Greetings from Taipei.

The final two weeks of 2008 have been spent in Asia: the first in Tokyo, and the current one in Taiwan. It has been eight years since I last conducted any resident orchestras here in the Far East. Most everything has been on tour with American and English ensembles.

The NHK Symphony is the oldest in Japan and has always had a fine reputation. Many of the countries that were being exposed to Western symphonic music had imported primarily German-based conductors in the early years. The idea was to keep repeating the same repertoire over and over again, until the orchestras became totally familiar with the music. The same principle applied to the public as well.

It is only halfway through January of the new year but there is so much to write about that I thought it best to get a head start.

A quick wrap-up to the Taipei visit gets us going. I spent an hour in the hospital. Nothing serious. As it turned out, some good friends of violinist Cho-Liang Lin invited me for dinner. Regular readers of this column know about my recent fixation with Reflexology, so I was extolling its virtues to my hosts. On the way to the restaurant, I learned that one of them is the leading plastic surgeon in town and when she heard about my plantar fasciitis troubles, she suggested a trip to her hospital. I protested, saying it really was not that bad, but she said that they had a whole section devoted to orthotics.

After two very intense weeks in Detroit, I thought it would be a simple matter just to go back on the guest circuit. After all, no administrative responsibilities and all I had to do was just conduct.

Naturally, it did not work out quite that easily.

First stop was Dallas, where I had not conducted in almost 20 years. I arrived on Monday, January 19th. When I got to my hotel room and switched on the television, I realized that we had a problem. Inauguration day was less than 24 hours away, and with the one-hour time difference between Texas and the East, the orchestra would miss the ceremony.

A great deal of February was spent in teaching mode. First up was a trip to Interlochen, which was not my idea at this time of year. Checking the weather became a fixation as the day of arrival neared. It is at least 10 degrees colder in that part of the world than in Detroit. None the less I arrived to chilly but not unbearable temperatures.

The Interlochen Arts Academy is one of the only schools devoted to the arts that has a national, and indeed, an international presence. I suppose most people know it from the summer program, but they go pretty much all year round. There were several reasons that compelled me to do this at this time.

For all the weather ills that befall us at this time of year, March is in many ways my favorite month. Baseball is back. Four and a half months of withdrawal are at an end. All is right with the world. More on this later.

I was very fortunate that the first two weeks of this period had me on vacation in two favorable climates, Los Angeles and Florida. The first was not planned in my original thoughts. But I found myself intrigued with various aspects of the motion picture industry, based on the week when I conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic earlier in the year. A few days out in La-La land would give me the chance to connect with several people who are involved in the music scoring aspect of the movie industry.

Many people tell me that I work too hard. There are probably some who don’t think I work hard enough. All I know is that I have just spent one year during this past April. So hang in with me. This is not going to be short.

It started with a return to Detroit, doing about eight things at once. There were subscription concerts, with what might be characterized as the first substantive programs I conducted as Music Director. Of course that would be unfair to the three programs I had done earlier, but in fact, we had not played a work labeled “Symphony” on any of those concerts. This program was the only one where there was not a living composer represented, nor an American.

On the road once more. This time for six weeks. Groan!

Now that I actually have a physical place of residence, it seems more difficult to be away. All those boxes that need to get unpacked, getting used to a new kitchen, and those pesky tools that I need to stay away from.

One can feel it in the air. The end of the concert season is close and various forms of time off are near. There is a physical letdown and the best you can do, after the ardors of a tough season, is to take little vacations along the way.

Such was the case at the beginning of the month of June.

This month’s installment will be quite a bit shorter than most. The reason is simple: I took most of July off.

As with last summer, my son Daniel and I took three weeks to visit various baseball parks around the country. Our time was divided into the West Coast stadiums and then Chicago and St. Louis. It was at the latter that I attended my first All-Star Game. We had a terrific time and are trying to figure out what we will do next summer to top this trip.

Egad!!! I am 65. Some folks have said that this is the new 45, but I don’t remember that time as being so great either. In any event, August was a fine month before I officially hit old age.

Wrapping up the week at Tanglewood was a concert that helped kick off the celebration of Sir James Galway’s 70th birthday, which is not for another five months. Jimmy and I have been longtime collaborators and there are few musicians who are easier to work with. And the jokes between movements … don’t get me started.

Usually I am content just to write about the past months activities, with no stopping off for side trips. But since 65 seems to be one of those special occasions, and since it turned out to be unique, I have decided to share it with everyone a bit earlier than usual.

For three days, I have been part of a Festival in Dubrovnik which is called “Julian Rachlin and Friends.” Boy, does he have a lot of friends. Our pictures are plastered on posters distributed all over town. Julian had invited me to work here and I readily agreed, knowing that the milestone birthday would occur in this beautiful Croatian city.

“Harsh booing at the gala opening night of the Metropolitan Opera—where strong negative reactions are rarely heard, at least in comparison with European opera houses—was still ringing in the ears of the opera world on Tuesday.”
— The New York Times, Sept. 23, 2009

The Detroit Symphony has announced plans for a completely revamped season, starting with its concerts this week. The programs will not be changed, at least the ones advertised, but the manner in which the works are performed will be altered.

Finally! A chance to spend more than one week with the DSO!

Music directors are supposed to be working with their orchestras on a regular basis. In the previous season, since my appointment in Detroit happened rather quickly, I was only available for five subscription concerts. So, in most ways, this 2009/2010 season is truly my first full year. It is a time of settling in with the new band, getting familiar with how we will work together, and for me to immerse myself in the new environs.

We ended last month with the Cardinals winning their division, the Tigers still in first place, the Lions on a one-game winning streak and the DSO in great shape.

Three of the four collapsed quickly. The orchestra remained in first place.

No complaints this month. In many ways, I am lucky to be writing anything at all. But with the enforced vacation, due to a heart attack on November 1st, I have had some time to reflect about many matters, most having very little to do with music.

But here is what happened:

During my week of rehearsals and concerts in Rotterdam, I had started to feel a bit out of breath, especially walking over to the hall. Being somewhat overweight, this was not out of the ordinary, but once in a while, I actually had to stop. This should have told me something.

Hanukah is over, Christmas approaches. Since I am taking it easy for the next few weeks, it seemed like a good idea to write a bit earlier than usual. It also gives me the opportunity to give some unusual musical suggestions for last minute holiday giving, plus a short follow-up to that fake news release of a few months ago.