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Showing posts from March 18, 2021

James Levine

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18 March 2021 James Levine A Life Seen by Anthony Tommasini  Yesterday's New York Times carried an obituary  (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/17/obituaries/james-levine-dead.html?searchResultPosition=3)  and a review in the Music section (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/17/arts/music/james-levine-met-opera-dead.html?searchResultPosition=2)  reporting on the life and career of James Levine, a long-time conductor at the Metropolitan Opera..  Both were written by Anthony Tommasini, the Chief Music Critic for the NYT.   Levine had a remarkable career and was a major force shaping the Met over several decades.  His career ended in disgrace  in 2018 amid credible claims of his sexual predation on younger male musicians.  The two articles are well written and informative, not surprising from the skillful writer Anthony Tommasini. Over the course of this winter's Covid confinement, I read Tommasini's The Indespensable Composers, a very readable overview some of the greatest compos