Implications of the Levine scandal
There may be a lot of empty gossip in the music business, but abuse does exist
The name “Levine” and the word “rumours” last appeared in the Montreal Gazette in the same paragraph in 2004, when I noted in a column mostly about James Levine’s health problems that “the most visible maestro of the Americas” had been “the subject of unrelenting rumours throughout his career.”
In those halcyon days it was possible to reject the stories as fictions generated by envious rivals, disgruntled vocalists or just people with operatic minds. I suspect the great majority of the tales that swirled around the conductor were indeed baseless. Ankle bracelet? I am not buying that one.
In Molto Agitato, a 2001 history of the Metropolitan Opera by the company’s former press secretary, the late Johanna Fiedler, there is a recollection of the “hilarity” that greeted a story circulating about an incident in the New York City subway system. James Levine taking the subway. Are you sure he wasn’t rollerblading in Central Park?
Fiedler, whose book was subtitled The Mayhem Behind the Music at the Metropolitan Opera, dismissed the rumours as groundless. That was then, long before a salvo of allegations led the Met to cancel all performances by its music director emeritus and hire a law firm with a substantial entertainment dossier, Proskauer Rose, to conduct an independent investigation.
One complaint, made in 2016 to the Lake Forest, Ill., police department, details abuse that supposedly took place in the mid1980s when the alleged victim was under 17, the current Illinois age of consent. The fact that the age of consent was 16 at the time is one of a few technicalities that enter into the depressing debate. Another is the fact that the Met’s general manager, Peter Gelb, was made aware of the police report more than a year ago.
In an environment in which the presumption is not of innocence but of guilt, the complaints against Levine have been accepted as valid. Certainly they do not lack specifics. Nor are they anonymous. All four accusers (three of whom recount incidents from 1968, when Levine was 24 or 25) have been named in print.
The alacrity with which the Met acted after the accusations became public might suggest that the front-office people indeed know something, although the company is also protecting its interests. Imagine unveiling a new production of Tosca on New Year’s Eve with a conductor who is almost universally believed to be a predator.
So let us go with the flow and presume the truth of the claims. What can I do with the memory of a stunning 1991 Met performance of Mozart’s Idomeneo? Or the 1995 Vienna Philharmonic recording of Brahms’s Third Symphony whose “breadth and panache” I praised in this publication?
Nor are the accolades all historical. Less than three weeks ago, John Rockwell, an experienced and perceptive critic, awarded five stars out of five in the Financial Times to a Verdi Requiem that was part of a run that will probably mark Levine’s last appearances at the Metropolitan Opera.
It so happens that Rockwell was the New York Times staffer dispatched to ask Levine about the rumours way back in 1987. He received what appeared to be a toughly worded denial. Which was in turn widely parsed as an elaborate prevarication.
On Dec. 7 Levine broke his silence and issued a statement in which he called the recent accusations “unfounded.” He continued: “As anyone who truly knows me will attest, I have not lived my life as an oppressor or an aggressor.” The denial and assurance have had little effect.
So, back to our presumption of guilt. If Levine, in a position of influence, pressed himself on four younger men, then we have melancholy but not unprecedented evidence that moral rectitude and musical talent do not always inhabit the same skull.
Generally they do. Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner and Mahler, to confine ourselves to the AustroGerman pantheon, were honourable people, although some had quirks and did battle with demons. Listeners are right to perceive a moral dimension in their music.
Then there is the case of Wagner. His anti-Semitism was no rumour. Nor was it his only objectionable trait. This pivotal and indisputably great figure in the history of music also had a gift for living beyond his means and exploiting his friends.
There have been attempts to find anti-Semitism in Wagner’s music dramas, but it is more in keeping with reality to recognize that his gift included a selfcensoring component that gave higher priority to art. That might be part of what we mean when we call Wagner a genius.
Levine is not the only musician about whom allegations have been made. I have heard stories about some who have performed in Montreal. The alleged misdeeds run from criminal-class procurement to non-criminal harassment that might (or might not) have sparked civil litigation.
There is a lot of empty gossip in the music business. But abuse exists. It so happens that the head of the music program at my high school did jail time after being charged with dozens of offences against boys in 1991. As a teenager I did not suspect him of active abuse, but sensed his manipulative nature and dropped out in my final year.
One of the difficult ironies of the story is that as loathsome as this individual was, and as harmful to the youths he victimized, he did oversee a program that fostered some successful professionals and allowed music to thrive. Levine is a figure of much greater stature and — even taking the accusations at full value — lesser depravity. But something similar will be said of him.
We are facing the post-Levine age. Possibly other accusations against other performers await us. What we must bear in mind is that for every coercive figure, there are many, many noble and generous musicians who exert their influence only in the most honourable ways. Long may they prosper.
Mikhail Pletnev cancels with OSM: Some will recall that this Russian pianist and conductor was charged in Thailand with an offence variously reported to be rape or molestation or corruption of a minor. On July 7, 2010, Pravda called it rape. Thai authorities dropped the charges two months later. Pletnev said the affair was a “misunderstanding.” There was little further reportage.
Pletnev resumed performing, but he has had health issues recently. On Nov. 3 the Russian website Classical Music News reported that he was taken off an airplane en route to the Siberian city of Omsk because of a heart condition. Pletnev will not be performing in January with the OSM. His replacement for the Jan. 9, 11 and 13 concerts is another Russian, Yevgeny Sudbin.
The good news: Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead the Orchestre Métropolitain and OM Chorus in Handel’s Messiah on Dec. 22 and 23 in the Maison symphonique, with Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Christophe Dumaux (countertenor), Pascal Charbonneau (tenor) and Andrew Foster-Williams (bass-baritone) as soloists. For more details, see orchestremetropolitain.com.
This might be a fitting time to remind readers that YNS succeeds Levine at the Met in 202021. The music director designate opens a run of Wagner’s Parsifal at the beleaguered New York house on Feb. 5. François Girard directs. It takes going there to see it. There was a Live in HD broadcast of this production (with Daniele Gatti conducting) in 2013.
Christmas CDs used to come by the bushel: No longer. But notable this year on ATMA is Lux, featuring the Choir of the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul under Jean-Sébastien Vallée. The program combines classics and novelties sung with suitable warmth. Organ solos by Jonathan Oldengarm are impressive, and the resonance of the setting is justly captured. The album is available at atmaclassique.com. High-quality download is also an option.