Music: Boston’s Guest

Each season, during the fortnight Sergei Koussevitzky takes off as vacation, Boston Symphony subscribers tolerate a guest conductor, usually count the days until their Russian returns. The guest who rounded out his term in Boston last week was not one to be soon forgotten. He was Dimitri Mitropoulos, 40-year-old Greek who had traveled from Athens for a U. S. tryout. The sight of him excited Bostonians. He was lean, bald, severely ascetic-looking until he sprang on the stand. There he dispensed with score and baton, flayed the air furiously, shook his clenched fists, crouched when he wanted quiet, pointed high in the air for a shattering fortissimo. Such a display of vitality will generally bring cheers from ordinary audiences. Critics on the other hand were more impressed with the quality of Mitropoulos’ music, his subtle interpretations, their true emotional power. After his two-week stay he hurried back to his job at the Athens Conservatory, leaving behind a general opinion that the U. S. would hear more of Dimitri Mitropoulos.