#bernstein

[scherzokinn]

Things To Never Say To Someone Who Just Came Out - Composers Edition!

[blackswaneuroparedux]

I think that if I were required to spend the rest of my life on a desert island, and to listen to or play the music of any one composer during all that time, that composer would almost certainly be Bach.

- Glenn Gould

Glenn Gould plays Bach's Keyboard Concerto in D Minor. In 1960.

Glenn Gould made his television debut on CBS's Ford Presents "The Creative Performer" with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic.

[sixty-silver-wishes]

hi classical music tumblr. it has come to my attention that not enough of you are aware of the fact that leonard bernstein wrote poetry. specifically a poem called “life is juicy.” from 1947. and it’s. it’s really one of the poems ever

[victorlaby]

[orarosarium]

[neubad-plakate]

Grafik: Michael Speranza

[msclaritea]

When the New York Post declared this year's Best Actor race 'Lackluster' they weren't kidding. We basically have the Gay Mafia, competing against itself, and while they practically run both actors, it's obvious the Satanic cult of Scientology and its many, many Israeli members want to honor a monster, Oppenheimer, because of his Solar Cult stance about a one world government. That is what people don't get.

As usual, they can't help but casually promote their other members by use of snarky memes. Oh, come on. Don't tell me no one guessed about Cate Blanchett. Don't forget the rule in Hollywood. They don't like straight actors to play gay roles. But the reverse is just fine.

I'd rather see Paul Giamatti or Zac Efron get the award. I KNOW Giamatti is a strong actor, often overlooked and unproblematic as hell. I like him even more, now, since finding out, today that Sideways remains one of his favorite projects, as is mine. I still watch that movie, every two years, just so I can lmao, again.

Zac Efron has actually endured and survived physical abuse in the film industry. The fact that he is still going is truly more courageous than either of the top queens, currently scratching each other's eyes out over Oscar gold.

[senfonikankara]

Brahms | Variations on Haydn Theme

[jazzandother-blog]

When Miles Davis named the five geniuses of American music

(Credits: Far Out / Tom Palumbo)

Dale Maplethorpe (Far Out Magazine):

Miles Davis will go down as arguably one of the most honest musicians who ever became famous, perfectly personified by his attendance at an awards ceremony at the White House. When asked by someone he described as a “politician’s wife” why America is so keen on neglecting jazz, he answered, “Jazz is ignored here because the white man likes to win everything.”

The woman asked in retaliation, “What have you done that’s so important in your life?”, to which he responded, “Well, I’ve changed music five or six times.” 

He’s not wrong, either. The release of specific Miles Davis albums, from Birth of the Cool to Kind of Blue to Bitches Brew, are viewed less as good moments in musical history and instead as defining moments in American culture. He is the most influential trumpeter and one of the most influential musicians to ever take to the stage, with a sound and style that would shape how America – and subsequently the world – viewed the production of sound. 

His honest attitude towards himself and his music contributed to his success. He could critique himself to the extent that he could bring out the best in his music. He could also look at the music surrounding him to see what was missing and pick out what was wrong with the current musical landscape. That often led to him getting in trouble with some artists, but it also meant when we see the names of those he refers to as geniuses, we can take it at face value.

Davis had previously rubbed American composer Leonard Bernstein the wrong way when he refused to play anything from West Side Story, saying he thought it was “corny shit”. However, when he wrote to Bernstein on his 70th birthday, with decades to reflect on the music and see its impact on the world, he was willing to admit that Berstein was a genius. In doing so, he listed the five people who shaped American music, changing it for the better forever. 

Davis dismissed his previous comments in his letter, confessing West Side Story “turned out to be a classic.” He also noted that Bernstein is one of the great geniuses of American Music. “You are one of America’s true geniuses, along with Monk, Gillespie, Mingus and Parker,” he said.

There is no doubt, looking back, that Davis’s comments on Bernstein are correct. He was one of the first composers whose music expanded outside of America, leading to him cementing himself as one of the greats with a plethora of accolades attached to his name. The same can be said about Thelonious Monk, who worked with Davis previously and had a unique improvisational style that broke barriers and showed musicians how limitless their sounds could be.

The other musicians Davis refers to are Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus and Charlie Parker. All of them were musicians who had worked well with Davis in the past and helped contribute towards the musical landscape that eventually enveloped American culture. There is no doubt that Miles Davis changed music about five or six times, as he professed during that White House dinner, and Bernstein, Monk, Gillespie, Mingus and Parker are four or five musicians who helped him change it.

Credits: faroutmagazine.co.uk

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

the best of all possible candides, courtesy of the atlanta opera

[sarahtheflutist]

Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58

I. Allegro moderato

Krystian Zimerman and the Vienna Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein

[hridaymedia001]

When a child’s sensory system is overwhelmed, they can feel unsafe. For some children with autism, this experience is due to their heightened sensitivity to sensory stimuli. In crowded or noisy environments, they may struggle to filter out background noise, making it difficult to focus on important cues or stay alert to potential dangers. They may also have difficulty understanding the social cues of others and interpreting nonverbal language, which can lead to misunderstandings and feelings of vulnerability.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Music, of all the arts, stands in a special region, unlit by any star but its own, and utterly without meaning. . . without meaning, that is, except its own, a meaning in musical terms, not in terms of words, which inhabit an altogether different mental climate. . . If it could be told in words, then why would Chopin have found it necessary to tell it through notes in the first place?

- Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein at Frédéric Chopin's piano in Warsaw, Poland, 1959.

[capn-o-my-soul]

what are your guys's favorite recordings of mahler symphony no. 2?

for a while mine's been one with claudio abbado and the 2003 Lucerne Festival Orchestra, but I just listened to bernstein and the NY phil in 1987 (with christina ludwig and barbara hendricks) and i must say i love the biting sharpness of the high brass that is missing from abbado's recording. additionally, the softs are more mellow and the louds are more attention-grabbing. i feel like some sections are drowned out a bit in the abbado recording; when i listened to the 1987 bernstein for the first time, i heard prominent parts of the piece i had never heard before in abbado's version.

imo simon rattle with BPO was a bit disappointing. it lagged quite a bit in some parts and overall was just kind of...boring? sluggish? not really quite sure how to word it.

im also looking forward to listening to jurowski with the LPO.

what are your thoughts?

[swanlid]

Bibliophile Princess was so comfy this season

[thatnerdyqueer]

so uh I just finished Maestro and I gotta say I have some Thoughts.

Positive stuff first:

for a guy who's not a professional conductor? Amazing!

Phenomenal soundtrack

incredibly well produced

eerily good acting (particularly his portrayal of gross sweaty old Bernstein who mumbles a LOT)

the arty scenes made me excited and also quite scared about my future lol

touching moments, had me crying, generally a good movie

However.

There were a couple of things that made me angry (to varying degrees):

why is a film about a gay jewish guy written by, directed by, and starring a straight christian guy?

cuz you can tell

a lot

I get that the choice to centre the story around him and his wife was A Choice

and at times it was incredibly beautiful!

but sometimes. No. It felt very.... male gaze-y

like a.... not fetishized and not quite romanticised, but definitely not.... authentic portrayal of a queer guy married to a woman

I get its complex and stuff but like.,,,,,, it just annoyed me ok????

plus antisemitism was kind of touched on and then just..... dropped????

and we never really got any development of his male partners, they were just,,,, there?????

It felt like the movie couldnt pick one thing to focus on

If it's about him and his wife, dont call it Maestro. If its about the music, don't put so much family drama in!

I get that its a well rounded, complicated story, but you just can't show EVERYTHING in one movie

even all of the times you see him conducting (which good on him for learning) felt like they just put that in there to call it Maestro

arguably they were my favourite scenes in the movie

but they have virtually no relevance to the 'plot'!

ESPECIALLY THE MAHLER BIT

like that is peak, iconic Lenny so of course they HAD to have it in the movie, but they could have tied it in a little more????

Idk it just left me kind of unsatisfied

I can definitely see why everyone's saying they just make these films for the nominations

big name cast and crew (Bradley Cooper, Scorsese, Spielberg, Carey Mulligan, etc etc)

and it felt very hollywood

if there was one word I would have to pick to describe this movie, it would be stylised.

Not necessarily a bad thing - it worked for most of the movie and created some beautiful moments. But it did feel a bit like a caricature of the complexity of it.

however stylised, Maestro was still incredibly beautiful and emotional and worth watching so go watch it and lmk what you think because I want to here other opinions too lol. Hope I'm not the only one.