Separating the Dangerous From the Dependable
Among the higher modes of artistic endeavor, performances of classical music are perhaps most vulnerable to complaints of elitism from the barbarians who are no longer at the gate but are presiding...
View ArticleAfter Kurt Masur’s Reign, Could It Be Simon Rattle?
The news that the New York Philharmonic has informed Kurt Masur his services as music director will no longer be required after 2002 might seem, at first, ho-hum. Mr. Masur is 70, after all, and...
View ArticleIn Search of Symphonic Joy: Rattle Gives It Up, Masur Doesn’t
Why have I-and so many of my musical friends-stopped going regularly to symphony concerts, preferring opera, chamber music, or recitals to what used to be the most commanding of classical attractions?...
View ArticleHaving Retired the Great Masur, Philharmonic Can’t Find Maestro
When the New York Philharmonic decided in early 1998 that it would not renew musical director Kurt Masur's tenure past 2002, it somewhat recklessly entered a nationwide scramble that already had the...
View ArticleWhy Philharmonic Went With Maazel: Best Ears in Biz
So the New York Philharmonic will get an American conductor after all. And he's young enough to make Kurt Masur look like his … brother. Such, at least, seems to be the conclusion of the excruciatingly...
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