#1
Posted: 9/6/06 at 9:07pm
I have no clue why the other thread I made about this is blank. Sorry.
Anyway, I just watched this special at the Museum of TV and Radio a couple of days ago, so it's so random that it's on tonight.
So this is a 2-hour special, part of PBS' American Masters series.
It of course highlights some his best compositions, going in-depth about West Side Story and has interviews with Sondheim, Laurents, and other of his peers.
But this man really led, in my opinion, an incredible life, and this special helped me to learn about it. He held a freedom concert in Berlin--one night the concert was on one side of the Berlin wall, the next night it was on the other. When he conducted the Vienna philharmonic, he introduced them and had them play the work of Mahler, who was of their heritage, but also Jewish, and Bernstein got his music played in a nation still recovering from Nazi influence.
It also highlights his inner turmoil of wanting to do too much--conduct, compose--classical or popular, etc. There was just so much he did.
If you can't tell, I worship him
So if you have *any* interest in Bernstein, watch!
Anyway, I just watched this special at the Museum of TV and Radio a couple of days ago, so it's so random that it's on tonight.
So this is a 2-hour special, part of PBS' American Masters series.
It of course highlights some his best compositions, going in-depth about West Side Story and has interviews with Sondheim, Laurents, and other of his peers.
But this man really led, in my opinion, an incredible life, and this special helped me to learn about it. He held a freedom concert in Berlin--one night the concert was on one side of the Berlin wall, the next night it was on the other. When he conducted the Vienna philharmonic, he introduced them and had them play the work of Mahler, who was of their heritage, but also Jewish, and Bernstein got his music played in a nation still recovering from Nazi influence.
It also highlights his inner turmoil of wanting to do too much--conduct, compose--classical or popular, etc. There was just so much he did.
If you can't tell, I worship him
So if you have *any* interest in Bernstein, watch!
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli
Updated On: 9/6/06 at 09:07 PM
