MUSICReconciled: It was 32 years ago when...

MUSIC

Reconciled: It was 32 years ago when renowned conductor Seiji Ozawa showed up for a scheduled performance of Japan’s NHK Symphony to face an empty hall. Musicians, offended by what they considered disrespect from the then-27-year-old conductor, boycotted his appearance. Management, also at odds with Ozawa, sent thousands of telegrams telling ticket holders to stay away. Incensed, Ozawa came to the hall as a sign of protest, but he never again conducted the famous orchestra--until Monday night. Having since risen to prominence as music director of the Boston Symphony and guest conductor in Vienna and Berlin, the maestro returned to Tokyo to lead the NHK Symphony in a charity concert for disabled musicians. Tickets, at $170 apiece, sold out in 25 minutes. The program included Dvorak’s Cello Concerto and Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, and Ozawa showed his respect for the orchestra by having each section take separate bows. The joyous occasion was leavened by the recent earthquake in Japan. Mstislav Rostropovich closed the concert with a mournful saraband for solo cello by Bach and a moment of silence.

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Pavarotti at the Shore: In Miami Beach, an estimated 120,000 ecstatic fans flocked to a beachfront concert by tenor Luciano Pavarotti and a fireworks display. It was a free show for all but 8,000 listeners who paid $50 to $2,500 for seats near the stage. The others gathered on the sand, watching giant screens and listening to speakers while numerous boats jockeyed for position. The 2 1/2-hour performance on Sunday ended with five encores. Miami Beach Mayor Seymour Gelber proclaimed it “the greatest cultural event in the history” of the city.

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Royal Leader: The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has appointed Daniele Gatti, a 32-year-old Italian conductor, as its new music director. Gatti, music director of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and principal guest conductor of London’s Royal Opera, will conduct the Royal Philharmonic from the beginning of the 1996-97 season. The orchestra’s negotiations with Gatti led the outgoing music director, pianist-turned-conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy, to quit last month. Ashkenazy was bitter about the orchestra’s decision to negotiate with Gatti as a successor without getting his approval first.

TELEVISION

Moving Tale: Inspired by a two-hour CBS documentary about the world’s youngest heart-transplant recipient, more than 1,700 viewers telephoned the United Network for Organ Sharing with inquiries. The organization, a national clearinghouse for organ donors, normally receives about 30 calls per day. “Before Your Eyes: A Heart for Olivia,” shown last Tuesday, followed the story of a baby who was delivered prematurely and received a heart transplant hours after birth at Loma Linda Hospital.

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NBC’s New Anchor: Giselle Fernandez, a former CBS News correspondent who once worked for KTLA-TV Channel 5, will join NBC News as co-anchor of the weekend editions of “Today” and anchor of the Sunday edition of “NBC Nightly News.” She will also handle special and foreign assignments for NBC News and eventually will host a daily daytime interview program now being developed, NBC said. Fernandez, a graduate of Sacramento State, will be based in New York.

POP/ROCK

On the Block: Several hundred rare and exotic guitars, including a 1959 Gibson Les Paul that went for $50,000 to a buyer who would not give his name, were sold in New York Saturday night at Guernsey’s “40 Years of Rock & Roll” auction. But two of the biggest prizes were not sold. After a breathtaking run that saw the bidding reach $425,000--just short of the seller’s minimum price--a 1948 Fender solid-body prototype, considered a holy relic among guitar aficionados, was withdrawn from sale. In the absence of a $100,000-opening offer, bidding on a Paul McCartney Hofner bass never got started. Otherwise, interest in guitars with rock-star connections pushed prices near or beyond estimates. A cracked Kurt Cobain guitar, complete with autograph and spots of blood from a cut finger, was sold to an unidentified phone bidder for $17,000. In a Saturday afternoon session, no one bid the minimum $10,000 for the earliest surviving acetate recording made by Elvis Presley and it was withdrawn from sale. The test pressing was recorded in the Sun Studios in Memphis in 1954 as an attempt by the fledgling singer to impress Sun president Sam Phillips. Presley paid a $4 fee to record “I’ll Never Stand in Your Way” and “Casual Love Affair.” Guernsey’s had set an estimated price for the item at $200,000 to $250,000.

OSCAR NOTES

Producer-composer Quincy Jones (“The Color Purple”) will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award during the March 27 Academy Awards. Previous winners include Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn. . . . Oscar show producer Gil Cates announced the theme of the 67th annual Academy Awards telecast: “Comedy and the Movies.” Said Cates: “I think we can all use a good laugh.”