Mahler 2: Bernstein’s only concert with the Cleveland Orchestra

New on youtube, starting with an astonishingly gloomy forecast for the future of the orchestra.

Bernstein conducted the Cleveland Orchestr in July 1970 Mahler 2nd after George Szell was hospitalized following the tour of Asia.

We hear: The back story is that at the first rehearsal LB started to lead a rather perfunctory run through until the orchestra members insisted that they wanted a real performance. LB supposedly said okay if that’s what you want. It has been reported that after rehearsals he said you guys are f…ing great you give me exactly what I ask for and the musicians talked about the concert for years afterward. The other story connected with his visit is that Mrs. Szell refused to let him visit GS because LB showed up in a white leisure suit and she said he looked like an ice cream cone. Regardless, the sound is quite good and the performance imo compelling.