The Overture

They had good reason to be afraid. Dutoit was, in many ways, the obvious choice. He had just been appointed artistic director at the Mann Music Center and at Saratoga Springs, New York, where the Orchestra plays every August. His age (he’s 54) and politics are no problem. He’s a popular recording artist and a popular guest conductor: His concerts are usually packed, and afterward he manages to mingle with members of the Orchestra’s board of directors and other illuminati. Both on and off the podium, he radiates charisma. As one source close to the board puts it, "He can charm the pants off anybody."

MUTI DROPPED HIS BOMBSHELL ON THURSDAY, MARCH 29TH. The following Sunday evening he was having dinner at Kluger’s house on the Main Line. As Kluger, his wife, Susan, Muti, Orchestra musicologist Bernard Jacobson and his wife, Laura, sat around the dining room after a meal of penne a la bettola and maiale ubriaco ("drunken pork") that Jacobson had prepared, they all wrestled with the problem of the succession. Though Muti had said he would take no public role in choosing his successor — in contrast with what Eugene Ormandy had done in designating him in the late 1970s — he readily joined in the conversation.

All agreed that there would be overwhelming pressure to hire Dutoit. He was well-known to the orchestra, the board and the public — in fact, he was the best-known of any potential candidate. He has many fans and defenders, not the least of them being Bernard Guth, a member of the Orchestra board and the chairman of the Mann.

But they also agreed that the decision really should hinge on musicianship. "Picking someone of the highest musical caliber," declared Muti at one point, "that’s the most important thing." And though the requisite homage was paid to Dutoit’s musicianship, something became obvious, at least to the five people sitting around the table that night: Sawallisch was the better choice for the job.

THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA HAS not undertaken a flat-out search for a new conductor in a long, long time — not since Leopold Stokowski came here in 1912. There was no preset procedure, and the Orchestra’s musicians were prepared for a fight. They wanted to have a role in the search and a say in the final choice. They didn’t think they’d get it, undoubtedly because years ago such decisions were left up to the Orchestra’s board of directors, chiefly the president of the board.

So they were caught what off guard when they were told in early April that the board of directors wanted musicians to be represented on the search committee that was slowly taking shape. The musicians ended up electing five Orchestra members to the committee: percussionist Alan Abel, flutist David Cramer, violinist Larry Grika, bassist Michael Shahan and oboist Richard Woodhams.