1:19:10 Thank you Jerry Hadley for this intimate, authentic view into Lenny’s life. I feel like I know him a little bit now and as a huge fan this has been truly wonderful.
Bernstein indeed loved a great many different types of music, but this little story I think illustrates his love for and fascination with sound as the basic raw material of music. The jazz bassist Charlie Haden was performing at a club with the then avant-garde saxophonist Ornette Coleman and was deep into his free improvisation when he suddenly opened his eyes and was stunned to see someone kneeling in front of his bass with his ear pressed against the instrument. In shock he asked Coleman, "Who's that!?" to which Ornette replied, "Don't you know? That's Leonard Bernstein!"
Fantastic interview, and Jerry is absolutely riveting. To get a glimpse of Bernstein through someone who worked with him and performed with him is very rewarding. I particularly like the fact that he sees Bernstein as a multifaceted and complex person, and while acknowledging his faults as well as his virtues, he does so from a place of respect and deep wisdom, and with an injection of humor. Jerry's own passion for music and the appreciation of music inspires and thrills me, and I hope many others, and Bernstein has had a role in that for both of us.
A fascinating interview. Luckily I saw him in the Candide with Bernstein in London. Quite an experience which I still remember with awe. Also the Joan Sutherland story rings very true.
I think LB’s treatment of Dimitri Mitropoulos goes beyond foible (“outing” him with both the BSO and NYP, to advance his own career, f.I.), and yet he invited DM to conduct a month of Mahler symphonies with NYP. Hadley understands LB’s complexity better than most. Both of them are sorely missed.
To be fair, NYCO had a pretty tenuous financial situation and she would have been giving up her biggest star... although I'm sure there was a power play at work...
Mindboggling choice...a Polish kid with a spanish accent. Jose woefully miscast. Watching him being tortured during the recording of " Maria" is one of the most painful things one will ever see.
Would that arm-around and kiss be considered a sexual assault these days? He didn't seem to sound traumatized by the event. Several things like that happened to me as a young man coming out in the gay community in the mid-80s (a fair amount of social affection but not a lot of "true intimacy" due to the HIV crisis), and I don't remember being traumatized by this type of interaction.
Sairam Prof. Giuseppe Savazzi head of the WORLDWIDE CIA SAIRAM secret services in India member of Rotary Club of New York District 7230 blessing to all of you from India 🇮🇳 Music Director and Founder of the Sathya Sai Universal Symphony Orchestra in Putthaparty Founder and music Director of the Rotary Youth International Orchestra with Lufthansa Sponsor since 1990. in šāʾ Allāh إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ Sairam 🙏🇮🇳❤️🙏
Going back to 53' 19", it reminds of Stephen Sondheim saying, or repeating someone else's theory, that past 50 a composer will not be able to produce a master-piece anymore.... Maybe that's why Bernstein never achieved greater success, or further success, after West Side Story?
I don't know if it was during a rehearsal (it probably wasn't), but Jerry Hadley died after accidentally shooting himself in the head with an air rifle. He was put on life support after showing signs of severe brain injury, taken off life support 6 days later, and died 2 days after that.
