{"id":8133,"date":"2018-08-25T23:59:49","date_gmt":"2018-08-25T22:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=8133"},"modified":"2018-08-26T19:59:18","modified_gmt":"2018-08-26T18:59:18","slug":"leonard-bernstein-the-mahler-conductor-turns-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2018\/08\/25\/leonard-bernstein-the-mahler-conductor-turns-100\/","title":{"rendered":"Leonard Bernstein- The Mahler Conductor Turns 100"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>One hundred years from the day of his birth, Leonard Bernstein<\/strong> remains for many music lovers a marmite musician. Reactions to his work as composer, conductor and pianist remain both strong and strongly divided. No part of his legacy remains more controversial than his role as an interpreter of and advocate for the music of Gustav Mahler. I was sharply reminded of this fact recently when a birthday salute to Bernstein among colleagues this week quickly caught fire and became a “spirited debate.”<\/p>\n

For some, Bernstein is the man who gave us Mahler, the conductor whose temperament and soul are closest to Mahler, the recording artist whose performances still remain close to definitive. He was the champion and cheerleader who brought Mahler to a worldwide audience.<\/p>\n

For others, Bernstein the Mahler conductor is virtually shorthand for self-indulgence and bad taste. To many, his legacy is hugely overhyped and takes away from the crucial contributions of other conductors.<\/p>\n

Here are some 100th birthday thoughts about Bernstein and Mahler.<\/p>\n

Did Bernstein \u201cbring Mahler\u2019s music to the world?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Crediting Bernstein with, or blaming him for, the ubiquity of Mahler\u2019s music today seems wildly over-simplistic. Mahler\u2019s music was actually performed with some regularity before World War II. Banned in Germany by the Nazi\u2019s after 1933 and later across Austria, it had become much more of a rarity by the time the war ended.<\/p>\n

Even as Bernstein was staking out his territory as a Mahler conductor with the New York Philharmonic (where Mahler himself had been Music Director at the end of his life), maestri of a generation or two older than him were making important recordings and contributing to the rediscovery of Mahler\u2019s music. During Bernstein\u2019s early career, two of Mahler\u2019s former assistant conductors (Otto Klemperer and Bruno Walter) were still actively performing and recording his music. Dmitri Mitropoulos, Bernstein\u2019s former mentor and predecessor at the NY Philharmonic. In the UK, Sir John Barbirolli, another one-time Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, established himself as a great Mahlerian at the Hall\u00e9. Jascha Horenstein, 20 years Bernstein\u2019s senior, generated a robust Mahler discography between 1950 and 1972.<\/p>\n

Although Bernstein was probably at the front of the class in his own generation in terms of conducting and recording almost the full gamut of Mahler\u2019s orchestral output, his near contemporaries Sir George Solti and Herbert von Karajan also built up hugely successful Mahler discographies.<\/p>\n

Based on all of this, crediting Bernstein with somehow leading the charge for Mahler is not really credible. Many other conductors, producers and broadcasters did their part, and the long playing record was an essential tool in expanding the audience for his music.On the other hand, Bernstein was the most famous, most successful, most prolific, most influential and most discussed Mahler interpreter who has ever lived. Of course he didn\u2019t rediscover Mahler or rescue Mahler\u2019s music from oblivion, but one would be hard pressed to think of any other conductor who did as much or more to facilitate the dissemination and understanding of Mahler\u2019s music.<\/p>\n

What is Bernstein\u2019s lasting legacy as a Mahler interpreter?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The cornerstone of Bernstein\u2019s enduring legacy as an interpreter of Mahler are his three recorded cycles of Mahler\u2019s music \u2013 the cycle of symphonies made for Columbia (now Sony) during his tenure at the New York Philharmonic in the 1960\u2019s, the cycle of filmed performances made for Unitel in the 1970\u2019s with the Vienna Philharmonic and London Symphony, and the late Deutsche Grammophon cycle which used the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic and Concertgebouw Orchestras in the 1980\u2019s. There is also the famous live recording of Mahler\u2019s Ninth Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic (my favourite) and a number of one off live recordings and special projects. He recorded most of Mahler\u2019s song cycles and forges strong ties with several singers, notably Christa Ludwig, Thomas Hampson, James King and Janet Baker. Sadly, Bernstein never recorded the Cooke Performing Version of the complete Mahler 10th Symphony and I’m not aware of him ever doing Das Klagende Lied.<\/p>\n

The Early Cycle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bernstein\u2019s Columbia cycle was probably the most influential of his recorded traversals of Mahler\u2019s music. For many critics, these early performances are fresher and less affected than his later performances, which often come in for criticism as being mannered and self-indulgent. From my perspective, the variable quality of orchestral playing in this cycle seriously limits its interest to modern listener. The NYPO of this time was not a particularly polished or cohesive ensemble, and in the less familiar symphonies there is an all-to-obvious lack of detail and refinement. The best performances seem to be of those works the Philharmonic would have had in their blood already. The combination of Bernstein\u2019s energy and pacing with more secure intonation and ensemble was often formidable. His early recording of Mahler 1 was one of the first recordings I ever bought and I still think it\u2019s pretty darn good. Listen to the second movement and note that Bernstein is one of the few conductors to really take note of Mahler\u2019s admonition of \u201cnicht zu schnell\u201d (\u201cnot too fast\u201d) at the beginning, and his reading of the trio oozes nuance and sophisticated rubato.<\/p>\n

The 1970\u2019s Filmed Cycle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although Mahler served as conductor of both the New York and Vienna philharmonics, the VPO of the 1970\u2019s was a far more sophisticated orchestra than their American rivals, and Bernstein\u2019s series of filmed performances (directed by Humphrey Burton) hold up well as one of the most important contributions to the recording history of Mahler\u2019s music. The rehearsal footage gathered during the recordings shows that Mahler\u2019s music was by no means in the blood or fingers of the musicians of this era.<\/p>\n