Roger Hecht wrote:

>Laurence Glavin wrote:
>
>>The Boston Globe for Thursday, March 17th ran a lengthy front-page
>>article (with a "jump" to a page in Section A) about the toll that
>>all the excitement of James Levine's first season as Music Director is
>>taking on the players, especially the strings.
>
>There may be some merit to this.  I just heard Levine and the BSO slog
>through the second and third movements of Ives' Second Symphony.  The
>orchestra did sound tired and ragged, but so did Levine's conducting.
>...
>Maybe Levine took his lead from Sergiu Celibadache's performances
>with the Munich Philharonic that Levine just left (though Levine's tempos
>have often been slow, especially recently), but that orchestra could
>sustain these tempos.  The Boston Symphony could not.  Nor can the Ives
>Second--not this slow, anyway.

Curious, I tuned in the Saturday concert.  AGain, it's a matter of
listening around a poorly balanced broadcast, but this was much better
in terms of execution, though Levine's very slow tempos and light textures
really do make me think he was somewhat influenced by Celibadache's work
with Levine's old orchestra.  Levine's interpretation reminded me of the
old quote about Alexander Pope's translation of the Iliad: "Very pretty,
Mr.  Pope, but it's not Homer."

Roger Hecht