Ruth Leon recommends… Leonard Bernstein – Jeremiah
Ruth Leon recommendsLeonard Bernstein – Jeremiah
The name of Leonard Bernstein is much in the news right now because of the controversy surrounding the casting of Bradley Cooper in the forthcoming biopic Maestro. By the way, this casting is robustly supported by all of Bernstein’s children – no pushover they – so who are we to complain? Bernstein himself was a controversial figure, often in the news for activities which were not always musical so it is hardly surprising that there should continue to be contention surrounding his legacy.
What is beyond dispute is that Leonard Bernstein was a great man of music. Some of my indelible musical memories came under his spellbinding baton, whether conducting his beloved New York Phil, his even more beloved Israel Phil, or his less beloved but insistent support of the Vienna Phil.
Bernstein was a great conductor, a superlative pianist, a inimitable composer of both concert and theatre music (West Side Story, anyone?), and probably the greatest musical pedagogue America ever produced. Ask almost any American musician what their inspiration was and they will tell you their introduction to classical music came from Bernstein’s landmark television series for CBS, his Young People’s Concerts 1958-1972.
If anyone ever deserved a biopic, it’s Leonard Bernstein. Now let’s hope the filmmakers don’t screw it up.
Here’s a little snippet of Bernstein conducting his own music, the Jeremiah Symphony, more formally Symphony No.1 (1942) by Leonard Bernstein with the Israel Philharmonic in 1977.
“Any American musician will tell you their inspiration was Bernstein’s Young Peoples’ Concerts.” Not all American musicians are baby boomers. And you never mentioned the birthday tomorrow.
You found a picture of Bernstein where his nose actually kind of looks like Bradley Cooper’s fake one!
I think the Jeremiah is an underrated work. Just a bit of discographic trivia about this work. For years Bernstein was closely and exclusively associated with Columbia Records, but in the 78 rpm era he recorded for RCA Victor and one such recordings was just this Jeremiah Symphony, with the St Louis Symphony (a very good orchestra even that far back) and Nan Merriman the singer.
In the mid 1950s RCA was mining some of its older but still decent sounding 78 rpm recordings and issuing them on the budget Camden label. As a rule (but not always) the names of artists were omitted on Camden evidently to limit royalties or other contractual issues, and the orchestras were given pseudonym names that were fairly widely known, so an insider knew which was the Boston Symphony, which the Philadelphia, and so on.
So on a budget label you could get that St Louis recording of the Jeremiah Symphony, with the St Louis Symphony re-named the “Schuyler Symphony Orchestra.” But Bernstein was named and pictured on the cover of CAL 196, and Nan Merriman was named. The symphony was filled out with Facsimile and On the Town which he had also recorded with other orchestras for RCA Vixtor. If you don’t mind monaural sound, and scratchy surfaces from the old Camden LP, it is worth searching for because it is a really strong performance, very convincing. Many might prefer the better sound and perhaps the singing of Jennie Tourel on his later Columbia recording, but I happen to think the Jeremiah is just fine, and the version of Facsimile on the Camden LP is the best I know of.