Conductors: Gypsy Boy

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of constricting commitments and loath to give up the heady rewards of widespread guest-conducting, they may want to wait out the blur of transition that now troubles the orchestra world. Until the position of music director is redefined, they will be careful not to tie themselves to a set of responsibilities that could become obsolete. They may well end up with orchestras such as New York's, Chicago's and Boston's—but they probably also will continue to go their headlong, footloose way, gypsying around the musical world.

Mehta's bookings for 1968, for example, call for 22 weeks of concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, three operas at the Met—among them Tosca, which he conducted last week—one opera on Italian television, five recording sessions, and guest appearances at five festivals and with five other orchestras.

Some older observers are disquieted by such a torrent of activities. Impresario Sol Hurok, 79, shakes his head and says: "I think any artist should concentrate on one thing at a time. There is an old Russian saying: 'With one bottom, you can't be at two weddings.' " And Herbert von Karajan, 59, one of the last conductors bred in the old gradual apprenticeship, commented on the new conductors to a friend recently: "I'm afraid they jumped from elementary school to the university without going through the intervening stage of high school"—implying that at some point in the future the gap in their background will show through.

The next few decades will tell. In that time, the best of the new generation will vastly broaden their repertories and deepen their musical insights. As for Mehta, Cellist Gregor Piatigorsky believes that "his ability as conductor is unlimited. His capacity to learn is absolutely astonishing."

Even now, Mehta—like several of his generation—has an impressive body of achievements to justify his defiant reply to the doubting voices of tradition: "Some people treat us as if we were still kids in the playpen. All of us have already done enough to be more highly regarded than that. I think we will be as great as the generation of Furtwängler and Toscanini."