Looking Back at 2013

As the second half of the current classical music scene is about to begin, this might be an appropriate moment to look back appreciatively at the first half.  In this regard, two items immediately come to mind.

For me, the most notable highlight of the past few months was the triumphant return of James Levine.  It was he, perhaps more than any other musician, who helped instill in me my original love for opera.  Beginning in 1986, I saw him conduct any number of important works at the Met, and it was his careful reading of these masterpieces that shaped my understanding and appreciation of the repertoire.  Unfortunately, after having suffered a severe spinal injury two years ago, Mr. Levine had regretfully been written off by most opera lovers, myself included, as a retiree and his title of Music Director at the Met considered more honorary than otherwise.  I don't think anyone really expected to ever again see Mr. Levine at the podium.  The maestro, however, surprised everyone by taking on a full schedule in September and once more thrilling audiences with his superb conducting.

I was lucky enough to have seen Mr. Levine on four separate occasions in recent months - twice at Carnegie Hall, where he led a subscription series with the Met Orchestra, and twice at the Met Opera itself.  The Carnegie Hall series this season focused on the seventh symphonies of several prominent composers.  At one concert Mr. Levine conducted Beethoven's Seventh and at another Mahler's Seventh.  Both were splendid renditions of two of the best known symphonic works in the repertoire.  At the first concert, Mr. Levine also regaled the audience with the rarely heard solo cantata Giovanna d'Arco by Rossini as sung by the great mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato.  The two operas conducted by Mr. Levine at the Met were Mozart's Così fan Tutte and Verdi's Falstaff.  These were both mature works by the two respective composers (indeed, Falstaff was Verdi's final opera) and it took a sure hand to bring out all the complexities contained in the music.  In both cases, Mr. Levine demonstrated that he was fully up to the task at hand.  The Mozart in particular was gratifying in that this was the first time I was able to place the work in my own mind on the same level as the other two Da Ponte operas, Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni.

My other chosen highlight this season is less obvious than that of Mr. Levine.  The Piano Department at Mannes Music School put on a series of student recitals earlier this season that were astonishing both for the skill displayed by the pianists and equally for the innovation shown in the programming choices.  One recital featured works by Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff, each of them arranged by the composer for two pianos.  Another afforded me the only opportunity I've had to hear a performance of Ives' Concord Sonata. My favorite, entitled The Mystics, presented works with which I had not been familiar by such composers as Arvo Pärt and Valentin Silvestrov.  All the recitals were given eloquent introductions by Pavlina Dokovska, the Department Chair, that helped provide a much needed context for these works.  By the time the series had concluded, I possessed a much greater understanding of twentieth century piano music, one that has enabled me to better appreciate the performances I've since attended.