Cheap Leonard Bernstein: Bernstein on Beethoven - A Celebration in Vienna (Video) (Humphrey Burton) Price

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Customer Reviews of Leonard Bernstein: Bernstein on Beethoven - A Celebration in Vienna

Bernstein's pilgrimage to Vienna is documented through playing a piano concerto and symphony before getting to practice and performance for "Fidelio". The latter section of this program is what separates it from others of its type, in my opinion. The interplay between conductor, producer, floor director and the artists is an insider's view of a classical music demonstration at the stratosphere of world-class performance.

Bernstein's well-known passion is unleashed in the performance of Beethoven's heroic opera, as well as the manner is which he swings his hips a la Elvis while conducting the choral episode of Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

There were a great many artistic endeavors during the Beethoven bicentennial in 1970 including Deutche Gramophon recording every piece of his music extant. But there wasn't much done then that has the lasting value of this DVD.

One of the greatest classical music programs ever made
This 1970 Emmy Award winning program was languishing in the CBS vaults, almost forgotten, until the memorial tributes to Leonard Bernstein began appearing shortly after his death, and it was finally rebroadcast, this time on A & E. Now it is available on video. It was, believe it or not, first broadcast as a prime time special on commercial television. It may be one of the two or three greatest television programs ever made.

It was intended as a commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's birthday. Filmed entirely in Vienna, it is a documentary detailing the preparation of several musical works that Bernstein performed on that occasion with the Vienna Philharmonic, as well as several soloists.

Unlike the Young People's Concerts, this is intended for older audiences, but it is just as fascinating as any of Bernstein's programs. Fortunately, Bernstein himself provides the voice-over narration, and not some anonymous narrator, so we are able to relish his insights into the works.

We first hear him narrating a quick sketch of Beethoven's life, as well as an assessment of why Beethoven was at the same time a great composer and an impossibly difficult man. There follows a short excerpt of Beethoven's First Piano Concerto, with Bernstein both conducting and playing the solo piano part. Then we get the single longest portion of the film, a blow-by-blow account--from rehearsal to opening night-- of Bernstein's 1970 production of Beethoven's only opera, "Fidelio",and unlike other "rehearsal" segments in other documentaries which could easily turn dull, this one doesn't, demonstrating Bernstein's uncanny (and previously undocumented) ability as a stage "director", giving his cast of singers pointers on how to add dimension to their characters.

The finale is a complete performance of the "Ode to Joy" from the fourth movement of Beethoven's immortal "Ninth Symphony", preceded by an eloquently written and spoken (by Bernstein, of course) introduction to the piece.

Nothing I have "given away" in this review will spoil your enjoyment of the program. This is one program that needs to be experienced to really appreciate it. It is a milestone in musical appreciation programs, and one that deserves to be around forever.