"LEOPOLD!"
Posted on 03/17/2021 5:36:10 PM PDT by Captain Jack Aubrey
Yeah and some people were privileged and I mean privileged to be raped by him. Not impressed. And I’ve seen many of his performances. I’ve worked with him. He was a vile human being.
What a nice person you are!
ML/NJ
Funny you should say that considering I’m not the one going around singing the praises of child rapists. I have no need or desire to speak kindly of such predators. On the contrary, I take comfort in knowing that his eternal punishment will be a long and painful one burning in hell.
I wouldn’t say that. Perhaps he was the greatest American conductor of our times, but I wouldn’t put him at the top worldwide over greats like Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Herbert von Karajan, etc. Even the new guy at the Met Nezet-Seguin is at least Levine’s equal from what I’ve heard from him so far. But, yes, Levine was very talented and did wonders with the Met orchestra. That doesn’t excuse his grooming and “casting couching” teenage boys.
I was always a little uneasy attending his performances because I heard “the rumors” about him almost as soon as I first learned who he was. I had hoped that he wouldn’t be kept in such a prominent position if the rumors were true. I believe in separating art from artists, esp. when there are numerous artists involved in a work, so I won’t be trashing any of his recordings I have, but he should have been punished for what he did many decades ago.
Kind of amazingly wicked, given Levine's tastes, that the Vitruvian Man was selected for the cover art, with his dingaling full frontal.
It's a ok version, but I prefer George Solti's interpretation of The Planets.
Leopold Stokowski, George Solti. And in a different venue, so to speak, John Williams and especially Ennio Morricone. Bernstein, even.
Love Muti. Had the pleasure of meeting him when an Italian-speaking association I once belonged to had him as a banquet guest, and we all got to go by his chair and speak to him. He was weary but tolerant of our awful American Italian pronunciations, I must say.
"LEOPOLD!"
“Everybody is dying lately!”
So true. And nearly have of them are women. What the heck?!
Bray! Honored to hear from you.
Unfortunately, I do not know the answer to your question.
Well, I once met a man who was very high up with the Philadelphia Orchestra and he told me all about what an ass Muti was. For example, before one performance the orchestra’s largest donor wanted to say hello in his dressing room. Muti refused to see her. The executive had to go to the donor and make excuses. Of course he should have greeted her, but he was too important.
Hey! Great to hear from you. BTW, I never post to OperaL anymore but I do still follow.
Still liked his conducting, though!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.