MUSIC

As has long been rumored, Zubin Mehta will not return for another stint as music director of the New York Philharmonic when his current contract expires at the end of the 1990-91 season. At that point Mehta will have held the position longer than anyone in the orchestra’s modern history, but his tenure has come under criticism from both the press and members of the orchestra. The 52-year old conductor succeeded Pierre Boulez in New York in 1978, after leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 1962. “The search begins now,” a spokesman for N.Y. Philharmonic said. The quest for an heir could begin here. Andre Previn has been subject of speculative reports in New York as a possible candidate.