Few would question his musical talent and the wonderful job he has done conducting many wonderful concerts. Unfortunately, when he first came to Boston he made some public comments about changing the selections towards the style of Arnold Shoenberg. While he may have put the Orchestra back on the world stage, he lost many of the BSO subscribers who, while they liked having new pieces, the majority did not like his dissonant, atonal music. Research showed that the music is distasteful to many because of their brain structures. There is no way they will learn to like that music.
On Sunday Februjary 24th, 2008, I wrote in my blog: ......"Berg’s Chamber concert for Piano and Violin with thirteen Wind Instruments, totally unrecognizable as music to my ears, began with Thema scherzoso con Variaszioni followed by an Adagio movement, and ending with Rondo ritmico con Introduzione. The Chamber Orchestra score called for piano, violin and thirteen wind instruments, namely flute, piccolo (doubling as second flute), oboe, English horn, e-flat Clarinet, Clarinet in A, Bass Clarintet, Bassoon, Contrabassoon, Trumpet, Two Horns and Trombone (tenor and bass).
Throughout, my mind was stuck on pitying the waste of instrumental talent of these two fine musicians soloing, at times, wildly. Occasionally the trombone, another wonderful BSO musician, came in with the few flatulent sounding accompaniments written into the score. Other brass and wind instruments added the dissonance of a terminally ill Greek chorus, while fingers on keyboard or violin flew wildly and would have been better in a silent movie where the skill, more than the sound, could have been appreciated.
After the performance, I spoke with several people who hated it. Only one man commented, “Well, it is complicated” seeming to imply “you wouldn’t understand it” which I readily confessed was true. Another commented wryly, "It is obviously an acquired taste!" We agreed we would both be unlikely to acquire that taste. Many in the audience walked out after the piece and did not return following intermission. If anyone took an exit poll, the results were not shared. As I read up more on Berg I realized that he had also written the opera Lulu. It was probably the first piece of music I had heard (somewhere in the 70s) that made me want to leave the theater, as I did last night had it been possible and less rude to others around me."
I will miss the beautiful pieces Levine conducted but will be happy if I don't hear his favorite music, that with which he planned to teach the Bostonians what music was really all about, his way.
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