I wasn't going to say anything about Lenny. If people want to listen to that Candide Overture for the 253rd time they've got every right to do so.
I can say that I do genuinely like the dances from West Side Story and there are a few of his songs I genuinely like. The 2nd movement of the Psalms. And a bit of the music from On the Waterfront, though I really didn't like the movie, at all. Some of the "best Bernstein pieces" lists I've seen today are, truly, more insulting than anything I ever said about him. Then there's Simps posting a picture of himself.
Update: Yeah, I do like the music he wrote for On the Waterfront
New York Philharmonic
Leonard Bernstein, Composer-conductor
Update [Upchuck warning] 2
I'm not making this up, you know, this is the link I was sent. [Not for those with a delicate constitution or who have eaten a challenging supper.] He looks like the Yellow Kid's great, great, grand idiot.
You do know that Lenny was a great conductor and pianist, right?
ReplyDeleteHe was a self-indulgent conductor of other peoples' music and you couldn't tell what kind of a pianist he was because of his constant moaning and humming and intoning while he played.
DeleteYou are a great ego who has done so much with so little to work with in that regard.
BTW, via a Pulitzer Prize-winning classical critic friend of mine, who is friends with Bernstein's daughter, we sent her one of those shirts because she thought it was hysterically funny.
ReplyDeleteYou're not just a philistine, you're a humorless philistine.
Virgil Thomson won a Pulitzer for composition, you should see what he said about Lenny's abilities as a composer. I will bet you that when your friend's criticism is relegated to obscure footnotes, if that, people will still be reading Silk Underwear Music. Virgil had his faults as a critic but when he was good he was very, very good.
DeletePhilistine? I'm not the one who turned an alleged birthday tribute to Leonard Bernstein into a photo op for me.
Sure thing, Sparkles. Nobody who saw that photo could think otherwise.
ReplyDeleteIf you're trying to shock me to death by telling one truth in your life, close but it will take more than that.
Delete