It was touch and go literally until the last minute. But just past 5 p.m. Seiji Ozawa made it onto the temporary stage on Boston Common to conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony -- midway through the work. The crowd, estimated at 80,000, stood and cheered to greet the maestro, who was performing the "Ode to Joy" symphony's final two movements against doctors' orders.
The free outdoor concert on the Common was the orchestra's first since 1981, and was to celebrate Ozawa's 25th anniversary as the BSO's music director. And he was determined not to miss this one -- as he had the Symphony Hall open-ing night last Wednesday.
Indeed this populist event may be too little too late for those who perceive him, the BSO and indeed classical music as elitist. But it was nice to see the orchestra surrounded by booths selling jumbo hot dogs and Italian ice rather than, as at Symphony Hall, espresso and champagne.
Ozawa's appearance did not go without a hitch. He begged off leading part of the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras' pre-BSO concert. And then concert host Heather Kahn of WCVB-TV (Ch. 5) and John Williams, Boston Pops conductor laureate, together announced that the BSO's new assistant conductor, Federico Cortese, would lead the symphony's first three movements, saving Ozawa for the final one.
As a kind of consolation prize, Pops' Conductor Keith Lockhart led "The Star-Spangled Banner," and Williams conducted "America, the Beautiful."
But there was one surprise left. Cortese, who was in fact making his Boston debut, left the stage after just the second movement. On a giant video screen, the crowd could see Ozawa waiting in the wings and started cheering before he even began the walk to the conductor's podium.
The performance itself was hard to judge through a sound system that boosted the bass and played tricks with the treble. But it was Beethoven on the Common, and the people came to hear it.
