Word: ozawa
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Last Sunday's spectacular Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) concert on the Boston Common surprised no one. This free performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on the genteel Boston Common was a fitting tribute to BSO conductor Seiji Ozawa, whose 25th year with the orchestra it celebrated...
...Maestro Ozawa's contribution to the orchestra, to Boston, and even to the modern classical music world are unparalleled on today's music scene. In 25 years he has brought a broader symphony repertoire to a larger audience and ceaseless energy and grace to an art form many consider dead. Nothing short of Sunday's enormous concert--an outreach in itself--should have been considered to celebrate the Maestro's extraordinary contributions...
These words are not written sarcastically: to deny the greatness of either Seiji Ozawa or Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is both blasphemous and futile...
...fanfare began with a thoughtful and fitting video tribute to Seiji Ozawa's life and legacy Boston mayor Thomas Menino good-naturedly fumbled his tribute to the maestro, mispronouncing his name and misnaming the chorus. Finally, before the Symphony began, Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart and Pops laureate conductor John Williams led the BSO in the "Star Spangled Banner" and "America the Beautiful." Their presence was not previously announced, but would have been sorely missed...
...only surprise of the afternoon was the absence of the honoree, Maestro Ozawa himself. He had been seriously ill all week--so sick that he could not conduct even conduct opening night at the Symphony on Wednesday. He would appear to conduct the fourth movement only. Brand-new assistant conductor Federico Cortese received the brunt of this surprise. Sunday's command performance was his first with the BSO, and with Beethoven's Ninth and an audience of 100,000 on the Boston Common is more than any conductor should expect in a lifetime, not to mention the first...