Bernstein's Young People's Concerts

[bigshot]

I've been working my way through the box set of YPC DVDs, and I keep running into amazing stuff. This set has things to teach even those of us who have been interested in classical music for decades.

I watched the "What Makes American Music American?" episode last week with a friend of mine who is very knowledgeable about music... and he had the same reaction I did when Bernstein said that Gershwin wasn't the final step in the evolution of American music. Huh?! You'll have to see the program to fully understand Bernstein's argument, but I'll give you a little hint... He proved his point by pointing to the wings and introducing Aaron Copeland who walked out and conducted Fanfare for the Common Man. It was a jaw droppingly amazing moment.

See ya
Steve

 

[recstar24]

I loved watching those series on DVD in class - very educational for anyone regardless of age, my favorite is when he talks about symphonie fantastique, i love how he breaks it down.

Bernstein was known fo really caring about music education and was a pivotal force throughout its development. I am a music educator and have learned a lot from his passion and love for passing along the torch.

He wrote a beautiful choral number titled "Make Our Garden Grow" that conveys a lot of those sentiments, and I plan on doing it with my choir this upcoming school year.

 

[bigshot]

I got the Harvard lectures too, but I have to dole those out in small doses. They're so concentrated that I find myself falling behind. That guy knew his stuff!

I'll watch the one on Symphonie Fantastique next. I've never really connected with that piece... It would be nice to really understand it. Another piece I've never connected with is Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra. I have a half dozen different versions, from Koussevitzky's first recording all the way through today, but none of them click for me.

See ya
Steve

 

[Doc Sarvis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot I'll watch the one on Symphonie Fantastique next. I've never really connected with that piece... It would be nice to really understand it.

You should try the HIP version by Gardiner. That did it for me.

 

[PSmith08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc Sarvis You should try the HIP version by Gardiner. That did it for me.

A vigorous second to the Gardiner recommendation. It is so HI that they did it in the hall where Berlioz premiered many works. Gardiner occasionally takes some license with the tempi, but - all told - this recording is essential.

 

[mbhaub]

Oh, Lenny, why did you have to smoke? We really could use someone like you right now to try to get our musical rudder in the right direction. I'll forget that you spent the last decade of your life mostly conducting in Europe, and that you rarely programmed American music. We just desperately need someone of your ability, breadth, excitement and political savvy. There's no one out there that has taken your place. None of your proteges has lived up to the hype or hope. But thanks anyway, for leaving us a reminder of how high quality television could be, for many great records, and most of all, for West Side Story.

 

[Doc Sarvis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbhaub Oh, Lenny, why did you have to smoke? We really could use someone like you right now to try to get our musical rudder in the right direction. I'll forget that you spent the last decade of your life mostly conducting in Europe, and that you rarely programmed American music. We just desperately need someone of your ability, breadth, excitement and political savvy. There's no one out there that has taken your place. None of your proteges has lived up to the hype or hope. But thanks anyway, for leaving us a reminder of how high quality television could be, for many great records, and most of all, for West Side Story.

In Lenny's case I'm not sure how much longer he would have lived if he hadn't smoked. He was in his 70s after all...

 

[PSmith08]

Lenny would be darn near 90. Only Stokowski kept on keeping on that long.

A long-lived genius only serves to stunt the community. Would the conductors of the sixties and seventies have been the same with Toscanini, Mahler, Strauss, and Furtwangler hovering over them like swords of Damocles? No. Most assuredly not. Bernstein left an enormous mark on music, of many styles and genres. We still have to grapple with things he did forty years ago. It is time for new men and women to revolutionize music in their own way.

Anyway, what was left for him to do? Take the ten or fifteen pieces that formed the core of his repertoire and play them over and over again? If that's all a longer life could present, then I think he'd say "Let me die and buy my records. Pass the Marlboros."

 

[bigshot]

Ten or fifteen pieces?! Never programmed American music?!

Bernstein had a massive repertoire... Mahler, Shotakovich, Ravel,
Stravinsky, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, Sibelius, Copeland,
Haydn, Gershwin, Mozart... He was the foremost champion of
American composers like Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, William
Schuman, Roy Harris, Charles Ives and Lukas Foss.

See ya
Steve

 

[PSmith08]

Of course, if he had lived after the Bernstein legend was created, would he have gone beyond the core of his repertoire? No. 80 is a touch old to be dancing around to Mahler's 2nd.

If I don't miss my guess, he would have stuck to the stuff that made him famous.

Of course, Steve is right: Bernstein was a leading programmer and recorder of the American canon. He also created no small part of the canon himself.

 

[mbhaub]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSmith08 Bernstein was a leading programmer and recorder of the American canon. He also created no small part of the canon himself.

Yes he was, of the music of a certain vintage and school. What I mean is I wish he had done more to promote the New England school: Amy Beach, J. K. Paine, G. W. Chadwick, J. Converse, E. MacDowell and that generation. Since he was from Boston, I would have hoped it would be a natural -- but it didn't happen.

 

[PSmith08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbhaub Yes he was, of the music of a certain vintage and school. What I mean is I wish he had done more to promote the New England school: Amy Beach, J. K. Paine, G. W. Chadwick, J. Converse, E. MacDowell and that generation. Since he was from Boston, I would have hoped it would be a natural -- but it didn't happen.

I think Bernstein had his likes and dislikes, and I think he programmed music that interested him as much as stuff he thought would please the crowd. Of course, I'll reiterate, with a twist: If ten more years of Bernstein meant ten more years of Barber's Adagio for strings and West Side Story, then I'd say he was better served with his career change.