called “I Beat it”. With this versatile app you can instantly have HD quality video of major conductors to lead any orchestra or opera company that downloads it from the app store. Pluggins will include the archival videos taken from camera feeds from major theaters and orchestras, including the Slatkin Traviata,
This seems like the sort of scheduling that JL has followed for most of his career. Conducting two works in the same day is not news for JL. He, Domingo, Ghergiev, et al. are the sort of people who thrive pushing their endurance to the limit and beyond. The issue now is JL’s health. The uninterrupted Rheingold by itself may be more that JL’s back can sustain these days. On the other hand, he could have a massage while flying to Boston…
I can recommend the following movie for such insanity:
Kurt Rydl – the Gladiator
It really happened:
in the afternoon singing Rheingold in Munich (dress rehearsal with public). After the performance: directly to the airport, changing clothes at the gate, jumping in a private jet. Around 5.30 pm arrival in Amsterdam (flight of around 1.45 hours). 6 pm start of the Lohengrin in Amsterdam, 6.15 first entrance Kurt Rydl in this opera house (three hours after closing curtain of Rheingold).
Age at that time: 55 yrs!
Maybe Levine is planning on passing from this plane baton in hand.
As if months like February weren’t crazy enough – where he’s got Boccanegra, then Pasquale and Juilliard/Lindemann’s Bartered Bride alternating days in the same week, then two day’s later, right to BSO’s Mahler 9… again, no rehearsals accounted for…. If it’s bait and switch – aren’t they taking into the cost benefit analysis how many people they are going to piss off when the inevitable cancellations are announced? Notwithstanding that said soon-to-be-enraged (or at least sorely disappointed) patrons can’t have done their homework if they expect Levine’s attendance at all these performances – why shouldn’t we be able to depend on what these ensembles announce – unforeseen laryngitis and the like aside?!
Levine is such a genius – and he’s totally lucid in recent interviews and press conferences, isn’t he? But this is just… Follie!! Follie!! I mean, I would ask if it’s hubris, but for that double booking — I mean, it is just beyond… it’s becoming positively TRAGIC!
The way La Cieca looks at this is: suppose two companies were announcing Rolando Villazon or Natalie Dessay for this kind of demanding schedule. Would we not all be rolling our eyes and making book on exactly when the “illness” or “personal reasons” press releases would be sneaked out?
My prediction is that there is going to be some very hard and unpleasant news within a week after Peter Gelb returns from Europe early in August.
News made more unpleasant by the Met’s willingness to cultivate the notion that only Levine can conduct Wagner in the house. One of the chief problems of the Volpe-Gelb marketing strategy is that when you rely on known quantities and stars you leave yourself with fewer options the public will accept. There’s no reason James Levine should be conducting every importance performance at the Met because he’s not the only maestro with the skills to pull of grand performances.
“the Met’s willingness to cultivate the notion that only Levine can conduct Wagner in the house”
And Gergiev … and Mehta … and Barenboim … and Kazushi Ono …
Well, maybe “former willingness.” If you match up Levine’s dates vs. The Ring, Tristan, Parsifal, Meistersinger since the late 1970s, you’ll see that other conductors have had only very occasional chances at this repertoire. Mehta, Barenboim and Ono have conducted Wagner at the Met only in the last couple of seasons.
Did I say Mehta? Meant Maazel.
While Rolando wasn’t booked by two companies at once, his schedule in 2007 was insane, to say the least, and it didn’t surprise me or anyone else that his voice shredded. His current schedule is judicious with no travel outside of Europe and no double bookings.
Barenboim sits down to conduct, too. Bad practice.
[i]“a man approaching 70…”[/i]
Now now, it seems he’s only just turned 67 – last month apparently – so not even approaching 68 yet: a very fine distinction but one that some other pre-boomers might appreciate!
Otherwise, points very well taken, although probably JL’s public can be credited with some understanding that [i]any[/i] scheduling involving him at this point must unhappily be construed, at some level, (think Caballe or Stratas), as an “optimistic” best-case scenario.
Now where did I put those angle-brackets again?
I don’t want to be the first one to break it to you, but the average life expectancy for men isn’t much past 75 these days. If Levine has truly joined the ranks of the chronically ill, rather than the ranks of the injured-but-will-recover, then he does not have much time. While it is true that in general, conductors have a better life expectancy than most men, that’s because they stand up to wave their arms around. Levine has been sitting. Bad idea.
For me, to be clear – it’s definitely not his conducting per se that’s in question at all – standing, sitting, whatever —- I saw him at Carnegie Hall this January (Schubert’s 8th and Beethoven’s 5th, and Strauss with D. Damrau). Indeed, he was in a swivel chair – but damn was there a lot of swiveling! – all four limbs were Flying, literally – the orchestra was on FIRE. And the house went crazy for all of it – rightly so, I feel. I mean – we feel it and see it when he’s in the pit, but to watch in that context – to be able to see so well — what incredible verve and ability to make such magic happen…. and as for age – Strauss conducted for his 80th birthday (granted, he wasn’t so animated – hehehe), Stokowski went until he was 91, Mehta and Ozawa are about ten years older than Levine, etc, etc…. It’s the crazy SCHEDULE!
(waving arms around> THen let’s try and keep them around while we’ve got them.
My point EXACTLY!!
Some thoughts on this insanity:
I won’t join the gang yelling “bait-and-switch” since we all know that schedules like this are created three to five years in advance. Since Levine took on the BSO all sorts of crazy scheduling between them and the MET has occurred.
The plane trip is the least of the problems, unless bad weather rears its head. Levine has routinely been travelling between NY and Boston via private jet for over 5 years now. And there will be police escorts if necessary.
But as La Cieca wisely points out, this is a challenge for a younger man in excellent health. This impasse has been aproaching because this aging artist and his handlers in two cities have been unwilling to look at the problem head on. The Oct. 9th thing hangs in front of us because it wasn’t dealt with back when he first got sick. When he gave up his spring dates at the MET we were told he’d be back in action for Tanglewood on July 1. Then he announced that he couldn’t do Tanglewood, but that he’d be back for the opening of the season on both podiums.
We await the next announcement…