Rehearsal of Elgar's 'Enigma' variations and interview with Leonard Bernstein BBC OMNIBUS STUDIO, LONDON, APRIL 1982 From the ICA Classics DVD ICAD 5098 www.icaclassics.com
I'm guessing most people in the comments have never played in an orchestra? This is what you do during a rehearsal, you _rehearse._ All things considered it looked really lighthearted and cordial.
right?? You have to have a thick skin to be a performer, and you have to be able to "hang" in the rehearsal room, to banter and not be afraid to sacrifice your ego. It's a collaborative process, and unless you are able to lend yourself to the group, you won't make it.
He said he never wanted to conduct them again after this, and they weren’t too pleased with him. To say it’s just part of the process is a bit rose-tinted.
Lenny was one of the greats. He could build a rapport, yet here we see him driving the orchestra to ever greater passion and force. He didn't want mere "perfection;" he wanted the theatrical moment of transformative communion. Most gigs, he got it.
The greatest conductor of all time. Pushing musicians to a space only a few have experienced. A transcendental musician. He embodies the composer; he IS the composer! My hero.
The tuba player is James Gourlay, I vaguely remember seeing him at ITEC once, he seems like a cool guy. It looks like Maestro Bernstein was starting a little bit to get on everyone's nerves, as this is the same rehearsal footage with the "trumpet player disagreeing" excerpt, which is hilarious. Bernstein certainly got amazing results though. I'm sure it was at times a grueling and demanding experience to play for Bernstein, but the results came through clearly. Bernstein and Dudamel are my two all-time favorite conductors. Just brilliant. And, demanding/tiring as Bernstein may have been, he definitely seems much more kind and humane than other conductors I've heard about (such as Gergiev or Dutoit).
" he certainly got amazing results though "...........really ? The reception to this performance was luke warm and the Deutche Gramerphone recording is certainly not regarded as anything special. At best I would say his interpretation of this piece is no more than mediocre.
@@scabbycatcat4202 Bernstein's handling of Elgar's Enigma Variations has been called a lot of things. I have not heard "mediocre" before. "Bizarre," "Grotesque," "Fascinating," "Singular," "Narcissistic," those I have heard. Lenny's version of the Nimrod part apparently is still playing in some time zones.
@@scabbycatcat4202 "Gramerphone" Try Grammophon and perhaps you could take Maestro Bernstein's rehearsal for him ....? judging by the spelling absolutely not.
I don't own this... "Leonard Bernstein's only engagement with the BBC Symphony Orchestra took place in April 1982. It was a troubled time for Great Britain, with the long-running dispute over the Falkland Islands transformed into open war by the Argentinian invasion earlier in the month: the all-out military response ordered by Mrs Thatcher was still to come (a naval task force was on its way to the South Atlantic) when Bernstein conducted this concert at the Royal Festival Hall on 14 April. A few days later, he referred with withering sarcasm to the jingoist spirit of Elgar's patriotic music when (without preliminary rehearsal) he recorded two of the Pomp and Circumstance Marches as fillers to his CD recording of the 'Enigma' Variations, later issued on Deutsche Grammophon. An East Coast liberal, Bernstein was uneasy about England and its imperialist past. He loved Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and the Listener magazine's crossword puzzles but had hated his first visit to London in 1946. On that occasion (arranged by the music publisher Ralph Hawkes, a friend of his mentor Aaron Copland), Bernstein had conducted the London Philharmonic in six concerts and the newly formed Philharmonia for a recording of Ravel's G Major Piano Concerto that was sufficiently problematic to never be issued in the UK. Bernstein had been ill, lonely, depressed by bomb-ravaged London and unimpressed by the quality of its orchestral musicians. Over the next three decades his London concerts (apart from appearances with the New York Philharmonic on various tours) had all been given with the adventurous London Symphony Orchestra, including a memorable Mahler Eight at the Royal Albert Hall in 1966 and a Stravinsky memorial concert in 1972. For the BBC Symphony Orchestra it was therefore something of a scoop to lure the famous maestro away from the LSO; as a regular member of Bernstein's production team for the previous decade, I was happy to serve as a go-between in the negotiations, which were concluded shortly before I retired from BBC management to concentrate on work as a director. The rehearsal film (shot in BBC TV's Omnibus studio) was one of my first assignments in my new role. Bernstein, then sixty-three, was well aware of the historic importance of the BBC's flagship orchestra, which had been founded in 1930 under the leadership of Adrian Boult; Sir Adrian was knighted only seven years later for his achievement in establishing the orchestra as one of the UK's leading ensembles. In 1982 it was still admired as a superb instrument for the performance of contemporary music (Bernstein's new symphonic song cycle Songfest was also on the programme) but appeared much less in public than its rivals and no longer boasted such an array of distinguished solo players as in its pre-war glory days, when Arturo Toscanini and Bruno Walter had been among its guest conductors. Despite his own wealth of experience as a visiting maestro, Bernstein got off on the wrong foot with the BBC players by turning up spectacularly late for his first rehearsal, which was held in a television studio; he had done something similar with the LSO back in 1966 when he rehearsed Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony for a memorable Workshop programme. He claimed to have been driven to the wrong BBC studio but the truth was that he had underestimated the time it would take to get to White City from the Savoy ('it's just across the park') and to the despair of his assistant, he set off far too late for the traffic-clogged cross-town journey. To make matters worse, when he finally entered the studio he cut off the speech of welcome being delivered by the leader, Rodney Friend (whom he knew from Mr Friend's previous engagement as concertmaster of the NY Philharmonic), and then launched without apology for his late arrival, of which he seemed to be unaware, into a rambling discourse about his feeling of kinship for the composer whose music he was about to rehearse, Edward Elgar, whom he insisted on calling 'Eddy'. Their principal bond, it seemed, was that they shared a love of word puzzles and anagrams. Through the cameras I could see the orchestra becoming increasingly embarrassed and restless and matters did not improve when Bernstein finally began to make music: Elgar's theme was taken very slowly indeed. In his sixties, which proved to be the last full decade of his life, Bernstein tended to take slow movements slower and fast movements faster than heretofore. His Enigma interpretation was no exception: he had a virtuoso orchestra at his disposal and he put it through its paces. When Rodney Friend complains at rehearsal that Bernstein was setting 'an impossible tempo' for 'G.R.S.' (Variation XI) the conductor points out that Tempo di molto means very fast and Friend is jokingly urged to 'be a captain' and lead his troops into battle. In truth, the fast movements are actually not excessively fast and in the splendid finale Bernstein observes Elgar's many changes of tempo with the scrupulous devotion he also paid to Mahler's instructions. He reminded his players several times that Elgar's music was in the mainstream of the European tradition, influenced by Schumann and Tchaikovsky as well as Wagner and Elgar's admiring friend Richard Strauss. He drew some exquisite playing from the soloists, notably the first clarinet, Colin Bradbury, but there were several tense moments at the rehearsal, notably when he crossed swords with the trumpet section. There has been criticism that Bernstein makes some of the slower variations unnecessarily ponderous. In particular, his version of 'Nimrod' (Variation IX) has been held up to disbelief verging on ridicule because in performance it lasts five minutes and fifteen seconds, nearly twice as long as most conductors take it; at the first rehearsal it ran even longer, to almost seven minutes. All I can say by way of justification is that when you see the music as well as hearing it, when you watch on camera the intensity of Bernstein's beat and body language (particularly in the studio rehearsal where he implores the orchestra to 'keep it as pure and noble as you can') you are caught up in this wonderfully spiritual music: after all, Bernstein knew that Elgar aspired here to compose an adagio in the Beethoven tradition - in honour of his best friend, August Jaeger. In a brief interview with the Omnibus presenter, Barry Norman, Bernstein is asked for his suggestion concerning the identity of the enigma of Elgar's title. At the piano he demonstrates how Elgar's theme can be combined, somewhat tortuously, with 'Auld Lang Syne'; another candidate, 'Rule Britannia', is dismissed as simply not workable as the underlying theme. For Leonard Bernstein, however, the real enigma is how a work which has echoes of so many earlier European composers should come out sounding so British, so personal to Edward Elgar: 'that is the Enigma of Genius'." Humphrey Burton
Bernstein seems pretty great. The issue is in a situation like this the players may lose what makes music good the most: emotion. After hearing many, many orders even in marching band when I was younger it was pretty hard to vibe with the music. He's still a great teacher, similar to my conductor in orchestra. Harsh, but still brings your musician out. Excellent? Yes. Perfect? No. Among great conductors I would love to see a day when we find the perfect orchestral song. We won't, however that is a good thing. Reaching for it makes for incredibly enjoyable music. In its core this is still magical to watch.
Bernstien piss off many many musicians and I have met some of them they didn't like the BS they think he should have stayed in the States. Some years ago he did a TV interview where he stated to write good music you had to be Jewish and gay and I am both!! You coudn't make it up.
Yes, it is ridiculous - and if it was a fraction faster it wouldn`t be possible at all. I suppose one can see where he is trying to come from in one sense, namely, getting a strong attack on each note with a down bow every time. This works beautifully, for example, in the last movement of the Prince Igor dances. However, above a certain speed this action is self destructive as the weight of the arm having to be oscillated actually limits the effectiveness of the whole thing. One ends up absorbing more energy moving the arm than having it available for bow attack! Much better to use down - up bowing which would enable one to make the attack actually greater than using all down bows - and save the muscles of the musicians who DO know what they are talking about, believe it or not!. The attack is really down to the vertical application of force than starting at the heel every time - especially at high speed! How dismissive L.B. was when comments were made! I actually remember this when it was broadcast all those years ago. The other thing I remember, far more recently, was a record review when L.B. had "Nimrod" played at an unbelievably slow tempo. Elgar never intended it to be that slow - not even as slow as many other conductors took it - and they were all a darn sight quicker than L.B! One could, maybe, think of the limited time on a 78 R.P.M. in those days, but I don`t think that would have excluded the slower tempo if Elgar had chosen to have it played thus. Elgar once said to an orchestra, "I would like you to play this as if you have never heard it before". L.B. certainly was a clever man - composed some marvellous works - but he GOT SOMETHINGS WRONG! OK, folks - I`ll stand by for a torrent! Thanks for reading.
nah brother, if a concert master from such an orchestra says it's impossible it probably is, that's why it sounds kind of dirty, but that's the way bernstein wanted it to sound.
Can you imagine sitting there as the triangle guy, waiting for your que and after all of this, you miss it and come in late?...That would certainly suck!
Sometimes the holes line up on cherse to ensure"it" just doesn't work despite everyone's best efforts. I heard Rattle talking about working with the Cleveland Orchestra years ago and he said in effect that the collaboration hadn't worked. Sometimes the Gods will conspire against you.
I adore Lenny and worship his memory, but having read as many biographies as I have, I have to agree with the previous commentator, Luka Thurinn, that he is clearly drunk. It was no secret that he was on booze and pills at this time of his life, which is not a reason to excoriate him. I just feel sad, because he was indeed a great, great man.
If the principle violinist of a world renowned orchestra does not agree (in a nice way) with a world renowned conductor, one should definetely take it into consideration. It apparently means there's something problematic going on that the conductor has no clue about, unless the conductor himself/herself is a good string player. No more words!
@@vittoriostoraro For Gods Sake what are you talking about? He was talking about the Concert Masters feeling to the tempo NOT Bernstein and there are a few professional musicians out there who can read and translate the tempo and score.
@@vittoriostoraro I was talking about the concertmaster (1st Violinist) wrongly arguing with Bernstein that the tempo was too fast. Next time you want to be a stupid troll, read the comments accurately, By the way, why don't you F*ck off!!!!
@Charlescoleman; the concertmaster is arguing about the bowing that LB asks the strings to use (all down bows). He is saying that the tempo is too fast to use such an akward bowing. I think he is rigth…but LB insist for reasons that have nothing to do with music…
The "Nimrod" certainly is dreadful on the record-- for me, it disqualifies the entire performance. But this movement sounds good: hard for me to understand the resistance, understated as it was.
+Tsun Tak Cheung I agree...Mr. Bernstein was NOT arrogant. Nor was he rude. ("You talk big,but don't last!" was not a "put down",but a very funny line and everybody laughed.)
He is not his slave and he has every right to talk back, Bernstein is not his boss but his colleague. And about Bernstein being right, that's so incorrect to say that someone is right in music, if you called 10 different conductors and I'm talking about top conductors they would all make that particular part sound amazing, which one is right then?
I can hardly think that concert master here and of the New York Philarmonic Rodney Freind is a nobody string player is this a bad attempt at wind up or an ignorant remark for all to see?.....
@Great Destroyer He can't fire a player :D He's not the director of the orchestra as a whole, he's a freelance conductor who's been brought in to lead this concert. They should do as he asks, as befits a musical director of his standing, but he can't fire a player!
@Great Destroyer No. The conductor doesn't own the orchestra or contract the players. It's down to the orchestra manager to book and fix the players, not a visiting conductor.
Rodney Freind has known Bernstein for many years and I believe they are good friends lol. And although I kinda agree with Bernstein musically, but the players are not slaves. Bernstein knows that, so his approach has always been quite egalitarian.
