Great article in today’s New York Times. An interview by Daniel Wakin with James Levine, John Harbison, and Charles Wuorinen. It’s a polite conversation despite Wakin’s attempt to provoke an argument between Harbison and Wuorinen over the latter’s statement in 1979 that tonality has been replaced by the 12-tone system and that no serious composer would write in the tonal idiom. (Alex Ross has more on that exchange.)

In an article filled with lots of great opinions and ideas, James Levine has one of the best:

The best I can do for an audience is give them what I’m sincerely passionate about. If I try to give them something I think they want that I don’t want, we just have a sterile result.

Wiser words could not have been spoken. I firmly believe that you can "sell" any kind of music to any kind of audience. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to like it, but they’ll be able to tell that you certainly do and that means something. It might even effect their perception of the work. One of the nicest comments I’ve received about a performance was from the sometimes controversial David Salvage, who in his review of my New York recital said, "to find a performer who gives both Glass and Wuorinen everything he’s got, is just sensational." David can be a hard man to please and I’d like to think that my passion for those works helped him enjoy them both–even if he might have been inclined to enjoy one less than the other.

The interview gives you a pretty clear sense of each man’s personality and one thing is clear–Mr. Harbison sees the world through rose-colored glasses:

We both went through times where we might have come into a big orchestra, and there’d be quite a chill blowing through the room. Going to any orchestra now, you’re not going to be greeted by that kind of thing.

Now I wouldn’t go that far.