Conversations About Bernstein - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195079477 ISBN 13: 9780195079470

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1995

Synopsis

With the death of Leonard Bernstein in 1990, the music world lost one of its most vital forces. Bernstein's death came only a matter of days after he had announced his retirement from conducting, and the news was received with incredulity and shock around the world. A composer, a conductor, a pianist, host of the wildly popular Omnibus series and the Young People's Concerts, Bernstein was in many ways a pioneer. The first American to conduct at La Scala (Cherubini's Medea in 1953 with Maria Callas), and the first to take over a major American orchestra when he became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958, he gave a new respectability to the idea of the American-born-and-trained musician. As Tim Page wrote in Newsday after Bernstein's death, Bernstein's decision to make a career in America was "a declaration of independence" for his generation of American musicians.

In Conversations About Bernstein, friends, critics, and collaborators, as well as the world-class musicians who shared the stage with Bernstein, remember the private artist behind the public flamboyance and acclaim. In an unprecedented series of interviews with author William Westbrook Burton, they reveal how Bernstein worked, the perennial conflicts in his personal and professional lives, and why he made the choices that he did. Here are not only the great triumphs--the stunning debuts as conductor with the New York or the Vienna Philharmonics, the rapturous reception of the incomparable West Side Story--but the moments of self-doubt and crushing disappointment as well. Composer Lukas Foss remembers Bernstein as a preternaturally poised young student under pressure to work in his father's beauty parlor business. Former New York Times critic Harold Schonberg maintains that his unrelentingly negative reviews of Bernstein's performances made no difference to Bernstein's career. Carol Lawrence recreates the historic first production of West Side Story. Conductor John Mauceri recalls with deep affection Bernstein's sometimes maddening methods of conducting and composing, and members of Bernstein's orchestras as well as opera stars Christa Ludwig, Frederica Von Stade, Jerry Hadley, and renowned cellist Mstislav Rostropovich share recollections of memorable recordings and performances.

A portrait emerges of a remarkably generous conductor and musical theatre collaborator adored worldwide, who nonetheless believed at the end of his life that his single most cherished ambition--the creation of a serious masterwork--remained unrealized. Candid, entertaining, and often moving, Conversations About Bernstein is a deeply enjoyable look at the career of arguably the most famous musician of our time.

About this title

About the Author

About the Author:

William Westbrook Burton studied violin and chamber music at The Juilliard School of Music. He subsequently moved to the United Kingdom, where he has worked with various orchestras including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Academy of Ancient Music, and Glyndebourne Touring Opera. As a writer he has contributed to Music and Musicians and The Musical Times.Conversations About Bernstein is his first book.

Reviews

With at least three other books about the late composer/conductor published in the past year, this would have to offer some startling new material to fill any kind of need, but it doesn't come close. Burton, a musician and journalist who now lives in England, has had the not very original idea of talking to fellow composers, recording engineers, orchestra members, singers, even other journalists who knew Bernstein, and transcribing the results. The picture that emerges is very much the one we have from the biographies: brilliant early promise, a profligate life, agonies about insufficient recognition as a composer and self-defeating behavior in the later years, even as his critical reputation soared. The musicians interviewed all seem to agree that there was a magnetism to a live Bernstein performance that was not reproducible; recording engineer Paul Myers is crisply dispassionate; biographer Joan Peyser insists that her emphasis on Bernstein's sexuality was intended as a compliment rather than a put-down. It's pleasant reading for Bernstein aficionados but essentially superfluous. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Leonard Bernstein liked to party, but these conversations are with colleagues, not social friends, so they are more serious commentaries than gossipy chronicles. By asking similar questions of different people, editor Burton explores several areas of Bernstein's career and personality. Which compositions will be remembered? he asks. Jeremiah Symphony, West Side Story, and Serenade are common answers. What was he like as a conductor? Energetic, frenetic, introspective, fearless, and, at the end, using slow tempi to bring out details. What motivated him? He sought adulation, was extremely generous, and wanted only the best from the people with whom he worked. Giving the answers are composers, a critic, a biographer, a record producer, conducting prote{‚}ge{‚}s, a theater director, singers, a cellist, and members of three orchestras. Some famous collaborators--Comden and Green, Sondheim--do not weigh in, but their associations are covered well in Humphrey Burton's Leonard Bernstein (1994). Carol Lawrence and Jerry Hadley contribute the most poignant interviews to a book that, though short, affords some perspectives on Bernstein not found elsewhere. Alan Hirsch

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195079477
• ISBN 13: 9780195079470
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 198
• Editor: Burton William Westbrook