New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts

Leonard Bernstein told the television audience at the start of the first Young People's Concert: "No matter what stories people tell you about what music means, forget them. Storie...

From Carnegie Hall, Bernstein discusses the origins and characteristics of American music. After an extended excerpt from George Gershwin's An American in Paris and a discussion of...

After brief introductory remarks, Bernstein conducts the finale of Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio espagnol and then explains what a composer must know in order to orchestrate music su...

Using the examples of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony and Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, Bernstein demonstrates the techniques of repetition and variation int he development of symphonic...

Bernstein conducts Handel's Water Music and cites it as an indisputable example of classical music. "Exact" is the word that best defines classical music, Bernstein says, and he de...

Using excerpts from Shostakovich, Mahler, Haydn and others Bernstein demonstrates how a "serious" composition can take an unexpected humorous turn. Prokofiev's Classical Symphony i...

Leonard Bernstein discusses the development of the concerto form from Bach to Bartok. Bernstein conducts examples of early concertos-Bach's Fifth Brandenburg Concerto and Vivaldi's...

Leonard Bernstein celebrates Mahler's centennial by conducting excerpts from the composer's Fourth Symphony in G and discussing his career as a composer and conductor. Soprano Reri...

Daniel Domb; Kenneth Schermerhorn; Barry Finclair; Stefan B. Mengelberg; Alexandra Wager

New York Pro Musica; Noah Greenberg; Vladimir Ussachevsky; Anita Darian

The High School of Music & Art

Aaron Copland; William Warfield

Lynn Harrell; Elyakum Shapirra; Jung-Ja Kim; Russell Stanger; Veronica Tyler; Gregory Millar; Henry Chapin

Bernstein discusses folk music and its influence on orchestral music, and conducts excerpts from Mozart, Chavez and Ives, and "Songs of the Auvergne" sung by Marni Nixon.

Bernstein focuses on impressionism in music, discussing the methods and styles of Debussy and Ravel. He conducts three movements from La Mer and the final dance of Daphnis et Chloe...

Zara Nelsova

Bernstein sketches a brief history of Stravinsky's musical career, noting changes of style and shifts of direction. The whole of Petrouchka is played and each scene is analyzed.

Seiji Ozawa; Gary Karr; Maurice Peress; John Canarina; Ruth & Naomi Segal; Paula Robison; Paul Green; Tony Cirone; David Hopper

John Corigliano, Sr.; Frank Gullino; Joseph Bernstein; William Dembinsky

Bernstein discusses the different forms melody can take, including tune, theme, motive, melodic line and musical phrase. He illustrates by conducting the orchestra in excerpts from...

Joan Weiner; Yuri Krasnopolsky; Claudia Hoca; Zoltán Rozsnyai; Pamela Paul; Serge Fournier; André Watts

Bernstein discusses "the two ingredients that give this music its special Latin flavor: rhythm and color." Excerpts include Bernstein's own Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.

Heidi Lehwalder; Amos Eisenberg; Weldon Berry, Jr.; Claudio Abbado; Shulamit Ran (as Shulamith Ran); Pedro Calderon; Stephen E. Kates; Zdeněk Košler

Bernstein discusses the blending of jazz and symphonic music, with performances and readings to illustrate. The program ends with Larry Austin's Improvisations for Orchestra and Ja...

Bernstein describes the three-part sonata form, and exemplifies it by singing the Beatle's "And I Love Her." Veronica Tyler sings Micaela's aria from Bizet's Carmen and Bernstein c...

Patricia Michaelian; James Boswell IV

Bernstein celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, and comments on Finland, the Finnish language, and Finnish patriotism, as well as...

Bernstein explains musical intervals and discusses their relationship to harmony, melody and inversion. After analysis, the first movement of Symphony No. 4 in E-flat Major by Brah...

Bernstein explains that the duty of the orchestra is to reproduce faithfully the notes and instructions of the composer. The main focus is the first half of Haydn's Symphony No. 88...

Bernstein celebrates Dmitri Shostakovich's sixtieth birthday by discussing his work and conducting an excerpt from his Symphony No. 7 and all of Symphony No. 9.

Performers include Paul Schoenfeld; Stephanie Sebastian; David Oei; Horacio Gutiérrez; James DePreist; Jacques Houtmann; Edo de Waart.

Bernstein discusses scales, intervals and tones, and analyzes several pieces, including Debussy's Fêtes, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, and music from the Kinks and the Beatles, t...

Elmar Oliveira; Mark Salkind; Fred Alston; Donald Green; Juan Pablo Izquierdo; Sylvia Caduff; George Reid; Young Uck Kim

Stephen E. Kates; Veronica Tyler; André Watts

Bernstein pays tribute to New York Philharmonic's "fraternal orchestra," the Vienna Philharmonic, in celebration of the 125th anniversary of both orchestras. Works by Johann and Ri...

Joseph Kalichstein; Paul Capolongo

Lawrence Foster; Alois Springer; Martin and Steven Vann; Helen Quach, Michael DeTemple

Leonard Bernstein quizzes Avery Fisher Hall and television audiences on their musicality. Highlights include true-or-false questions with musical examples, and excerpts from Mozart...

Lorne Munroe, cellist

Michael Korn; Leopold Stokowski; Moog synthesizer; New York Rock and Roll Ensemble

Bernstein discusses what he describes as the "first psychedelic symphony," Berlioz's La Symphonie fantastique, examining the concept of the idée fixe in music and illustrating this...

Bernstein compares the main theme of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake with Stravinsky's Firebird. A performance of the pas de deux from Swan Lake illustrates the concept of abstract ballet,...

Bernstein takes a look at Beethoven's so-called "flawed masterpiece" - his only opera, Fidelio. After discussing the story and its problems, "charming excerpts" are performed. Four...