As a Metgoer and a New Yorker -- well, half-expatriate -- Opera Chic suffers from the syndrome of most -- if not all -- New York classical music lovers: a tendency not to thank the heavens every day for the existence of James Levine. We kind of take for granted that humble giant, that wonderfully intelligent maestro.
And smart Europeans see his now increasingly rare tours overseas as a "concerto imperdibile", a concert you must not miss -- check out the BSO and Levine's European tour program.
A lucky ducky friend of Opera Chic was in Lucerne the other night, and was elevated to a few inches off of that Swiss-made auditorium floor listening to our dear Afro'ed maestro conduct the BSO in Duke Bluebeard's Castle and in Brahms 1. How multilayered, how deep, how amazingly beautiful was the maestro's interpretation, we are told by our extremely tasteful -- almost snobbish -- friend.
Classical music is a field where way too often hype and arrogance and sheer BS manage to turn half-charlatans into supposed giants; with Levine we have, instead, the real deal. He is, quite literally, a maestro -- one who teaches.
And we are privileged to listen.
