Here’s a nice little video essay on Leonard Bernstein’s apartment in the Dakota, on Central Park West and 72nd Street. It features mostly stills of the large, tall and crowded rooms (stuffed with furniture and artifacts), though there is also a little doc live-action stuff thrown in. The apartment was
Behold an amazing clip of Glenn Gould playing the first portion of Bach’s Piano Concerto 1 (in D Minor, kids) accompanied by the New York Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein conducting. The opening five or so minutes consists of a lecture–very well done–by Lenny discussing the lack of indication in Bach’s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v32U0mjGz6g It turns out that Lenny B., after dismissing 95 % of rock and roll as ‘trash’, had a genuine affection for–and admiration of–The Beatles. Above is a seven minute clip of him in 1967 dissecting various aspects of the Fab Four’s music, at one point likening the melody of
Welcome to another clip of Leonard Bernstein in conflict with his orchestral players. This time, during a rehearsal of Elgar’s ‘Enigma Variations’, he rubs one of the three trumpet players the wrong way when imitating they’re playing in order to describe what he doesn’t like. His imitation is a bit
Last Friday I posted a short clip of Leonard Bernstein calling out a student conductor. This of course led YouTube to generate a number of Lenny B. arguments with orchestra personnel all of which are quite delightful (and short). Here’s Lenny tussling with alto Krista Ludwig during a rehearsal for
Here’s a short but pungent one minute clip of Leonard Bernstein teaching/supervising an orchestra master class with a student conductor who tries to put one over on the band. Lenny’s having none of it and calls the guy out. Rather than hanging his head in shame the poor student conductor
Let’s not be coy. I didn’t have dinner with Stephen. (Lunch once, yes, but that’s a story for another time). (And there were eight of us at the table, though I was seated next to him). But last night while eating leftovers I watched the terrific video posted above which