Dimitri Mitropoulos, the strong-minded conductor of the New York Philharmonic-Symphony, has become the hero of Manhattan's modernists and the bane of its musical conservatives. In four years, he has introduced new symphonic works by such radicals as Schoenberg, Schnabel and Sessions, and such theater works (in concert form) as Busoni's Arlecchino and Berg's Wozzeck. Last week he was at it again: he conducted the first U.S. performance of Darius Milhaud's opera Christopher Columbus.
Mitropoulos arranged a chorus of 60some in red gowns, some in blackon a high platform across the back of the stage, had it stand or sit in well-drilled movement...