Comments on: A Curious and rather difficult experiment

A Curious and rather difficult experiment

pjern — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 19:36:28 -0800

On the November 11, 1954 edition of the US educational program Omnibus, Leonard Bernstein presented what amounted to a 30-minute master class on one of the most familiar of all classical works, the first movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, to include reinserting some unused sketches. The results are, to put it mildly, interesting.

By: John Cohen

John Cohen — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:11:01 -0800

[this is great]

By: jim in austin

jim in austin — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:40:09 -0800

Lenny is so young!

By: vozworth

vozworth — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:44:04 -0800

Don't normally go for this high-brow stuff, but good-on-ya. -That Bernstein kids the real McCoy.

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:46:42 -0800

"Beethoven was first and foremost a builder." —Leonard Bernstein Context, schmontext.

By: shivohum

shivohum — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:58:28 -0800

Absolutely fabulous. Bernstein arranged his lesson as carefully as Beethoven did his movement, and its logic and insight flowed just as inevitably. Such pedagogical excellence is unfortunately so rare.

By: notsnot

notsnot — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:12:48 -0800

Wow. That was great. And he went about ten minutes there without a cut. *That's* knowing your shit.

By: njohnson23

njohnson23 — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:23:29 -0800

Amazing. I loved the set. Simple, stark, and effective. Oh for the days of quality TV. I grew up with Lennie's Young People's Concerts. He made the music real.

By: Ber

Ber — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:30:20 -0800

Holy shit, YouTube then suggests a Bernstein Omnibus on jazz. Sweet download delight!

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:59:07 -0800

I paraphrase but "the feminine voice of the flute is intruding like a delicate lady at a club smoker." There's a metaphor I never thought I'd hear in a discussion of Shakespeare - except the sexism part, I expected that. Because that was how men spoke in the 50's.

By: Splunge

Splunge — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:59:59 -0800

The flute is the high pitched sound of a woman at a gentleman's smoker. Oh easy misogyny how black and white is your sting.

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:00:41 -0800

JINKS! OWE ME A COKE!

By: Gyan

Gyan — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:10:51 -0800

Omnibus presenter on Beethoven at 00:26 : "When he wrote this symphony, he was going blind, and he had gone deaf long ago". Now we know that the latter part is inaccurate (complete deafness is another 10-12 years off), but I didn't know people thought the former in the 50s. Where did that come from?

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:29:00 -0800

A little more about The Symphony of the Air.

By: camdan

camdan — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:53:57 -0800

pbs must have been interesting in its early days, when its focus was education for the masses rather than entertainment (i remember SCETV claiming that its first broadcasts were french classes). that being said, its all becoming available to us now, at any hour we please, via the glory of youtube

By: MythMaker

MythMaker — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 08:51:10 -0800

Amazing stuff. Really lovely analysis.

By: EJXD2

EJXD2 — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 11:58:15 -0800

If there were a way to combine this video with a TED TALK stage and then call it a TED TALK, it would have a million views by now

By: Twang

Twang — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 14:18:49 -0800

Luckily our modern geniuses can finish a score in a week or two instead of 8 years! (Helps keep the bill down.)

By: Peevish

Peevish — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 07:56:58 -0800

It feels wrong that no audience erupts into deafening applause at the end.