tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post7134084256367139396..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Bernstein: a toast and a listDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-22444040629084852872018-09-03T17:03:58.741+01:002018-09-03T17:03:58.741+01:00The advantage of coming late to the party here is ...The advantage of coming late to the party here is to have not only the benefits of your post (I particularly enjoyed the brief notes of your tour through LB with students), but also the delighted and delightful comments. I love your observation that LB was “hyper-human,” which seems to me to fit him to a T. Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15674930917585246294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-72794491514437169052018-09-03T09:01:45.548+01:002018-09-03T09:01:45.548+01:00Yes, I find them hard work, whereas in MASS the an...Yes, I find them hard work, whereas in MASS the angst seems less contrived. No doubt he felt it. Do watch the Opera North film of Trouble in Tahiti on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc5H9b0yWqg&t=3s I don't think it could have a better advocacy, and Wallis Giunta is stunning.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-22794342757926658182018-09-03T07:33:47.315+01:002018-09-03T07:33:47.315+01:00The late 1970s must have been tough years for him ...The late 1970s must have been tough years for him indeed, David. I enjoyed the Baltimore/Thibaudet/Alsop Age of Anxiety from the Proms and have been investigating the symphonies. They're rather difficult to get into, I find, but there's a thread of real angst running through them, and it's sobering to think that the earliest come from the 1940s (i.e. when he was still in his 20s). I don't know Dybbuk or A Quiet Place either; perhaps you could let us know in due course what you make of them.JohnGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-46565306633903431632018-09-02T22:04:32.503+01:002018-09-02T22:04:32.503+01:00Yes, his attempts to sing 'Big Stuff', the...Yes, his attempts to sing 'Big Stuff', the blues he wrote for Billie Holiday which prefaces Fancy Free on a jukebox and is adapted as its Pas de deux, are very amusing (as I remember, they're to be found on his second recording of the ballet). No, he can't sing, not in any conventional sense of the word. That all sounds fascinating but I still have to catch up on works I haven't listened to yet - chiefly Dybbuk and A Quiet Place. I've just finished Burton's biography and the tragic personal break-up of his life after the catastrophe of Felicia dying shortly after he 'came out' and left her is wrenching. I ended up feeling very sad for him as a man, despite all his colossal achievements as an artist.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-35007750579215748152018-09-02T20:00:51.409+01:002018-09-02T20:00:51.409+01:00Just catching up a bit more today with Warner'...Just catching up a bit more today with Warner's new LB set from Paris, which I'd recommend for its live 1979 On the Waterfront and West Side Story suites - real temperament and commitment in the playing - and its 1975 Ravel centenary concert, with a fabulous La Valse. I've been enjoying too the extended rehearsal sequences for the Ravel. LB sings along in Sheherazade in the absence of Marilyn Horne, with obvious affection and knowledge - but, oh, you know what they said about the one talent Bernstein didn't have, for singing? It's quite cherishable. Good set. JohnGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-15108576577788216552018-08-27T09:43:29.575+01:002018-08-27T09:43:29.575+01:00Not yet - so much peripheral reading to catch up o...Not yet - so much peripheral reading to catch up on. But I must see as many of the films/TV broadcasts as I can first...I'm feeling Humph is holding much on the personal front in check.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-31648101406821798112018-08-27T08:31:14.585+01:002018-08-27T08:31:14.585+01:00On the subject of LB memoirs, David, did you catch...On the subject of LB memoirs, David, did you catch Jonathan Cott's winning little Dinner with Lenny? Account of meeting LB very shortly before you did, at the end of his life. I've also Charlie Harmon's recent memoir to read shortly. It looks quite lively!JohnGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-48635055952761342632018-08-26T10:50:31.862+01:002018-08-26T10:50:31.862+01:00What a terrific gesture! I have that performance o...What a terrific gesture! I have that performance on the DVD box of Bernstein's Mahler performances, but to see it IN the place with affable Humph presenting must indeed have been special. I'm halfway through the biography now, and it offers so many things to follow up. Must see if I can get hold of his TV programme on conducting. And other memoirs, too. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-19355724968122278182018-08-26T10:43:17.713+01:002018-08-26T10:43:17.713+01:00Hotel Schweizerhof - what a treat!
On Friday nig...Hotel Schweizerhof - what a treat! <br />On Friday night Ely had a big treat - the Humphrey Burton 1973 35mm film (Unitel) of Bernstein conducting Mahler 2 (LSO, Janet Baker & Sheila Armstrong + Edinburgh Fest Chorus) in Ely Cathedral was shown IN the Cathedral. Great experience! Humphrey B introduced it - touching on the myriad production problems of a 'traumatic weekend of filming' - bats whizzing around, a collapsing crane camera, even a bomb scare - and signed my treasured copy of his book (the Ely moment gets a paragraph on p.419). He says the 'performance itself had an epic power that Bernstein never surpassed'...<br />Overwhelming - Couldn't understand why the whole world wasn't there - it wasn't as full as it deserved. <br />NB Bernstein daughter Jamie's memoir is a great read. Did you catch Tom Service talking to her on Music Matters yesterday?<br />Dilys PDilys Pagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04779853968590533052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-50017698632069225052018-08-25T22:26:40.349+01:002018-08-25T22:26:40.349+01:00Nobody is 'above' a common humanity. Tryin...Nobody is 'above' a common humanity. Trying to find it in geniuses flawed in their daily lives is the trick.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-74300238485935906982018-08-25T18:20:31.740+01:002018-08-25T18:20:31.740+01:00I think that we are in agreement, though using dif...I think that we are in agreement, though using different wording. Your second sentence describes Bismarck. <br /><br />I would suggest that people like this should not be in the frame to be liked or not. David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-4443588642099980072018-08-25T18:15:28.297+01:002018-08-25T18:15:28.297+01:00Well, I think he was hyper-human rather than a thi...Well, I think he was hyper-human rather than a thinker on a higher plane - when he tried the transcendental in his music, it didn't quite work (for me, at any rate). I'd say he had all those gifts we would like in terrifying abundance, and with a terrifying energy to sustain them. But he was certainly complicated. What surprises me is how much I'm liking him in the biography - I've reached 1957, but Humphrey is warning of hubris ahead...Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-41952657958455993772018-08-25T16:48:56.008+01:002018-08-25T16:48:56.008+01:00Bernstein's brilliant personality and talent ...Bernstein's brilliant personality and talent ( they are facets of the same thing) do not seem to me properly described as unique, since the word "unique" has almost a one dimensional implication. Rather I would say that the only slot into which one could fit Bernstein is one marked " Bernstein", just as Bismarck will only fit into a slot marked "Bismarck ". And though there are few similarities between the two, there is one: they think on a plane of intelligence and insight different from the rest of us, and indeed on a higher plane.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com