麻豆社

Bernstein: On the Town - Lonely Town; I Can Cook, Too
Bernstein: West Side Story 鈥� Dance at the Gym; America
Louise Dearman (vocalist)听
Julian Ovenden听听 (vocalist)听
Maida Vale Singers听听
John Wilson Orchestra听听
John Wilson听听 (conductor)

Bach: Suite No. 1 in G major for solo cello, BWV 1007
Yo-Yo Ma听听 (cello)

Some the most recognizable tunes of the 20th century penned by Leonard Bernstein for Broadway contrasted with the ultimate musical focus: just one, brilliant cellist playing the music perhaps the greatest musical mind of all: JS Bach.

麻豆社鈥檚 Andrew McGregor talks to Fred Child, the host of Performance Today on American Public Media, the country鈥檚 leading classical music radio programme.

Leonard Bernstein (1918 鈥� 1990):

On the Town (1944) and West Side Story (1957)

Conductor, composer, lyricist, broadcaster, educator 鈥� Leonard 鈥楲enny鈥� Bernstein was the musical renaissance man of 20th century America. He was also a trail-blazer. As his brother, Burton Bernstein put it: Lenny 鈥榳as the living precedent for American music 鈥� the first American to be taken seriously on the concert stage. I think it can be said that he made it possible for any talented American kid to follow in his footsteps.鈥�

Bernstein鈥檚 Broadway debut, On the Town tells the story of three sailors on shore leave in New York City and the people they encounter. The story would be seriously dated by now, if it wasn鈥檛 for Betty Comden and Adolph Green鈥檚 witty words and Bernstein鈥檚 vivid score. The result is so good in fact, that the 2015 On the Town revival just ending on Broadway turned out to be one of the year鈥檚 hottest tickets.

After gestation which lasted nearly a decade, Bernstein鈥檚 West Side Story proved to be a landmark in music theatre history. A modern reworking of the Romeo and Juliet story, set in the gang-lands of New York City, the Story is full of Latin rhythms which gave choreographer Jerome Robbins unprecedented opportunity to push the boundaries of Broadway dance. The lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, not least in the celebrated America, include some pertinent words about the way many immigrants feel in their new countries. Words which still resonate today.

When the original Broadway production opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on 26th September 1957, even the normally stern New York critics were won over by the power of the score. Walter Kerr extolled 鈥渢he most electrifying dance patters we鈥檝e been exposed to in a dozen seasons鈥�. Brooks Atkinson wrote: 鈥淭his subject is not beautiful, but what West Side Story draws out of it is beautiful. For it has a searching point of view.鈥�

听Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Bach: Suite No. 1 in G major for solo cello, BWV 1007 (c1717鈥�23)

The cello was a relatively new instrument in Bach鈥檚 time, competing with the older 鈥榲iola da gamba鈥� to inhabit the lower reaches of string sound. Ever adventurous, and always curious to explore new musical instruments, Bach laid the foundation stone of the cello repertoire with his six Suites. After his death, they lay largely forgotten until the legendary Catalan cellist Pablo Casals found a copy in a second-hand music shop and brought them to everyone鈥檚 attention with his incomparable performances. Each of the suites consists mainly of baroque dances: in the case of the First Suite it鈥檚 the Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, a double Menuet and Gigue, plus an opening Prelude.

听Like many cellists, Yo-Yo Ma has been performing these seminal works for most of his career, and made two celebrated recordings of the complete set. 听The second, Inspired by Bach, 听goes beyond the music: Yo-Yo Ma invited six artists from different disciplines to collaborate with him, and a contemporary 听choreographer, a Kabuki theatre actor, famous ice-skaters and even a Bach-inspired garden design transformed Bach鈥檚 sounds into six short films.