A young maestro to assist Levine: Speculation

By Ed Seigel Boston Globe

There’s also no getting around two troubling issues – his health and his taste in contemporary music. Problems of all kinds have kept the 66-year-old Levine off the podium for long stretches and key events – such as last summer at Tanglewood and the Beethoven cycle he was scheduled to conduct this fall at Symphony Hall. Meanwhile, his seeming disdain for many of the most compelling composers of the day has left a huge gap in BSO programming.

There is a solution, though. The current assistants and guest conductors are fine, but what’s really needed is a co-music director, preferably a young one. This may not sit well with Levine, who has remade the BSO as a warm, passionate, disciplined orchestra that can scale Mahlerian heights and then tackle the thorny scores of Elliot Carter, whom he has championed more than any other living composer.

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