“The Unanswered Question” is one of Charles Ives’ most famous works. Long before Stravinsky and other Europeans tried out the clashing keys technically referred to as ‘bitonality’ or ‘polytonality’, this independent Yankee businessman and artist had discovered these things for himself. Indeed, he was so bold, so radical in his experiments that he could find almost no one to take his music seriously until long after Stravinsky, Bartók, Hindemith and other Europeans had made such sounds fashionable and even popular. This work was recorded live at New York’s Carnegie Hall on 20 May 1976. Under Leonard Bernstein, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra gave a concert of American music in honor of the American Bicentennial.
Schuman, American Festival Overture
When William Schumann (1910-1992) wrote his “American Festival Overture” for Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he already ranked among the young generation of leading American composers. Koussevitzky led the premiere on 4 October 1939. It was the opening work of two concerts given as part of a festival season of American music. The work sparkles with energy and spontaneity, with a kind of undefeatable American optimism that conquers listeners with its charm and spirit to this day. Leonard Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in this performance recorded at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1976.
Berlioz, Harold in Italy, op.16
In November 1976, one year after his triumphal performance of the Berlioz Requiem, a bearded Leonard Bernstein returned to Paris to conduct the Orchestre National de France. In two highly publicized concerts given at Paris’ Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, he conducted Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique” and “Harold in Italy”, in addition to two works by Darius Milhaud, Bloch’s “Schelomo Rhapsody” and Schumann’s Cello Concerto, the latter two featuring the celebrated cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. The concerts were unanimously hailed in the press, both for the dynamism and brio of a conductor at the peak of his artistic powers, and for the unmistakable signs of rejuvenation of the Orchestre National de France.
Milhaud, La création du monde, op.81a
French composer Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) owes his ballet “La création du monde” (The Creation of the World) above all to the jazz music he had heard in the United States in 1922. It was first performed in Paris in 1923 with decors and costumes by the artist Fernand Léger. In 1976, Leonard Bernstein included this work on his two programs of predominantly French music with the Orchestre National de France – a stimulating blend of celebrated repertoire works as well as lesser known masterpieces from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Reviewing one of the concerts, David Stevens, the critic of the International Herald Tribune, wrote on 4 November 1976: “There are precious few conductors who can so completely identify themselves with the works of certain composers and at the same time occupy themselves with extracting total cooperation from such willful bodies of humanity as, say, a French orchestra. The miracle duly took place¿”
Milhaud, Le boeuf sur le toit, op.58
“Le boeuf sur le toit” by French composer Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) combines various melodies from Brazil: tangos, maxixes, sambas and the Portuguese fado. These had haunted Milhaud ever since his stay in Brazil. Subtitled “Cinéma-Fantaisie” and dedicated to Charlie Chaplin, the work was premiered in Paris in 1919 with a pantomime libretto by Jean Cocteau. In 1976, Leonard Bernstein included this work on his two programs of predominantly French music with the Orchestre National de France – a stimulating blend of celebrated repertoire works as well as lesser known masterpieces from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Reviewing one of the concerts, David Stevens, the critic of the International Herald Tribune, wrote on 4 November 1976: “There are precious few conductors who can so completely identify themselves with the works of certain composers and at the same time occupy themselves with extracting total cooperation from such willful bodies of humanity as, say, a French orchestra. The miracle duly took place¿”
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.
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.
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, 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, 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.