Like all the other works in Haydn’s series of twelve London symphonies, the Symphony No. 98 was first performed as part of a series of concerts featuring the violinist Johann Peter Salomon. Haydn conducted these concerts from the piano in 1792 and was accorded a rapturous reception by the London audience. Whilst the Allegro in the first movement bears the unmistakable stamp of Mozart’s influence, the extravagant swagger of the Minuet already anticipates Beethoven’s Scherzi. Haydn’s energy and dramatic wit are then seen at their best in the finale, which is packed with musical jests and playful flourishes. The work is one which deserves more attention that it has hitherto received. Leonard Bernstein began conducting Haydn’s orchestral works when he was still Music Director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then, his interpretations of the symphonies have consistently met with unreserved critical acclaim. He, of all conductors, possessed precisely the qualities which Haydn’s music requires: grace, charm and a generous measure of wit. This production with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra was recorded in 1984.
Tchaikovsky, Andante Cantabile
Winner of a prestigious Emmy Award in 1976, Leonard Bernstein’s recording of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony and Andante cantabile with the New York Philharmonic was filmed live at Avery Fisher Hall on 24 April 1975. Bernstein had the entire string section play the Andante cantabile, originally for string quartet, thus taking up a practice begun by Arturo Toscanini many years before. In his later years, Bernstein came to identify as closely with Tchaikovsky as he had with Mahler, and gave searingly intense interpretations of both composers.
Bernstein, Mahler Rehearsals (Symphonies 5&9)
Copland, Fanfare for the Common Man
Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was one of the leading spirits in American music in the 20th century and few U.S. composers, especially during the 30s, 40s and 50s, were not in some way influenced by his music. While his early works were considered austere and appealed primarily to a musical elite, he developed a more accessible style into which he incorporated the peculiarly American elements of jazz, folk music and spiritual melodies. In the words of the noted music critic Harold Schonberg, he was “the urbane, respected symbol of a half century of American music… Copland made the break that took American music into a powerful, modern, very personal kind of speech.” In this program, Copland performs some of his favorite compositions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman. The program was recorded in 1976.
Copland, El Salón México
Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was one of the leading spirits in American music in the 20th century and few U.S. composers, especially during the 30s, 40s and 50s, were not in some way influenced by his music. While his early works were considered austere and appealed primarily to a musical elite, he developed a more accessible style into which he incorporated the peculiarly American elements of jazz, folk music and spiritual melodies. In the words of the noted music critic Harold Schonberg, he was “the urbane, respected symbol of a half century of American music… Copland made the break that took American music into a powerful, modern, very personal kind of speech.” In this program, Copland performs some of his favorite compositions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman. The program was recorded in 1976.
Copland, Clarinet Concerto
Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was one of the leading spirits in American music in the 20th century and few U.S. composers, especially during the 30s, 40s and 50s, were not in some way influenced by his music. While his early works were considered austere and appealed primarily to a musical elite, he developed a more accessible style into which he incorporated the peculiarly American elements of jazz, folk music and spiritual melodies. In the words of the noted music critic Harold Schonberg, he was “the urbane, respected symbol of a half century of American music… Copland made the break that took American music into a powerful, modern, very personal kind of speech.” In this program, Copland performs some of his favorite compositions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman. The program was recorded in 1976.
Copland, Hoe down from the Ballet “Rodeo”
Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was one of the leading spirits in American music in the 20th century and few U.S. composers, especially during the 30s, 40s and 50s, were not in some way influenced by his music. While his early works were considered austere and appealed primarily to a musical elite, he developed a more accessible style into which he incorporated the peculiarly American elements of jazz, folk music and spiritual melodies. In the words of the noted music critic Harold Schonberg, he was “the urbane, respected symbol of a half century of American music… Copland made the break that took American music into a powerful, modern, very personal kind of speech.” In this program, Copland performs some of his favorite compositions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman. The program was recorded in 1976.
Copland, Suite from “The Tender Land”
Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was one of the leading spirits in American music in the 20th century and few U.S. composers, especially during the 30s, 40s and 50s, were not in some way influenced by his music. While his early works were considered austere and appealed primarily to a musical elite, he developed a more accessible style into which he incorporated the peculiarly American elements of jazz, folk music and spiritual melodies. In the words of the noted music critic Harold Schonberg, he was “the urbane, respected symbol of a half century of American music… Copland made the break that took American music into a powerful, modern, very personal kind of speech.” In this program, Copland performs some of his favorite compositions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman. The program was recorded in 1976.
Copland, Lincoln Portrait
Soon after the United States was drawn into World War II, André Kostelanetz approached three American composers with the suggestion of composing three musical portraits of eminent Americans, to express the ‘magnificent spirit of our country.’ The proposal resulted in Virgil Thomson’s “The Mayor La Guardia Waltzes’, Jerome Kern’s “Portrait for Orchestra of Mark Twain’, and Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait”. The score is dedicated to André Kostelanetz, who conducted the first performance at a pension fund concert of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in Cincinnati on 14 May 1942. Our concert featuring the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Leonard Bernstein was recorded in London in 1976.
Gershwin, An American in Paris
Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin – two musicians inseparably linked with America – form an exuberant and stimulating combination in this program with the New York Philharmonic. Gershwin was one of the American composers Bernstein revered the most and one who, along with Mahler, Copland and Blitzstein, exerted a great influence on him as a composer. For his senior thesis at Harvard University, for example, Bernstein set out to show that Gershwin and Copland had created a national musical style by responding creatively to jazz and Latin-American influences. And when his musical “On the Town” was premiered in 1944, one critic described it as “an energetic blend of Stravinsky and Gershwin.” If anyone could do justice to Gershwin’s spirited, swinging style, it was unquestionably Leonard Bernstein.