James Levine, R.I.P.

[Mirror Image]

Maestro James Levine has passed away at the age of 77. May he rest in peace. An outstanding conductor and musician.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/17/obituaries/james-levine-dead.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20210317&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=cta&regi_id=20108875&segment_id=53593&user_id=042b18ac98dc74adedb3f8fb1df433fa

[Karl Henning]

He did fine service in Boston, restoring the band to fighting form. I greatly appreciated his programming, too.  He marked his first season with the BSO by commissioning Wuorinen's Fourth Concerto, and brought Peter Serkin in to première it. Charles also wrote his Eighth Symphony (Theologoumena) at the request of Levine as one of the BSO's 125th Anniversary Commissions.  Other memorable Levine events include his Schoenberg & Beethoven series.  Concert performances of Les Troyens, Moses und Aron and Duke Bluebeard's Castle. Gurrelieder with Karita Mattila and the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and a luminous Mahler Ninth.

[André]

Very sad.

Curiously, I connected with his orchestral recordings but never warmed to his operatic ones (either on disc or on the radio). While I can't think of a work for which I would choose him above everyone else, he conducted many I consider in a top 5 position - from Haydn to Brahms to Mahler, but also a lot of modern composers.

[Cato]

My favorite CD of these works: excellence all around!



And not to be forgotten:


Hildegard Behrens as Elektra:





And somewhere resides a PBS broadcast of Erwartung and  Bluebeard's Castle with Jessye Norman.

[bhodges]

Over the years, I have probably heard more live performances by Levine than any other conductor, between his work at the Met, Boston Symphony, and other groups. He completely transformed the Met Orchestra into one of the world's greatest ensembles, and their concerts at Carnegie Hall over the years were legendary. (I also adore the recordings listed above, and others, such as his all-Berg outing with the orchestra and Renee Fleming.) There is no doubt that he was one of the world's great musicians.

But it's also a deeply problematic relationship for me, and this article in VAN Magazine puts it better than anything else I've read:

https://van-us.atavist.com/silence-breaking

--Bruce

[Brian]

Good riddance to an awful human, and it's sad to lose a great artist. Of course, we had already lost him in the more meaningful sense, since his character finally made him unemployable.

As Bruce says, it is always hard to talk and think about artists like this. Levine conducts my favorite of all the operas I've seen, the Falstaff staging with Ambrogio Maestri at the Met. And he was great in music as diverse as Brahms and Gershwin. I treasure some of his recordings. But how do you do the math of a human life? The world may be a better place for his recorded legacy, but it's also a better place with him gone.

[Karl Henning]

Good riddance to an awful human, and it's sad to lose a great artist. Of course, we had already lost him in the more meaningful sense, since his character finally made him unemployable.

As Bruce says, it is always hard to talk and think about artists like this. Levine conducts my favorite of all the operas I've seen, the Falstaff staging with Ambrogio Maestri at the Met. And he was great in music as diverse as Brahms and Gershwin. I treasure some of his recordings. But how do you do the math of a human life? The world may be a better place for his recorded legacy, but it's also a better place with him gone.

Yes, indeed.
Have the organizations that cosseted him learnt from it all? I'm doubtful.

[Brian]

Also, thank you Bruce, I just remembered my aunt gave me a subscription to Van for Christmas and, because it's online only, I've forgotten to log in and claim it!!

[bhodges]

Also, thank you Bruce, I just remembered my aunt gave me a subscription to Van for Christmas and, because it's online only, I've forgotten to log in and claim it!!

Hey, a pleasure, and I should probably subscribe, too -- they do excellent work. But at the moment, have too much to read (e.g., newspaper subscriptions) so I rely on VAN's two freebies a month.

--Bruce

[Mirror Image]

I do my best not to speak ill of the dead, but reading some of the comments here is downright perplexing and disappointing. One may not like Levine as a human being, but this is no place to sling his name through the mud. Whether he deserved it or not, let's show some respect to the passing of a great musician.

[MusicTurner]

From what I've seen it is still unknown whether the scandals have affected his passing.

[Cato]

From what I've seen it is still unknown whether the scandals have affected his passing.

The Metropolitan Opera's homepage has not made him corpus non gratum:



https://www.metopera.org/

[bhodges]

I don't think anyone is happy about Levine's passing (well, a few are), but his death is bringing up tons of unfinished business. I've been reading comments from musicians all day, some of whom are not only not mourning, but still quite angry that his behavior went unchecked for so long, basically decades. And I can't blame them. Imagine if one of Levine's victims were reading this very thread.

The only comparison I can offer -- crude though it may be -- is with the composer Gesualdo, whose music I love, but he is also remembered for murdering his wife. Does that make me not want to listen to his music? No. But it does give his work a different, perhaps more complete context.

--Bruce

[Rinaldo]

Over the years, I have probably heard more live performances by Levine than any other conductor, between his work at the Met, Boston Symphony, and other groups. He completely transformed the Met Orchestra into one of the world's greatest ensembles, and their concerts at Carnegie Hall over the years were legendary. (I also adore the recordings listed above, and others, such as his all-Berg outing with the orchestra and Renee Fleming.) There is no doubt that he was one of the world's great musicians.

But it's also a deeply problematic relationship for me, and this article in VAN Magazine puts it better than anything else I've read:

https://van-us.atavist.com/silence-breaking

--Bruce

Thank you for sharing that article.

[Spotted Horses]

He was a child molester. He was given the resources and prestige of the Metropolitan Opera House and he used that power and prestige to molest children. He created fine performances. If they had given that position to someone who wasn't a criminal and a degenerate fine performances would have been created without destroying people's lives. It is a disgrace that the management thought he was too valuable to the organization to hold him to standards of decency and law.

It is not clear that a boycott of his output is entirely appropriate, since those who collaborated on those performances would also suffer from loss of income and prestige. The important thing is to do what is necessary to insure that it does not happen again. But I can't help finding the prospect of listening to his performances to be distasteful.

[Florestan]

He was a child molester. He was given the resources and prestige of the Metropolitan Opera House and he used that power and prestige to molest children.

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. --- NKJV, Matthew 18:6

Art is no excuse for harming people --- least of all for harming children. I concur that he was an awful, horrible and despicable human being. Period.

May God have mercy on his soul.

[Mirror Image]

He was a child molester. He was given the resources and prestige of the Metropolitan Opera House and he used that power and prestige to molest children. He created fine performances. If they had given that position to someone who wasn't a criminal and a degenerate fine performances would have been created without destroying people's lives. It is a disgrace that the management thought he was too valuable to the organization to hold him to standards of decency and law.

It is not clear that a boycott of his output is entirely appropriate, since those who collaborated on those performances would also suffer from loss of income and prestige. The important thing is to do what is necessary to insure that it does not happen again. But I can't help finding the prospect of listening to his performances to be distasteful.

I think it's important that we not get caught up in what the man did and focus more on his accomplishments in music. I don't feel bad for listening to one of his performances, because I'm about the art. All of us are deeply flawed human beings ---- some of us even more so than others, but we mustn't forget one's contributions to the art form. Do we think Wagner was an anti-Semantic brute when listening to Parsifal? I know I don't. Anyway, this certainly doesn't excuse his behavior and what he has done of course, but someone can be a scourge to someone's existence, but to an outsider, which all of us are unless you personally knew Levine and have had dealings with him, all we can do is listen to the recordings he's left behind.

[vandermolen]

I know that others may disagree but I find it difficult to separate the man from the musician. I had heard these repulsive rumours about James Levine for some time and have very few, if any, of his recordings in my collection (a version of 'The Planets' might be the only exception). I have the same problem with antisemitic composers or conductors. Having said that I thoroughly enjoyed a recording of Franz Schmidt's 4th symphony today, notwithstanding his Nazi Party membership.

PS: this post crossed with John's (MI) one above.

PPS: I certainly agree that we are all flawed human beings: 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone...'

PPPS: I also thoroughly enjoyed Toscanini's 'Parsifal' orchestral extracts yesterday!

[The new erato]

One can respect his music making without mourning his death.

[Mirror Image]

I know that others may disagree but I find it difficult to separate the man from the musician. I had heard these repulsive rumours about James Levine for some time and have very few, if any, of his recordings in my collection (a version of 'The Planets' might be the only exception). I have the same problem with antisemitic composers or conductors. Having said that I thoroughly enjoyed a recording of Franz Schmidt's 4th symphony today, notwithstanding his Nazi Party membership.

PS: this post crossed with John's (MI) one above.

PPS: I certainly agree that we are all flawed human beings. 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone...'

Looking at my own collection, I don't really own a lot of Levine recordings. I noted in my initial post that he was an outstanding conductor, but the repertoire I love that he's conducted, he's nowhere near the top of the list of favored performances.