BY JAY NORDLINGER [NY Sun, 22 October 2007]

James Conlon is a good friend to Alexander von Zemlinsky, and Zemlinsky is a good friend to him. Mr. Conlon is the American conductor who is now music director of the Los Angeles Opera (and some other things); Zemlinsky is the Viennese composer who straddled two centuries, living from 1871 to 1942. Mr. Conlon has recorded a good deal of his music, including "A Florentine Tragedy," a short opera.