Bernstein performs Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue 2/2

lol Duche

Brilliant...really. I wonder if he went home happy or if he laid awake reliving what he thought were imperfections in his performance. I am just curious... musicians can be complete neurotics. This is really a breathtaking performance thanks for posting.

wow... and believe or not I think I am cool when I conduct the kids choir and play the piano at the same time. Incredible!!

AMEN!!!!!

whoever dislikes this is an idiot

WHAT?!?! THEY DIDN'T SHOW HIS HANDS DURING THE BIG "IMPROV" PART!!! How DARE they!

Grande Bernstein

the one and only!

did you hear the concert of stefano bollani?

at my father's funeral

I am #2 of 5

If someone were to come into my room he would think i'm crazy. I'm smiling, smiling, crying, crying, smiling, laughing, smiling...

I'm living in Hungary, and remember when I was child in beginnig of 70s, he was my favourite in TV performing the MUSIC, classical and all of what he thuoght. He was fantastic for me and he is for nowaday. Sorry for my English.

Leonard Bernstein será sempre lembrado como um dos maiores maestros,compositores e pianistas da historia da música !!

It's a little late here on the East Coast, but Happy Birthday Lenny. This video has become my annual Bernstein birthday tradition.

Wow incredible!!! Leonard Bernstein was the man, and Gershwin was a great composer of that era!

i agree with all you have mention, dizzy...but it is still great to hear mr bernstein even if he is not at his best

I respect your opinion but I disagree. I think this is a great performance despite the wrong notes. I like the swing, and few people understand American music better than LB... so he can swing it if he wants to. Right notes don't necessarily make great performances, nor do wrong notes break them. Yeh, his technique is not as good as most pianists, but he plays the hell out of this piece. I much prefer this performance over any pedantic, flawless "execution".

I don't know what authenticity of character is. Do you mean by that adherence to composer's intent? Maybe you can elaborate, because that's a can of worms in itself. I don't think it's possible to be certain of that sort of authenticity, no matter how much we pretend or claim otherwise. Even if you're right and the swing is more Lenny than George, my point is that it's not "wrong" to swing the passage even if there is no "swingato" marking in the score. That's all.

Your examples are not convincing. Composers aren't always the best performers of their music. What if Gershwin couldn't fully convey his "intent"? Also, composers often change their minds, so which version should we consider "authentic", the original or the edited? Also, Rachmaninoff almost always played his music differently than he notated it.. how should we evaluate "composer's intent" then? Even when composers attempt to explicitly state their intent.. they aren't always forthright about it.

So it follows that.. we should let go of the unattainable fantasy of "composer's intent" and just play music to the best of our understanding and communicative powers. Leave the obsession with "intent" to some OCD musicologist.

You're an idiot. @Music & @Dizzy - don't even get into it with this moron. he obviously has his thumb up his ass. do you really want your posts to be linked with this baffoon? take em down. don't give him a soapbox for his stupidity.

So the comments of the people arguing with me got taken down... What a bummer. I always enjoy arguing with intelligent opposition. Discussing controversial aspects of music is one of the surest ways to preserve the art and to generate interest in it.Sad.

I completely disagree with you, the composer's intent is paramount, @Dizzyfingers2 comment gone but I get the gist. I had to read the comments after listening to this, sorry but Gershwin's intent was misinterpreted here. Don't get me wrong Bernstein was a genius but even geniuses get it wrong sometimes.

I'm impressed you know exactly what Gershwin intended! You see, composers change their minds, so that means even to them their original intent isn't sacred. Rachmaninoff and others played their own music differently from what they put down on the page, which again suggests a plurality of "intents". The notion that there is one, "correct", "authentic" interpretation perfectly in sync with the composers intent is uninspiring. Would a good composer want their music to be played the same every time?

What is more.. Hypothetically, let's say we figure out what Beethoven intended in a piano sonata and reproduce it with exactness! But then.. what if we don't like it? Tastes change, you know. So do we admonish ourselves for having inauthentic taste and try to make ourselves like what we are supposed to, like good boys and girls? What kind of art form would music be if the pinnacle of achievement would be fulfilling the imaginary wishes of a dead guy? What about us, live (and alive) audiences?

in my uneducated knowledge, bernstein cannot compare to mr armstrong...bernstein seems to play from one block to another...i donot hear much continuity...just an uneducated opinion, but nonetheless, mine...and mr armstrong is in sync with his conductor...i donot see this with bernstein

and to add one more comment, there is not the love nor passion that comes from berstein as one sees in mr armstrong

UN-BA-LIEVE-A-BLE.  

Not too bad. Nice ending.

***!!!!!  Skvělé!   ...BRAVO!.... Děkuji!

Incountournable!!!!
Motor de mi creacion...........

Esta interpretación de Bernstein me ha hecho recordar, con nostalgia, la que hizo, sobre el mismo tema, el inolvidable valenciano José Iturbi.

WOW❤️❤️❤️

Sublime interpretación.

Never knew what a phenomenal pianist Bernstein was! Magical.

Anyone else here from Fantasia 2000?

Absolute genius! Majestic!

ESTA MÚSICA ESTA A BORDO DA SONDA VOYAGER 1 A 20 BILHÕES DE KM DA TERRA ...MARAVILHA

don't expect you to list all the players like this was a jazz sextet or a rock band. but at a minimum you should name the orchestra, along with the venue and date.

Bernstein performs Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue 2/2

mani stupende che  assieme all'orchestra, sapientemente giudata in questo capolavoro di Gershwin ,   riescono trasmettere emozioni  profonde enormi.
grande Bernstein grande Gershwin

Why did you cut this video ?????????????

The last 2 minutes are like an orgasm..

I wonder if the guy on the cymbals ever wakes his wife up at 2 AM with those things. Just for a prank. ha ha

Es un deleite poder escuchar esta sublime interpretación.

Stupendo, bravissimo

Sublime.  Thks.

I heard Rhapsody in Blue on Fantasia 2000.