TICK TAKES OUT HERBERT VON KARAJAN

When bug bites man, it usually doesn’t make the papers. But when that man is revered conductor Herbert von Karajan, it is news-- bad news. Particularly for Peter Gelb of Columbia Artists Management.

Gelb, who is tour manager for the Berlin Philharmonic, received a telephone call from Karajan earlier this month, only 10 days before the orchestra and its 78-year-old music director were to leave for a concert tour of America and Japan, including two sold-out dates this week at Ambassador Auditorium. A tick with no respect for its prey had bitten the maestro, and a resultant case of an inflammatory disorder known as Lyme disease had forced him to cancel all engagements for a month.

The show had to go on, however. “It’s in the orchestra’s contract,” Gelb explained, “that if Karajan becomes ill, the tour would continue.” But with whom? “There is no second Karajan,” the New York manager admitted.

Incredibly, within two days of that “disastrous” phone call, Gelb had rounded up two prominent and extremely busy conductors--Seiji Ozawa, music director of the Boston Symphony, and James Levine, who holds that post at the Metropolitan Opera. Each would lead four concerts--Levine occupying the podium in Pasadena. How did Gelb do it? Luck, mostly.

Ozawa and Levine, according to Gelb, “were actually the first names that came to me. Both have longstanding relationships with the orchestra. Levine first conducted in Berlin in 1978. Ozawa even studied with Karajan. When I talked with them, I learned that their few free days coincided with the eight dates on the (Berlin Philharmonic) tour, so neither would have to cancel.” Even the concluding concert in Japan would work out, since Ozawa was planning to be there anyway.

Though Gelb noted that all of the hurried planning “fell neatly into place,” the sudden changes required shifts in rehearsal schedules and repertory. Karajan’s mix of Mozart, Bruckner and Strauss would be replaced by Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven, Wagner--and another Strauss work, the Four Last Songs. Would there be time for proper rehearsal? Luck, once again, was with Gelb and his touring orchestra.

“Since no time was possible to rehearse for the tour in Germany, Karajan planned extra rehearsals in America. Ozawa, for instance, was given two full days of preparation in Boston. And the orchestra has always been willing to rehearse the day of a concert.” Three soloists were lined up for the Strauss, with American soprano Cheryl Studer singing the work here on Wednesday. At the New York concert today, a more famous soprano, Anna Tomowa-Sintow will be soloist.

With everything magically lined up, one crucial and troubling element remained--the audience. Would ticket refunds be demanded for these high-priced events (Ambassador tickets topped at $90)? As respected as Ozawa and Levine may be, Karajan remains one of the world’s greatest conductors--and one rarely seen here (his last local visit was in 1982).

Gelb says there have been “some requests for refunds in New York,” but there have also been new requests for tickets. According to a spokesman at Ambassador, “There have been very few inquiries. So far, no one has raised the roof.”

Meanwhile, Gelb is busily preparing for a future tour with Karajan and the Berlin. Tick bites notwithstanding.

OTHER ORCHESTRAS: Kurt Sanderling ends a lengthy stay with the Los Angeles Philharmonic this week, leading a program of symphonies--Schubert’s “Unfinished” and Bruckner’s Seventh--Thursday through Saturday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. On Wednesday, Sanderling will conduct a Beethoven-Sibelius program: the former’s “Egmont” Overture and Symphony No. 8 and the latter’s Symphony No. 2.

The Cleveland Orchestra makes its first local appearances under music director Christoph von Dohnanyi this week. On Wednesday, the orchestra will play music by Berlioz, Ibert and Tchaikovsky at El Camino College. On Friday and Saturday, the locale switches to Royce Hall, UCLA. The agenda for the first night lists music by Mendelssohn and Strauss, while the second program includes works by Ligeti, Haydn and Brahms. Next Sunday, the orchestra repeats the El Camino program at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa.

On Saturday, the Pasadena Symphony opens the new season under music director Jorge Mester. Pianist David Korevaar is soloist in two unhackneyed solo vehicles: Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Winds and Dohnanyi’s Variations on a Nursery Song. Kodaly’s “Hary Janos” suite and Ravel’s “Bolero” complete the program.

A flash from the past: the California Chamber Symphony. Henri Temianka will lead his reborn orchestra, which had ceased to exist in 1984, as a replacement for the Camerata Academica Salzburg in appearances at Ambassador Auditorium with trumpet virtuoso Maurice Andre on Oct. 29 and 30. According to an Ambassador spokesman, the Salzburg ensemble canceled its American tour due to financial difficulties.

GLENDALE SEARCH GOES ON: When the Glendale Symphony opens its 63rd season on Halloween, it will do so without a music director--again. Shirley Seeley, vice president of the orchestra, admitted that this was not the original plan at the end of last year when four “candidates” led the orchestra.

“The board decided it wanted to look at more candidates,” she said. “Two from last season are still in contention, and they’ll be back,” she noted, referring to Lalo Schifrin and Anshel Brusilow. The other two? “Well, John Williams and Henry Mancini were not realistic possibilities.”

So, this year each of the six events in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion will be led by a guest conductor-candidate. It’s no coincidence, Seeley added, that each man occupying the podium boasts impressive pops credentials. In addition to the two named, guests include Skitch Henderson, Newton Wayland, Richard Hayman and John Covelli.

“The board of directors decided that we would offer the light classics and pops music,” she said. “We never wish to compete with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. But we don’t want to be strictly a pops orchestra. Let’s just say we’ll be playing familiar music.”

Noting that “there’s nothing wrong with entertaining people,” Seeley admitted that some of the final decision-making will be done by audiences--in the form of attendance figures and quality of response. “It’s a factor. There is a tremendous amount of entertainment for people to choose from, and we are still trying to build an audience.”

The crowds don’t seem to mind this extended transition period, Seeley suggested. (After the death of longtime music director Carmen Dragon, Daniel Lewis served one year as an adviser, followed by last season’s guest conductor parade.) Attendance last season averaged 90% of capacity.

Is the orchestra, perhaps, still hoping for another Carmen Dragon to lead them? “There will never be another Carmen Dragon,” Seeley replied. “We won’t be comparing the candidates with him. We’re just looking for a new partner.”