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Levine is also accused of conducting too many performances, freezing out eminent guest conductors. "The weakness of the conducting staff is a manifestation of his own ego," says one disgruntled Met musician. "Where are the likes of Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Sir Georg Solti, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel and Sir Colin Davis?" With Levine leading 78 performances this season, there is always the possibility that the orchestra will grow stale. Says Met Conductor Jeffrey Tate: "All orchestras like guests. They see Jimmy all the time, and there is a great danger for both of them in this. They must loathe him sometimes, as in any close relationship, like a marriage."
Another charge is that Levine plays favorites with singers, overusing some voices while ignoring others. "Levine's love affairs with certain voices are total," complains a Met singer. "When he finds a voice he likes, he uses it over and over." Like any other conductor, Levine has a roster of singers he finds congenial, among them Soprano Teresa Stratas, Tenor Placido Domingo and Baritone Milnes. Sometimes, as with veteran Diva Scotto, their voices are long faded but still histrionically effective. Sometimes they are not up to major-house standards, as with Tenor Philip Creech, whom Levine has pushed beyond the limit of his modest gifts. But his commitment to certain singers has paid off in the development of several young Americans who are potential stars, among them Sopranos Leona Mitchell and Kathleen Battle. And his tireless work with the Met orchestra has greatly raised the level of its playing: short of the Vienna State Opera orchestra's class, but at least on a par with the excellent Royal Opera House orchestra in London.
Still, the criticism rankles. "I'm doing my damnedest 24 hours a day to make the Met as good as I can," says Levine with unaccustomed asperity. "Every decision I make is to try to do that, and I can't help it if sometimes I'm wrong or sometimes I'm no good. That's just the way it is." Levine insists he has no desire to hog the Met's podium. The great opera conductors, he says, are routinely invited, but their crowded schedules usually do not permit them to give a four-to six-week block of time to New York. Moreover, he adds, "every time we put the repertory together, we put it out to bid to them all. If Karajan or Solti or Lenny wants a piece that is slotted in for me, I'll give it to them in a minute." At a time when major conductors regularly jet around the world, Levine is a throwback to the orchestra-building maestros of yore. "I don't spend my time on planes," he says. "I'm proud of that."