BWW Reviews: James Levine Returns to Carnegie Hall

He's baa-aack! James Levine returns to Carnegie Hall.

Last Sunday afternoon an improbable musical event unfolded. The man who, more than any other conductor in history, reshaped the history of Opera in America, James Levine, returned to the helm of his beloved orchestra once more. Levine has achieved legendary status for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is his uncanny ability to defy the odds and mount yet another comeback in the fact of seemingly insurmountable odds.

The setting was Carnegie Hall and the atmosphere was electric. Adding a touch of color to the afternoon, Maestro Levine rolled onto the stage sitting in a motorized wheelchair, which he remained seated in for the duration of the evening. The sold-out house rewarded the returning hero with a long and heartfelt ovation. One tries to refrain from focusing on anything but the performers and their performance when writing a review, but the opening few moments of the concert, as Levine appeared, cruised to center stage, pulled his chair into a specially fitted elevator which raised the wheelchair to the appropriate height and seemed to take an eternity, could only be described as bizarre.

Luckily, once the Maestro was in place, the performance was incandescent. This was no mean feat considering the depth of the program and the fact that it was his first time conducting in over two years.

The Prelude to the first act of Wagner's "Lohengrin" was simply shimmering. Levine's command of the Wagner cannon is now the stuff of legend and the Carnegie audience was enraptured. When it comes to this material, with this conductor, the Vienna and the Berlin Philharmonic have got nothing on the Met Orchestra.

There was another awkward moment after the "Lohengrin," when Levine's chair seemed to malfunction as he attempted to turn it around to accept the audience's applause. Equally unusual was his remaining on stage as the piano was rolled out and set for the evening's soloist, Russian virtuoso Evgeny Kissin.

The second piece on the program was the delightful Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G. Kissin delivered a magnificently regal reading of the work, tenderly extending certain phrases for dramatic effect, all the while, the Maestro at the podium was right there with him almost hand in glove.

The entire second half of the concert was devoted to one piece, a piece that was on the program when Maestro Levine made his podium debut with the New York Philharmonic some forty years ago, Schubert's Ninth Symphony. With the choice of this work, Levine seemed to be making a statement. It ran nearly an hour in length and the Maestro seemed to be gathering steam as he went along! It was actually thrilling to see the conductor so physically up to the task in such a demanding work, particularly at the conclusion of a long program. It certainly bodes well for the future.

The scuttlebutt in the crowd after the performance made it clear that most New Yorkers hope for a return to Levine's glory days at the Met. Whether that is a realistic expectation is anybody's guess. Judging by Sunday's performance, at the very least, we can expect a few more great evenings with Maestro Levin in the concert hall.

To post a comment, you must register and login.