“Everyone now tiptoes around James Levine, with breath held and fingers crossed waiting for the next health update. He has already received ecstatic notices in some quarters for this performance, but to my ears that is either misplaced charity or simply wishful thinking….

“This was the first time I had heard Levine live this season, and although there were no outright disasters, the orchestral playing struck me as woefully unfinished, tonally undernourished and at times even tentative, as if the musicians were guiding the conductor instead of vice versa. It is painful to report that Levine looked very frail as he struggled onstage to take a bow at the end, supported on either side by Voigt and Terfel. The conductor continues to issue bulletins confidently saying that his strength increases daily, and one can only pray that it’s true.”  Peter G. Davis, reviewing Die Walküre, in Musical America (subscription required).