7/3/20

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Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

On the eve of the Fourth of July, it seems only fitting to take this post to talk about a piece from one of most accomplished and well-known American composers, Leonard Bernstein. If you’ve never heard of Bernstein before, then I urge you to test the sound system you had installed in that rock you’re living under and listen to any New York Philharmonic recording from Bernstein’s tenure. Aside from his incredible accomplishments as a conductor (and that is certainly setting aside a lot), Leonard Bernstein was a brilliant educator and gifted composer who was instrumental in defining contemporary American music from operas to film scores to symphonies. Slava! A Political Overture (or simply Slava) is one of my personal favorite works of Bernstein, and don’t let its brevity fool you - I would argue that the 4 minute work rivals “Cool” from West Side Story for how catchy it is.

While there is much to say about Slava, I believe that I would be losing sight of my goal with these blog posts if I did not take the time to truly unpack how much Leonard Bernstein has influenced and given to the world of music. On the surface, there is Bernstein’s compositional output: the film score and musical West Side Story, the opera Candide, and three award winning symphonies are just a few examples of his work. There are plenty of reasons as to how and why Bernstein’s pieces sound so quintessentially American, but within that there always seems to be an underlying logic in his music that makes it so pleasing and approachable despite layers of contemporary complexity. This also brings me to the next layer of Bernstein’s gifts to the field of classical music, his capacity as an educator. Even with superstar-levels of fame as a conductor, it is important to remember how much time Bernstein dedicated to educating others about music. His Young People’s Concerts are perhaps the most well-known and best example of this, as Bernstein approached topics of music theory and history in a way that was engaging for people of all ages. Questions like “What makes sonata form so powerful?” and “What makes Joseph Haydn’s music (or any classical music for that matter) funny?” are deceptively hard to answer without diving into the realm of motific development, modulation, deceptive cadences, and melodic structure, and even harder to answer while trying to keep the attention of countless young kids and uninterested parents. Yet there is still one more layer to Leonard Bernstein’s influence that I have yet to mention - his work in performing the music of and advocating for countless composers. Bernstein made a point of promoting composers in his lectures and repertoire selections for concerts, and without that many composers which we consider household names now would have fallen into the crevices of music history textbooks. Gustav Mahler is perhaps the most notable of these composers which Bernstein advocated for, but other names include Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (my personal idol), Danish composer Carl Nielsen, and American composers Aaron Copland and David Diamond. Personally, I find it frightening to consider a world in which these composers were forgotten - especially Sibelius, but the others as well.

This brings me back to the piece which I wanted to talk about, Slava! A Political Overture. The piece was composed for the world-renowned cellist and conductor, Mstislav (“Slava”) Rostropovich. Leonard Bernstein was a key element in extending Rostropovich’s career outside of the Soviet Union, where he was officially held in disgrace for beliefs in free speech and democracy. Upon its completion, Slava (which is also the Russian word for “glory”) was premiered at the inaugural concerts of Rostropovich's first season with the National Symphony Orchestra in 1977, with Rostropovich conducting. The piece is remarkably celebratory, featuring two contrasting themes, one in march-like 2/4 and the other in triumphant 7/8. This also shows off Bernstein’s genius as he makes the awkward asymmetrical time signature of 7/8 (2+2+3) seem completely natural and patriotic. The intuitive nature of the piece doesn’t end there, however, as Bernstein also weaves in several tonal modulations, soprano sax and electric guitar, and punchy syncopation into the orchestral texture without drawing too much attention to any one element as to cause it to stick out. Perhaps the most notable element of the piece comes past the halfway point in which Bernstein introduces a prerecorded tape to really justify calling the piece 'political.’

With that, there is not much more that needs to be said about the piece. Leonard Bernstein’s music here is incredibly easy to listen to, with just enough surprises and patterns. However you decide to celebrate this Fourth of July, hopefully the music that has come out of this country also stays with you. It is hard to find another American success story in the world of music like Leonard Bernstein, and for good reason. The man had incredible drive and smarts, and picked the right field to shine his light into. Below I am linking a recording of Slava! A Political Overture in which Leonard himself is conducting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, a group with which he held a life-long association. I should also mention, however, that there is one element of the piece which is not in the score and may take you by surprise if you aren’t prepared - at about a minute in, immediately before the 7/8 section, the orchestra shouts the name “Pooks” at the same time as the wood block hit, honoring Mstislav Rostropovich’s dog, Pooks.