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