In response to Ian Crisp (and others):

>What I haven't heard yet is how the good people of Vienna feel about him
>arriving to take charge of their opera.  Are they thrilled? Delighted?
>Struck dumb with horror? Fleeing to the hills?  ...

My .02 cents worth (and in Canadian money these days, that's not much):

I have just returned from Vienna where I heard Ozawa conduct a fabulous
Pique Dame with a dream cast (Domingo, Gorschakova, Gorr, Hvorostovsky
and Leiferkus) which will remain one of the highlights of my opera-going
career.  The next week he conducted a (very) mediocre Ernani.  The
orchestra played its heart out during the Tchaikovsky, with especially
sonorous strings; it sounded like a totally different ensemble for the
Verdi, uninterested and inattentive.  In both instances he received
prolonged applause both entering and leaving the orchestra pit from the
audience which seemed (at least in my sections up on top) to be composed
mostly of locals.

Sandra Alston
University of Toronto Library
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