Shortly after James Levine announced his resignation as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, I found this article in the Boston Globe. After reading it, I felt a more heightened feeling of what it is like to be involved with emotions on this level. I was intrigued by the reference to "Lenny", aka, Leonard Bernstein, the famed composer and conductor who passed away shortly after conducting a program at Tanglewood, the Summer home of the Boston Symphony. Why would an orchestra be pining for someone dead to lead them, when there are many fine conductors alive and well? Something that most people fail to realize is that the music director of a symphony orchestra is not just a random person on the podium waving a stick, there is, among the best music directors and their orchestras, a very real and very powerful emotional connection. This makes the truth so much more tragic. People could see that there was clear potential for a very intense relationship between Levine and the BSO, but it was brutally curbed by Levine's health. Who will replace him? No one can answer that right now, as we need to do some soul searching and find the right persona to lead the BSO, as opposed to a quick solution. Such personas are scarce nowadays, and getting scarcer. With the growing cultural recession, Orchestras are in peril, and really, all of the more notable music directors are taken, or wouldn't fit with Boston. It will be an arduous journey, as finding the right music director takes time, strife, and lots of effort. As someone who aspires to be the Music Director of a symphony orchestra someday, I feel that if I want to be the best figurehead I can be, I must take steps to ensure my good physical and mental health, and always maintain longevity in music and in my soul.
-Benjamin G. Ruesch
Aspiring Maestro
http://articles.boston.com/2011-03-13/ae/29348148_1_music-director-bso-officials-conductor
Great post Ben. I really like the BSO. I respect your opinion on this article, but I have to disagree. I feel that there are plenty of conductors that would be willing to take the position as music director. Or the BSO could try performing without a conductor, but rather be conducted by the principal violinist.
ReplyDelete-Paul Poremski
I agree with your post to some extent. As a fellow musician as you know, I love the BSO and want to go to one of thier performances. I know the composer is one of the greatest things a great ensemble of any kind can have. It is often the job of a great composer to provide a lot of emotion and passion as well and guiding the whole band. The passing of this fantastic composer is a huge and devastating loss and the presence he gave the BSO will not be felt the same way again but for the future, there are many other capable conductors suitable and willing to take this job of a conductor's dreams.
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