Leonard Bernstein by Burton Bernstein

Author:Burton Bernstein [Bernstein, Burton and B. Haws, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-062-04314-6
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2008-07-19T16:00:00+00:00

In city after city the ovations

were described as “delirious,” “frenetic,”

unlike any that had been seen before.

In the first program, played in Panama City, Bernstein demonstrated his formidable skills on the podium and at the piano. Leading the Orchestra in works of Mendelssohn and Copland, the young maestro also played Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, a work he performed several times on the tour, winning tumultuous applause on each occasion. According to one Chilean paper, Bernstein knew how to “give to each of the interpretations an exceptional sparkle,” while another spoke of the “rare and precious present” the U.S. State Department had bestowed on the country. It could be summed up, the critic reported, “in one word: sound,” the quality of which was a “sensual delight without comparison.” A Peruvian critic noted that the tour “affords us the opportunity of witnessing the heights of perfection which may be reached as a result of constant effort and practice.”

Along with the national anthems of the United States and the host country, the U.S. government required the Orchestra to play at least one piece by an American composer at every concert. In fact, the American compositions that Bernstein and Mitropoulos selected—music by Barber, Copland, Gershwin, Roy Harris, or William Schuman—were vetted by a U.S. government-appointed committee, the Music Advisory Panel, which was charged with evaluating the suitability of the music to be played. While the panel also hoped that the Orchestra would perform music by Latin American composers, it was not as insistent on that point, and a government official assured a Philharmonic administrator that playing such music “is only a suggestion, not a requirement.” As it happened, the Orchestra complied with this request up to a point, performing works by either the Brazilian composer Carmago Guarnieri or Mexico’s Carlos Chávez on one-third of the tour’s thirty-nine concerts.

Bernstein’s talents as a cultural ambassador were hardly confined to the podium and while overseas, he represented the United States with devotion and vigor. Throughout the 1958 tour, the exploits of this handsome, charismatic, young American were avidly followed by the public and the press. In the words of one Orchestra official, he “attended press conferences without number, luncheons, dinners, celebrations of local playing and dancing, good, bad, and indifferent,” and “charmed the old and fascinated the young.” Moreover, Bernstein could communicate in English and Spanish, an invaluable asset, given the Orchestra’s goals in Latin America. Those who watched him were amazed by his vitality. The Philharmonic’s Board President, David Keiser, worried that Bernstein might not be getting enough rest, writing that “he certainly does burn the candle at both ends.” But Keiser noted that Bernstein had not missed a single concert or a rehearsal, and had given his best at every performance, despite “poor halls, inadequate dressing facilities,” and “second class, poorly tuned” pianos. Merely keeping up with it all, without having to conduct, Keiser observed, was “a full-time occupation.”

Rarely turning down an invitation to participate,Bernstein joins in with a traditional dance group during the Philharmonic’s Latin American tour, 1958.

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