Letter from Boston Boston Celebrates Ozawa By MASAKO YAMADA	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
小沢征爾記念コンサート 25年間、ボストン・シンフォニーオーケストラを指揮してきた小沢征爾氏の功績をたたえるコンサートが、先月末に開かれました。大勢の著名人が祝辞を述べにかけつけるという、大きなイベントでした。雅子さんがそのコンサートの内容を紹介してくれます。

On Sunday, Sept. 27, a free concert was held on Boston Common in honor of Seiji Ozawa, the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). He has been at the helm of the BSO for the past 25 years and he was to lead his orchestra through Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for this concert.

A formal concert was held in his honor a few days before the informal concert on Boston Common, and many large banners with his profile were posted for the event. However, the guest of honor couldn't perform at his own concert. He had caught some kind of virus and had an assistant conduct in his place.

Because of this, people weren't sure whether he'd be able to make the concert on Boston Common. Eighty thousand people were kept in suspense in their lawn chairs and on their blankets.

The afternoon of musical activity was a long one, since the Greater Boston Youth Symphony and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus performed before the big Seiji Ozawa performance. Right before the scheduled starting time, the emcee finally told us that Ozawa would be coming, but she added that he would only be able to conduct the finale of the symphony and that his assistant would be conducting the other movements.

After her announcement, a videotape of Ozawa's life was played on a large screen TV. The tape was interesting, since it gave us a glimpse of his larger-than-life character. One of the clips showed him conducting a bunch of Muppets on Sesame Street, another showed him conducting a brass band during a baseball game and in another he was simultaneously conducting five choruses on five different continents through a TV connection.

After the tape was over, numerous famous people came up to the mike to praise and congratulate him. One of the officials who gave a speech pronounced Ozawa's last name with such a strong Boston accent that it sounded like "Ozawer." I found his local accent charming, but another of the officials — Boston Mayor Tom Menino — mispronounced his first name so badly that it sounded like the Russian name Sergey. I heard chuckles from the audience every time he tried to say the name. Although it's true that many Americans find pronouncing Japanese names difficult, I think the audience was embarrassed that the mayor couldn't pronounce the name of such a prominent Boston figure.

Even after the long speeches were over, the Ninth Symphony did not begin. Instead, the BSO played the "Star-Spangled Banner" and "America the Beautiful." The lady sitting next to me sang loudly to both of the songs. Even though she was very off-key, I preferred her attitude to that of those who didn't even take off their hats during this part of the program. I have to admit that I was eager to get to the main dish too, though.

The Ninth Symphony finally began after all the bureaucratic deeds were done. By this time, I was tired. It was very hot, and my patch of grass was very small. In addition, it was behind some lawn chairs, so I had to stretch my neck to see either the TV or the actual orchestra.

People clapped for Ozawa's dashing assistant in between movements — normally a taboo, but somehow acceptable in this kind of setting — but I couldn't help feeling that the audience was waiting for Ozawa to appear.

Indeed, things picked up tremendously after Ozawa came on stage. The entire audience stood up to applaud him. Of the four movements of the Ninth Symphony, I think most people like the last one the best, and I enjoyed it the most as well. The famous "Ode to Joy" is sung during the finale, and the lady sitting next to me started doing her own conducting routine to the beat of the music.

When it was over, the audience gave Ozawa a standing ovation. While I don't feel particularly close to him just because he's Japanese, judging from the large numbers of Japanese I saw in the crowd, I suppose he's considered somewhat of an icon in Japan. I realized at this concert, though, that he's a thoroughly local icon of Boston as well.

Shukan ST: Oct. 9, 1998

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