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Dialogues and Discoveries: James Levine: His Life and His Music

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About a third of my way through this book, I double-checked the back flap of the jacket cover. Was the author Robert Marsh the Chicago Sun-Times music critic, or another Robert Marsh who happened to be James Levine's publicist? The question was prompted by the persistently adulatory tone of this book - which continued right up to the last page. Indeed, much of the book reads like an expanded version of blurbs on Maestro Levine's PR copy in record advertisements in Carnegie Hall programs - "Perhaps the greatest conductor of our century..." - "A concert to enter the realms of legend..." - "A legendary recording, an instant classic, sheer perfection..." - that sort of thing.

Now, James Levine is without question one of the leading conductors of our time, and certainly the most important musical force at the Metropolitan Opera since Toscanini. Whether one likes or agrees with everything he does is beside the point; his stature as a musician and an orchestra builder is beyond dispute. I have admired the maestro since I first began attending the Met in the mid-1970's, and his Ring cycle in New York was one of my great experiences in the theatre. But much though I admire James Levine, this book is a bit much. Avering (as Marsh does) that Levine is a greater conductor than, among others, Toscanini, Furtwangler, and Bruno Walter does service neither to Marsh's credibility or Levine's reputation. Marsh really lost me when he treated the "Three Tenors" circuses as serious musical events, and his judgment that Domingo is a greater tenor than Caruso will no doubt raise some eyebrows among voice afficionados.

Most of this falls in the category of critical opinion, and Mr. Marsh is certainly entitled to his. And, as one would expect from a critic of Marsh's reputation, his opinions are generally well-informed and articulate. But readers should be aware that this is not really a "critical" look as James Levine, in the sense that it considers his positives and negatives (yes, he does have them). Of negatives there is here nary a whiff, nor would one be aware, after reading this book, that there is a significant amount of critical dissent about some of Levine's work from other quarters. (For example, look at Gramophone magazine's review of Levine's recording of "Der Fliegende Hollander," or Kenneth Furie's review of Levine's "Parsifal" in High Fidelity some years back.) And for a completely different take on the 1996 "Cosi fan tutte" at the Met, one should read Manuela Holterhoff's "Cinderella and Company." No rosy glasses here.

The best parts of the book are the "dialogues" between Marsh and Levine. Levine is an articulate and insightful commentator on matters musical, as anyone knows who has heard him in interviews. I could have done with more Levine and less Marsh in these dialogues. Unfortunately, much of the rest of the book too often resembles press-agent puffery.

Worth a read. But put your critic's hat on first.

Not exactly a groundbreaker in the biographical art, this book nonetheless gives an adequate account of the work of maestro Levine, if in the end very little of his real personal life. Why these books inevitably tend toward the mundane baffles me; Mr. Marsh plays the sycophant to the very end, and while controversy is not required to make interesting reading, it would seem to be a given, wouldn't it, that such unvarying adulation becomes a kind of flatulance after page 200-and-something. How often this kind of nonsense spoils what might have been an interesting look at a certainly worthy musician of our time! And Marsh is a relatively competent critic- one really expects more. This book however does manage to rise above the painful because of an extended interview section in the middle; Levine is a thoughtful and indeed a most decent chap, qualities that come through in his own comments, if not through his biographer's. Marsh is no David Dubal, however, and Levine is left pretty much to his own devices with respect to exploring his art in any substantive way. I should think he would be better served by an autobiography; Levine seems more inclined toward genuine experience than the fluff of Marsh's tiresome throes of ecstacy suggests. Not for the casual observer, but anyone with an interest in the history of the Met will find it at least not without some compensation for one's efforts.

Robert Marsh does an excellent, if tedious, analysis of conductors. His prime focus is on the development and accomplishments of James Levine which are many and praiseworthy. Mr. Marsh is obviously a critic of extraordinary talents as well. (He tells you so.) The book is well worth reading.