Next week Lorin Maazel conducts his final concerts as the music director of the New York Philharmonic. The Mahler Eighth is his send-off. Noise reader Tammy Hepps has discovered a trove of reports of Maazel's child-prodigy years in an online archive of the Jewish Criterion, Pittsburgh's Jewish newspaper. At the time, Maazel was attending Peabody High School in Pittsburgh. One report reads: “For as long as Pittsburgh claims him, it can preen its feathers proudly. But it had better do so quickly for we fear he will soon be taking off for greener pastures. And with a talent like that, why shouldn’t he?” Another goes a little over the top: "Scan all musical history for a parallel of Lorin Maazel and the only approximation found is that of the young Mozart...." But the articles leave no doubt that Maazel was born with phenomenal gifts of memory, skill, and musical understanding.
