Levine returns to BSO -- in a chair

LENOX, Mass., July 8 (UPI) -- Boston Symphony Orchestra music director James Levine seems to have made more than a full recovery, the Boston Globe reported.

Levine made his first walk to the podium in more than four months Friday at the Tanglewood gala-opening. He suffered from an onstage fall in Symphony Hall last March, and subsequently underwent rotator cuff surgery.

He was spry and spirited Friday, the newspaper said, as he led the BSO through a program of Schoenberg and Beethoven -- although he did conduct from a chair Friday. He was reportedly moved enough to jump up out of the chair at the end of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," the Globe said.

The audience included several musical luminaries, including singer-songwriter James Taylor and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.