Classical Notes: October 5, 2008 Archive

Muti and Previn Tell It Like It Is

Posted at 6:09 AM on October 5, 2008 by Gillian Martin

Conductors Riccardo Muti and Andre Previn explain themselves in recent (separate) interviews.

Muti, the music-director-designate of the Chicago Symphony, explains that he's not a dictator, just misunderstood, in this article.

In a more in-depth interview, Andre Previn shows that at 80-years-old, he's earned the right to say exactly what he thinks. Things he's not happy about include Disney musicals, any references to his former film-scoring career ("commercial cornball music"), and pianist Lang Lang's theatricality in performance ("Why doesn't he just come out and juggle?").