“One of James Levine's goals in starting a series of concerts for the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall was to showcase his superb musicians in repertory that they would not get to perform otherwise. So what was the point, one might have asked, of beginning Sunday afternoon's concert with the Prelude to Wagner's ''Meistersinger,'' an opera the orchestra has played splendidly in recent seasons at the Met?..... It took about two measures of music to understand Mr. Levine's reasoning. Take those musicians out of the Met's pit and place them on the Carnegie Hall stage and their true achievement becomes gloriously clear. Carnegie Hall loves this orchestra's luminous sound. Mr. Levine conducted a spacious, stirring performance, and it was fun to watch the players give their all to the Prelude, knowing that, for once, they did not have to pace themselves for four more hours of Wagner.”
— The New York Times,
Anthony Tommasini,
November 9, 1999
