Music: From a Boston Balcony

Victor, the Russian valet, stepped back and proudly regarded his handiwork: Sergei Koussevitzky, the best-dressed man in Boston, imposing in cutaway and flowing black cravat. On Symphony Hall stage the players tuned to the oboe's A, while Brahmins found their places. All stood when Koussevitzky entered, made his calm & studied bow. When the first piece was over he did an unaccustomed thing. He grinned. To open the Boston Symphony's 54th season Koussevitzky had chosen a rich, compact passacaglia which he had written himself. Bostonians had been curious. Koussevitzky, they knew,...

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