Seiji: An Intimate Portrait of Seiji Ozawa, Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra [Hardcover]

Caroline Smedvig (Editor), Lincoln Russell (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 19, 1998

Seiji Ozawa's twenty-fifth anniversary with the Boston Symphony Orchestra this year makes him the longest-tenured music director in the distinguished orchestra's history. This collection of striking photographs and personal tributes celebrates the charisma and career of this remarkable musician by capturing Ozawa at work, at play, and in private. The photographer Lincoln Russell has spent twenty years photographing Ozawa and was allowed unusual, behind-the-scenes access to the conductor. His photographs feature many of the artists who have appeared with Ozawa, from Mstislav Rostropovich to Jessye Norman, but they perhaps best capture the man himself, an Ozawa that, until now, only BSO insiders have known -- quirky, complicated, and most of all joyful. Intermixed with these candid images are personal tributes from Ozawa's notable colleagues and friends, a group whose diversity indicates the true scope of his influence: Steven Spielberg, Yo-Yo Ma, James Taylor, Andre` Previn, and John Williams, among others. Born in Shenyang, China, in 1935, Seiji Ozawa began his association with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Center in 1960. He was appointed music director in 1973 at the age of thirty-eight. Under his leadership, the BSO has strengthened its international reputation and its commitment to new music. Maestro Ozawa has appeared regularly with the world's greatest orchestras -- most memorably, he led separate choruses on five continents simultaneously in Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" at the opening ceremonies of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A 25-year celebration in pictures.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Boston's foremost publisher presents a public valentine to a hometown pride-and-joy, Boston Symphony Orchestra music director Seiji Ozawa, who has been at that post for 25 years. Mostly, it is a book full of photographs taken by Lincoln Russell over the course of Ozawa's career in Boston and throughout the world, which the BSO has toured extensively under his baton. The lean but round-faced Japanese musician is photogenic to the nth degree and, like many another conductor, anything but camera-shy. Naturally expressive, he doesn't have to mug to grab attention, and he isn't overly modest, either--hence the shots of him with his acupuncturist and in the hot tub of his home in Matsumoto, Japan. The text complementing these marvelous celebrity photos begins with laudatory forewords by compiler Smedvig (the BSO's PR director), BSO music president Nicholas T. Servas, and Boston Pops conductor and film music composer John Williams. Scattered among the pictures are remarks by Ozawa's friends and associates--the likes of Mstislav Rostropovich, Jessye Norman, Peter Serkin, Andre Previn, New England Patriots owner Robert K. Kraft, and Nobel literary laureate Kenzaburo Oe. Ray Olson

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; 1st Ed. edition (November 19, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395939437
• ISBN-13: 978-0395939437
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 10 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,059,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An ok book, by an ok photographer, July 16, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Pittsfield, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seiji: An Intimate Portrait of Seiji Ozawa, Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (Hardcover)

Russel's documentary work of this great conductor is only ok. His large format panoramic photography is much more interesting. Unfortunately these photographs have yet to be published in book form.