Robert Summers wrote:

>It would be interesting to know how many Ozawa concerts his critics on
>this list have attended.

In my case, many, for the past 20 years.  I used to have a series, but gave
it up a year or two ago.  Now I go when the repertoire or the conductor
interests me.  I avoid Ozawa concerts unless the repertoire interests me a
lot.  Usually, when I go to an Ozawa-led concert, I'm sorry I did.  I'll go
to a few this year because a few of his programs interest me.  And I'll
probably kick myself when they're over, as I just about always do.

>Contrary to much that has been written in the press, BSO members that I
>know highly respect Ozawa as a musician and as a human being.  I am on the
>Board of the New England String Ensemble.  Many of our players play in the
>BSO as substitutes and also under Ozawa when he conducts Emmanuel Music.
>Unanimously they agree that playing for him is their greatest musical
>experience.  The comment that I hear most is that he understands them, is
>highly efficient and that they play better than they thought possible.

I'm nowhere nearly as well connected and cannot point to many primary
sources.  I've talked to a few players, mostly subs, over the years, heard
stories, attended a few open rehearsals.  Most of what I hear is negative,
and it corroborates what I hear/see at concerts.  From what I have gathered
(take that at your own risk), the orchestra is split but mainly negative.
I certainly know many audience members who are not enthralled.

>One of the major reasons for his lack of success with critics outside of
>Boston, I feel, has been his recordings.  His recordings in no way reflect
>his concert hall performances.  A classic example is "The Firebird".  The
>recording is not even a shadow of the performances in Symphony Hall.

This is probably true.  I actually have heard a few, very few, Ozawa
recordings I've liked.  MOst are old.  A Rite of Spring and some of the
records he made with the Chicago Symphony.  But as time went on, they got
worse until finally I gave up.  Interestingly, the one recording I heard
with the Saito Kainen (sp) orchestra, Rakes Progress is very good, quite
warm, even, something I don't associate with Ozawa.  An interesting
experience was Elektra.  I enjoyed the live performance, though I never
mistook the BSO for the Vienna Philharmonic.  Okay, fair enough.  This
is the VPO's wheelhouse.  But listening to the recording, bereft of the
excitement of being there, revealed a very dull performance except for
Behrens, if I remember correctly.  I do not know if the recording was
live or studio.

Roger Hecht