Steven Schwartz about a recent concert:

>Saturday, I attended a concert of the Louisiana Philharmonic ...
>
>Timothy Muffett, new music director for the Baton Rouge Symphony and late
>of Austin, TX, conducted.  Pinchas Zuckerman soloed in the Brahms.
>
>Moffett is a charming fellow but not the sharpest baton in the box.  He
>delivers mainly okay performances.

Well, this is probably the first time that I can say that I have
personally known a musician being discussed on MCML!  In the mid 1980s or
so, Tim Muffett was (here goes): the roommate of the brother of a close
friend from high school (this friend later married my sister).  Tim was the
classical musician, the brother/roommate played and wrote jazz, and later
toured with such groups as the Glenn Miller Orchestra.  They lived at my
friend's family farm in central Ohio, in a 100+ year old house with
marginal heat, but a great screened-in front porch that looked out on
the nearby roads and the barn.  Also present were the barn cats, named
respectively (probably by Tim): Cindy, Doris and Steve.

Steve (Schwartz, not the cat) mentions that Tim is a "charming fellow,"
and I have to say that in those days, being in various stages of graduate
studies and jobs, we all enjoyed Tim's sense of humor as we indulged in
"porch work" (i.e., sitting in said porch, drinking cheap beer and watching
the world go by).

Of course, the quality of the musical conversations may have tended to
deteriorate somewhat as the evenings went on, but Tim was always pleasant
company.  At that time, I had no small amount of skepticism that he could
successfully pursue his dream of being the conductor of a professional
orchestra, but it's good to know that he's proven me wrong.

Now if only he can give Steve Schwartz a better account of himself in
future concerts....

Bill H., on the Nostalgia Trail.