TV MUSIC REVIEW : CONDUCTOR SEIJI OZAWA TO BE PROFILED ON PBS

“Ozawa,” airing tonight on PBS’ “Great Performances” (at 8 on Channel 24, at 9 on Channels 28 and 15, and again Saturday at 8 p.m. on Channel 50), is an intimate and fascinating portrait of a very complex man.

Filmed mostly at Tanglewood, summer home of Seiji Ozawa’s Boston Symphony, the free-moving documentary by Albert Maysles and his late brother David splits its time between familiar sights of a conductor at work and far more intriguing glimpses of a sensitive artist in private moments.

The Maysles’ probing camera shadows the conductor as he lunches with Yo-Yo Ma, shares a confessional late-night snack with a tense Japanese conducting student, or offers a running series of touching ruminations. In each instance, Ozawa seems still deeply torn by his bicultural ties.

Most revealing is the luncheon with Ma: In close-up, Ozawa’s wonderfully expressive face becomes lost in concentration as he listens to the cellist discuss Oriental conformity vs. Western individuality. A nerve is obviously struck. Suddenly, Ozawa remembers that this private moment is being filmed and asks shooting to cease; later, he offers an emotional apology.

The viewer begins to understand such sensitivity during a visit by the conductor to Japan for a memorial concert honoring his mentor, Hideo Saito. Newspaper clips coupled with Ozawa’s recollections recount the humiliation he suffered years ago when, as a protege of Karajan and Bernstein, he was snubbed by a Japanese orchestra because of his Westernization.

Among other memorable moments: Ozawa confidently instructs young conductors in the special techniques of their art--and later, alone, confesses the futility of such counsel; Ozawa backstage attempts to calm his students as they wage a losing battle with stage fright; Ozawa and pianist Rudolf Serkin rehearse and perform, neither man able to contain his joy in playing Beethoven.