A Capstone, Not an End, to James Levine’s Career

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/16/arts/music/a-capstone-not-an-end-to-james-levines-career.html

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In all kinds of institutions, from universities to performing arts organizations, an emeritus position is a prestigious post. This understanding has sometimes been lost in recent years during the speculation over whether, and when, James Levine might step aside as music director of the Metropolitan Opera. “Music director emeritus” is an honor — the capstone of a career, and hardly its finale.

That move has finally been made, and it’s right for Mr. Levine and the Met. Mr. Levine’s devoted admirers should congratulate the maestro, not just on his incomparable legacy after more than four decades with the company, but also on a new stage of his relationship with it.

Though the Met announced he will be dropping out of next season’s new production of Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier,” Mr. Levine is still scheduled to conduct three operas: He will clearly continue to be a presence on the podium, even if serious health problems have affected his physical resources and stamina. He is 72, an age at which many great conductors are entering their golden years. The aspiring singers in the Met’s young artist development program, one of many important ventures Mr. Levine started, must understand how lucky they are to have, as a teacher and mentor, a musician who even in his 20s worked at the Met with giants like Jon Vickers and Renata Tebaldi.

But besides conducting performances and coaching artists, a music director at the influential Met must develop the orchestra’s style; help determine the company’s artistic goals; oversee the entire season, even performances he or she is not personally involved with; champion neglected repertory; and foster associations with living composers. For many years now, Mr. Levine has not adequately fulfilled these responsibilities.

Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, has become its artistic director in all but name. He has likened himself to general managers of the past, especially Rudolf Bing, who also claimed full artistic leadership of the company. Yet Mr. Gelb’s choices have sometimes been spotty. The time has come for a real music director to step in and bring new energy and vision. I want a music director who will not just work with Mr. Gelb, but also stand up to him.

With this news about Mr. Levine, I’ve been thinking of performances he gave that changed me. (There is no other way to put it.) I remember a Saturday in 1995 when he conducted Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger” with a superb cast. At the end there was almost a collective, silent “wow” throughout the house. Everyone seemed to realize we had just heard the “Meistersinger” of our dreams — spacious yet urgent, playful yet profound. As Mr. Levine lowered his arms and looked at the players, he too seemed to know that something extraordinary had happened.

He has given us many such experiences in an amazing range of repertory: works like Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro,” Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress,” Verdi’s “Otello” and, perhaps most of all, Berg’s “Wozzeck” and “Lulu,” among the seminal 20th-century operas Mr. Levine made central at the Met. He built the orchestra into not just one of the best opera pit bands, but a world-class symphonic ensemble. He inaugurated the Met Chamber Ensemble concerts, often playing the piano part in challenging pieces.

Still, over the years Mr. Levine conceded that he had not done enough to make the Met a vibrant space for new opera. He described the company as a big, hard-to-push institution, which in many ways it is. Yet in 2013, I was dismayed to hear him address this topic on “Charlie Rose.” Some people, Mr. Levine said, have argued that the Met should present a new opera every year. To that he answered, “I wish I really thought there was a new opera good enough for the Met every year.”

That seemed the attitude of a music director who lacks the energy and commitment to nurture new works. And what does it mean for an opera to be “good enough” for the Met? The company’s repertory is filled with beloved staples that either languished or were underappreciated for decades.

This task — of energizing the old and fostering the new — will now fall to a successor. It’s a daunting job. But that person will be lucky enough to have the great James Levine around to offer advice and support.