(One critic wrote he looked like 'a Greek bartender vigorously shaking cocktails.') Still, his total absorption into the scores he conducted, his physical dynamism, intensity and concentration could rivet every member of an orchestra. He conducted, nervously and even violently, with his entire body, not just his hands and arms. He shunned both baton and score, choosing to commit everything to his amazing photographic memory. Mitropoulos' unorthodox conducting style doubtless didn't help, either. That the conductor lived alone and remained virtually celibate all his life did not stop the gossip within the Philharmonic about his gayness this, Trotter writes, 'contributed significantly to the gradual undermining of Mitropoulos' authority.' Music was for him a spiritual necessity, and, despite the rumors that swirl around his name even today, music supplanted sex in his life. Raised for the priesthood, Mitropoulos grew up to be a celebrant of music as a high and holy rite.
