Posts tagged Leonard Bernstein
Beethoven
Symphony Nº. 6 in F, “Pastoral,” Op. 68
I. Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arriving in the country
II. Scene at the brook
III. Happy gathering of country folk
IV. The storm
V. Shepherd’s song; cheerful, thankful feelings after the storm
Wiener Philharmoniker
Leonard Bernstein
A jovial Bernstein sporting some serious stripes, 1945.
Bon Appétit, Bernstein!
On today, Julia Child’s 100th birthday, we celebrate the perfect pairing of food and music. What do Julia Child and Leonard Bernstein have in common? Lee Hoiby’s 1989 opera, Bon Appétit, was not only based on Julia Child’s own words and recipes from her television show, but it also, at one point, included Lenny’s early song cycle La Bonne Cuisine, set to excerpts from Julia’s autobiography.
Celebrate Julia today with this clip from the opera, as performed by Debra McVicker.
From right, Leonard Bernstein, producer Teo Macero (Bitches Brew), and Goddard Lieberson at a session for On the Town.
(photo: Don Hunstein)
Leonard Bernstein congratulating Nadia Boulanger fifty years ago in 1962, when she became the first woman to lead the New York Philharmonic in a full concert.
Beethoven
Symphony Nº. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60
I. Adagio — Allegro vivace
II. Adagio
III. Allegro vivace
IV. Allegro ma non troppo
Wiener Philharmoniker
Leonard Bernstein, cond.
Beethoven’s Fourth, one of the least performed of his nine symphonies, was completed in the period between 1804-1806, the astonishingly fruitful time which also gave birth to the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies , the Fourth Piano Concerto, the “Appassoniata” Sonata, the Razumovsky Quartets, and other works. Symphonies 4, 5, and 6 are thought to have been completed in the order indicated by number, but work on them overlapped considerably as they were all “in the oven” at the same time.
One reason for the relative obscurity of the Fourth lies in its reserved character falling between the two titanic outbursts of the Third and Fifth; Beethoven seems to have withdrawn into himself, and superficially the Fourth does not seem like an advancement.
But careful listening and analysis shows this is far from the case: within its highly classic frame, the Fourth abounds with experiments in syncopation, harmony (especially in its frequent use of enharmonic modulations), and orchestration—nowhere before the Fourth had the composer so colorfully and boldly defined new orchestral sonorities and their interplay. It is also worth mentioning that the Adagio of the Fourth would be the last truly “slow” inner movement of a symphony until the Ninth, with those in the interim passing at andante or better.
Herbert von Karajan (L) and Leonard Bernstein (R) in ski gear. These two titans of the podium did not get along famously—but Bernstein was touched when von Karajan showed up at his room in Milan at 3 AM with an armful of ski gear for him to borrow. At dinner von Karajan had offered to take his counterpart into the Alps, but Bernstein had to decline as he owned no equipment.
Leonard Bernstein - “Cool” from West Side Story
‘The Leonard Bernstein Orchestra’
Brahms - Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
I. Un poco sostenuto - Allegro
Israel Philharmonic Orch.
Leonard Bernstein, cond.
Johannes Brahms spent, by his own count, no fewer than 21 years working out his first symphony—and he insisted on a minimum of three trial performances in various cities before allowing Simrock to publish the work. The composer was mindful both of his much-discussed relationship to Beethoven and his need to counter the programmatic experiments of artists like Liszt and Berlioz, whom he would more openly critique, according to some readings, in his later symphonies. “A symphony is no joke,” Brahms is supposed to have said.
I’m no longer quite sure what the question is. But I do know that the answer is ‘yes.’
Leonard Bernstein
392 plays
Mahler - Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”
II. Andante moderato (sehr gemächlich)
New York Philharmonic Orch.
Leonard Bernstein, cond.
Gustav Mahler met the aging Hans von Bülow when he arrived to take the helm of the Hamburg Opera in 1891. The elder statesman admired the young conductor but did not take kindly to his Totenfeier, a funereal tone-poem which Mahler played for him at the piano on one occasion.
The poem The Resurrection by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock was read at von Bülow’s funeral in 1894. “It struck me like lightning, this thing,” Mahler wrote; he would include the opening lines of the poem along with his own considerable expansion in the Second Symphony’s choral finale—the Totenfeier, heavily revised, became its first movement.
At the Dresden premiere in 1901 Mahler provided a rudimentary program for the work. The second movement, essentially a set of Ländler, is at its surface one of Mahler’s most unassuming statements meant to evoke (though not without some chill, perhaps) happy memories from the lifetime of the deceased. It is a brief moment of warmth and levity in one of the largest and most cosmic works of music ever created.
But, characteristically, almost from the instant he prescribed such a program Mahler was ready to tear it to shreds. As he wrote to Alma in December:
I am convinced, namely, that if God were asked to expound the program of the world He created, He would be incapable of doing so! At most it would be some kind of a revelation, which would reveal just as little about the nature of God and of life as my feeble concoction can tell us about my C minor symphony…it would inevitably lead to misunderstanding. In Berlin I had an earnest talk with Strauss, in which I tried to show him the futility of his position. Unfortunately, he didn’t really understand me…
(Caspar David Friedrich | Fog in the Elbe Valley, 1821)
Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, Op 58
I. Allegro moderato
II. Andante con moto
III. Rondo: Vivace
Krystian Zimerman, piano
Wiener Philharmoniker
Leonard Bernstein, cond.
The trouble with you and me, Ned, is that we want everyone in the world to personally love us, and of course that’s impossible; you just don’t meet everyone in the world.
Leonard Bernstein, to Ned Rorem
Bernstein - Ballet Music from On the Town
RCA Victor Orchestra
Leonard Bernstein, cond.
1945
Happy birthday to Lenny—born today in 1918.
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