Minnesota Orchestra Tours Japan: Bernstein

Bernstein's Symphonic Dances Listen in RealAudio Performed by Minnesota Orchestra 1991; CD 61194 Minnesota Orchestra Tours Japan Home
Program Notes by Mary Ann Feldman Leonard Bernstein Born August 25, 1918, Lawrence, Massachusetts; died October 14, 1990, New York City Symphonic Dances from West Side Story Leonard Bernstein would be revered even if he had not been an inventive composer and compelling conductor, for it was he who grasped how to use the medium of television to build new audiences for great music. He began with the New York Philharmonic's televised Young People's concerts in 1958. As a composer for the musical theater, Bernstein had been astonishingly productive in the preceding two years. In 1956 he unveiled his initial version of Candide, which met surprising resistance from the press and Broadway first-nighters, only to re-emerge as a hit show later on. Instead of sulking over the critical rebuff, a year later Bernstein followed Candide with a socially significant musical drama reflecting the turbulence of urban life in America. With West Side Story, he was far ahead of his times. Opening on September 26, 1957, it was the first hit of the 1957-58 Broadway season, running for 732 performances. In their contemporary account of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Bernstein and his collaborators (lyricist Stephen Sondheim and choreographer Jerome Robbins) dispensed with the customary glitter and fantasies of the Great White Way. The public did not quite know what to make of the replacement of the Montagues and Capulets by two feuding street gangs in Manhattan, and lovers who meet on bleak fire escapes instead of romantic balconies. But the stirring ballads, along with ebullient dance music that represented a bold advance 40 years ago, overcame resistance to a work judged by some to be a great American opera. By 1961 a film version of West Side Story was captivating audiences across the nation--this on the threshold of a decade etched in history as a time of protest and destruction in the streets. Originating in the calmer '50s, West Side Story prophesized the Angst of the youthful poor of America. It is an important social document, but above all, it is great music. Assisted by his friend Sid Ramin, for the film version Bernstein significantly expanded his original theater orchestration, enlarging the score with triple woodwinds and expanding the already sizable percussion battery. At the same time, he produced a continuous suite of orchestral and dance numbers from his evocative score. Ignoring such popular numbers as "Tonight" and "Maria," he imposed on the set a musical logic of its own. In this symphonic incarnation, the music was first performed by the New York Philharmonic, under Bernstein's own direction, in his third year as music director. At this concert, and on the forthcoming Japanese tour, the Minnesota Orchestra performs the Symphonic Dances in a critically updated version that reflects recent editorial scholarship, affecting only a dozen or so bars of the music. A note in the score encapsulates the scenes: Prologue (Allegro moderato)--The growing rivalry between two teen-age gangs, the Jets and Sharks. "Somewhere" (Adagio)--In a visionary dance sequence, the two gangs are united in friendship. Scherzo (Vivace leggiero)--In the same dream, they break through the city walls, and suddenly find themselves in a world of space, air and sun. Mambo (Presto)--Reality again; competitive dance between the gangs. Cha-Cha (Andantino con grazia)--The star-crossed lovers see each other for the first time and dance together. Meeting Scene (Meno mosso)--Music accompanies their first spoken words. "Cool" Fugue (Allegretto)--An elaborate dance sequence in which the Jets practice controlling their hostility. Rumble (Molto allegro)--Climactic gang battle during which the two gang leaders are killed. Finale (Adagio)--Love music developing into a procession, which recalls, in tragic reality, the vision of "Somewhere."