Leonard Bernstein Discusses Shostakovich's 6th Symphony

Leonard Bernstein Discusses Shostakovich's 6th Symphony
I do not own the rights to this video.

[@briananderson8428]

Leonard Bernstein remains, for me at least, the greatest teacher ever of music.

[@derbar7051]

And my idol as a teacher myself.

[@GeckoBass]

And the greasiest conductor

[@Alix777.]

ok

[@robtomaro5171]

I saw Maestro Bernstein conduct rehearsals of Tchaikovsky No. 4 at Tanglewood and it was my great honor to meet him. What a unique genius.

[@Troubleshooter125]

Wow. Leave it to someone like Leonard Bernstein to reveal the guts and the nuances of a master symphonist such as Shostakovich and make it engaging and entertaining. I have known the 6th since I was a kid ... and now, I will enjoy it that much more for hearing Bernstein's take on it.

[@patrickkeyes5916]

Hearing this again, after nine months, I’m just impressed and grateful to hear these insights.

[@Zsnakeistaken]

I am thoroughly impressed with the connections he made to Tchaikovsky and Bach. I had no idea that those influences effect how i am drawn to this piece, but they do. Shostakovich was such a master.

[@stefanufer608]

A genius communicator, in both music and words

[@familiemooi3768]

A concise but masterly introduction to the work! I am tempted to add: the finale of Shostakovich VI is very much like the Pathétique's 3rd movement. Its over-the-top jubilant atmosphere in Tchaikovsky invites a premature stormy applause. And then: no response from the orchestra and conductor, who lifts his baton again and we get the heart-rending 4th movement, which quite obviously represents Tchaikovsky's farewell to life. Shostakovich goes one step further: after the cheap hurray invited by the 3rd movement, there is nothing more. No farewell. Tchaikovsky invites the public into his farewell. Shostakovich leaves the public.

[@srothbardt]

Great lecture! Never thought of his insights.

[@McIntyreBible]

Bernstein offers some good observations on this Symphony!

[@chrissychan4096]

Thanks for posting this, it gives such great insight into this rarely performed work. I have recently received permission from the owner of the video for public screening during a concert performance. May I ask where you sourced this video from?

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

You will find it on this DVD: www.amazon.com/Shostakovich-Symphonies-Bernstein-Wiener-Philharmoniker/dp/B000EQ448O/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1466547041&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=Bernstein+Shostakich+6

[@josephdiluzio6719]

Leonard Bernstein, musical genius extraordinaire and Peerless pedagogue, could not conduct this symphony as well as Eugene Ormandy. More than 40 years ago I shall never forget at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia that performance converted me to the uniqueness of the music of Dmitri Shostakovich

[@VallaMusic]

imo, Ormandy was pretty much great at everything

[@murrayaronson3753]

I just heard yesterday the Shostakovich 6th with the American Youth Symphony at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Alexander Treger conducting. This was the first time for me, even though I love Shostakovich's music. There is a section in the Largo movement that is used as the closing theme for the episodes of the 1973 British series FALL OF EAGLES about the period leading up to World War I, the outbreak of war, and the demise of the Dynasties, along with the rise of Lenin. The music is highly effective and atmospheric. Someone did comment that the music was by Shostakovich, but I didn't know it was the 6th. A propos of Leonard Bernstein's comment, considering the symphony's 1939 origin, W.H. Auden's great poem September 1939 came to mind, especially his description of the 30s as being "a low dishonest decade."

[@brendonmcmorrow3886]

You're right about the use of the 6th symphony asthe closing theme to Fall of Eagles. Did you spot the use of Mahler's 5th symphony as the opening theme?

[@murrayaronson3753]

Of course, I've heard Mahler's 5th Symphony many times. I've also heard Shostakovich's music described as Mahler with a Russian accent.

[@dmntuba]

The GREATEST musical genius...EVER!

[@plekkchand]

Sure. Whatever you... SAY!

[@sarahhearn-vonfoerster7401]

Do not go overboard...he is one of the greats, not the greatest!

[@stephenmessick6619]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned how clearly the music, in the winds primarily, so obviously mimics the orchestra's lead-in to the choral entrance of the main theme to the last mvt of Mahler's Symphony #2 ("Auferstehen"). Shostakovich is my favorite composer also.

[@michaweinst3774]

Apparently, Shostakovich's 4th was given a premiere, but in 1961, 25 years after the completion of the symphony, and 8 years after Stalin's death, conducted by Kirill Kondrashin.

[@jackminto7062]

His opera "Lady Macbeth" was banned in the 1930's so Shostakovich canceled the rehearsals and shelved his fourth fearing that he would be killed if it was performed, so when Stalin died it could finally be performed.

[@steffen5121]

Bernstein always goes full Glenn Gould when playing piano (the humming). Although they had differing opinions - in this gimmick, they're similar.

[@andrewlankford9634]

I thought he was breaking wind.

[@arthurverlaine6434]

​@@andrewlankford9634 I love how Lenny's too many cigarettes created his signature heavy breathing and nasal voice, but probably and unfortunately also his death :(

[@yasmin_piano]

Even if it doesn't feel like the grand finale at the end, why don't they just play it along with another symphony or piece, and put it in front so that it can have that grand finale in something else

[@DavidUKesb]

I love how Bernstein has his ashtray on the piano!

[@TheVaughan5]

Enjoyed this talk about my favourite Shostakovich symphony and I'm sure his theory is absolutely right. I can't agree with Gordon Smith here, on comments, that he was a lousy conductor, for various reasons. Firstly his breath of repertoire is possibly unequalled by any other major conductor (look for instance at the narrow scope of the present director of the famous Dresden Staatskapelle) Secondly, though I'm not a professional musician, almost 40 years of listening (both live, inc. L.B. and recorded) has taught me how a great performance should sound, and if music is not about sound then it's not about anything. Though some of his interpretations take a bit of getting used to, I can't honestly say I've ever heard what I would term a bad performance. Lastly I cannot see how one of the world's greatest orchestras, the Vienna Philharmonic, would have enjoyed such a great rapport if they considered him second rate, especially if you consider when he debuted with them there were many members of the orchestra who had played with some of the greatest names of the 20th century!

[@Twentythousandlps]

There are two Haydn symphonies that begin with a slow movement, 22 and 34.

[@Poempedoempoex]

Yeah but the modern definition of the symphony didn't start until Beethoven

[@luanuka4175]

@@Poempedoempoex But then both Mahler 9 and 10 also begin with slow movements

[@gigogrom216]

and 49

[@scuunjieng]

many thanks

[@wolfgangresch1650]

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 I thank the Lord that He brought Lenny ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

[@andrewhough8479]

One thing I don't quite get about Bernstein's analysis is that he suggest a slow first movement in a symphony is unusual. There are several of Shostakovitch's symphonies that begin like 6th slow and mournful - 5th, 8th, 10th, 11th etc. As a teenager I was enthralled by Shostakovitch who was still living when I was 16. I used to believe he could communicate with me through his music and reveal his inner most thoughts - particularly through the symphony No. 10. It seems I was not the only one who understood the message behind the music!

[@MrPrincetrumpet]

I think the difference is that it starts slow and stays slow, unlike the other symphonies you mentioned.

[@MultiDansk8]

Also it is the first before the other three you mentioned

[@maxalaintwo3578]

"There are no accidents"

[@jangeitz6590]

Lennie....a giant among men.I miss him still.

[@lovettboston]

Good to see that Bernstein does not shrug off the 6th Symphony as a mere place-holder. As other have explained, there are connections between the material in the opening movement and material in the next movements. If nothing else, the symphony is all about the transformation of that material, even the unsettling nature of its juxtaposition.. Like Bernstein, I can't avoid thinking of the historical context of 1939, especially in light of Karl Amadeus Hartmann's "Concerto Funebre," not to mention Auden's poem "September1, 1939." In the Soviet Union, there were policy changes resulting from the Molotov-Ribbetrop pact that would have been noticeable to the general public. Thee included the more conciliatory stance toward Hitler's regime, and even the expulsion of people who had fled the widening reach of Nazi Germany, including the Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff. One other extra-musical factor not mentioned by Bernstein is that Shostakovich had partially Polish ancestry, including a grandfather exiled to Siberia for taking part in the uprising against tsarist rule in 1862. I can't reduce the symphony to a policy statement, but events in Poland might have weighed on the composer's mind, though maybe no more than things happening within the Soviet Union, really bad things happening to people he knew. If that disturbed him, he couldn't express that explicitly, though an atmosphere of geopolitical foreboding might have provided cover. Noticing the connection between materials in the different movements, it's hard to read the scherzo and finale as just trivial afterthoughts. If these movements are a welcome contrast with the near-paralysis of the first movement, they're hardly a triumphant resolution. One thing Shostakovich must have learned from Mahler is how music of pain can be juxtaposed with music of callous banality, and that each has to be understood in light of the other. This is not far from the description of Gogol (a favorite writer of Shostakovich) as "laughter through tears." Maybe even better: the Samuel Beckett character in "Waiting for Godot" who says, "I would laugh, but it is forbidden."

[@TheRealGnolti]

I don't listen to the Leningrad much anymore, but I do return to the 6th a lot precisely because of that breathtaking first movement Bernstein describes.

[@davidgroth26]

Bernstein, brilliant as usual

[@iamdabeat11]

Was this part of a commercial video recording (VHS/DVD)? Or is there a printed transcription of these comments in liner notes somewhere?

[@anteb.k.8396]

Where is this video from? I would love to see and hear more!

[@Zsnakeistaken]

Wow. That was an amazing feat of musicological history.

[@danielgonzalezjr8350]

I got some serious New Yorker vibes from Bernstein.

[@stephenmessick865]

Has a more fascinating man ever lived?

[@plekkchand]

Try to get a grip on yourself.

[@N_Loco_Parenthesis]

5:23 - is there a dog dreaming under the piano?

[@Bobbnoxious]

Sadly, nearly 40 years after this video was made, Bernstein's statements still hold true. The Shostakovich 6th will never become a repertory piece.

[@qswu8614]

Hello, everyone~ I am wondering, specifically, which Bach's piece is the theme from? is there anyone having any idea about this?

[@avasolavanna]

The theme - at 6:40 I assume - only alludes to Bach's style, with its stepwise motion broken by a highly ornamented skip. (The Bachian qualities of the theme itself, however, seems to me completely overshadowed by Tchaikovsky's 'Russian pathos', and Shostakovich's own voice. The first instance of the theme in the symphony, for example, is accompanied by a troubled drum roll and lamenting lower strings.) It's a very distant allusion indeed.

[@god-manmeherbaba8576]

💖💖💕💕💘💘

[@JohanScherft]

I think Bernstein talks too negative about the last two movements. In the second movement there is mystery and a very special atmosphere as well, and the last movement has a prokofjev kind of sarcasm.

[@lc1715]

They're great movements, but as part of a symphony they don't exactly make a whole.

[@stephenhall3515]

Another 'association' Bernstein made in a different talk was with Haydn and that composer's transition to 4 movements from 3 in his symphonic output informs what Bernstein says in this brief talk. Bernstein was also a Haydn expert but it is given too little credit for his excellence in the middle period works and, importantly in his late years and in relation to Shostakovich 6 and 9, a foray into the depths of Haydn's Sym 49. Bernstein truly understood Shostakovich the creative genius and here has to refer to political and historical context because it is precisely relevant. Had Bernstein lived longer he would have spoken out about the tendency in the last 25 years to over-emphasize the political stuff, especially as Shostakovich has his own firm socialist ideology like most ordinary Russians but happened to be a musical and intellectual genius living where he chose to live. He could have left Russia at any time and visited parts of Europe (notably Britten in Suffolk, England) but prone to homesickness. Bernstein perfectly describes why 'Dmitri' wrote such a strange work and attracts listeners to simply follow the beauty of it, inclusive of its structure. Curiously, none other than Sir Adrian Boult championed the 6th in the UK when we hardly associate him with much Russian music. The work had fascinated his friend Vaughan Williams and Sir Adrian enjoyed conducting the work when helping to re-build three British orchestras after WW2 and because he saw what a masterpiece it is.

[@Skidoo22]

Like a growling old cat 05:23

[@stavrosvenizelos8584]

Are the 2nd and 3rd movements of Shostakovich's Sixth "hypocritical", as Bernstein tells us? No, they are not, I believe. Shostakovich is a master of sarcasm, double talk and subtle inuendos. After all he was a Soviet citizen who had survived the Great Purge (1936-1939) The 2 last movements seem exuberant, but in fact they are very very bitter.

[@patrickkeyes5916]

Bernstein, of course, knows the music as well as anyone. But his presentation so minimizes what Shostakovich is dealing with inside Russia, what all of Russia has been dealing with through the purges of Stalin and Beria, that he doesn’t give his listeners a real sense of this symphony’s context. Look up the arrest of Shostakovich’s friend Meyerhold, the killing of Meyerhold’s wife, Meyerhold’s interrogations and torture to see what Shostakovich was living with, and writing in response to. Once Stalin rejected Lady Macbeth of Mtsinsk, Shostakovich was living on a knife edge, a knife that got many around him with unspeakable brutality.

[@ColtraneTaylor]

That makes more sense, thank you.

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

Mr. Bernstein clearly didn't know Spohr's 4th Symphony if he thinks that Tchaikovsky's 6th is the first symphony to end with a slow movement.

[@paulybarr]

Does ANYONE know Spohr's 4th symphony? Or the first three, come to think of it?

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

Paul Barrett Mr. Bernstein was not anyone. He was a highly talented, Julliard educated musician. From someone like that, one can expect to know Spohr's works, considering that he was regarded as the next best thing after Beethoven until Schumann came along. And considering that he was well known in the 19th Century chances are high that Tchaikovsky did know his 4th.

[@ftumschk]

Bernstein did specify "long, slow movement", to be fair. Tchaikovsky's 6th finale is unrelentingly slow and tragic throughout, whereas Spohr's starts "larghetto" and changes to "allegretto" towards the end.

[@paulybarr]

Caro Quotenwagnerianer- I wasn't casting aspersions on Bernstein, I was being ironic- my point was who knows or cares about Louis Spohr in the 21st century ( not to mention the 20th)? He may very well have written such a symphony but it has long been eclipsed by the sheer originality and stunning emotional power of Tchaikovsky's sixth. Sorry, Louis.

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

The fact remains that Bernstein's statement is simply false. It matters little whether he does not know better or assumes that his audience wouldn't know Spohr anyway, even if he did mention him. It's like stating that person B was the first one to invent mint-flavoured toothpaste, when it fact it was Person A. And that no one cares about person A just because Person B perfected the formula in a way that everyone who is using mint-flavoured toothpaste just buys his version. ;)

[@tentherSuzy]

One of my favorite symphonies. I don't like to talk ill of the dead, but Bernstein was one of the worst conductors ever. His lack of a beat caused a ragged entry between the horns and the violas about 2/3 of the way through the long first movement. (Sorry that I can't give the bar #, but I don't have the score.)

[@MichaSchlechtriem]

Idiot?

[@somebonehead]

What other instances are there of his poor conducting?

[@sneddypie]

people make mistakes do they not

[@harrynking777]

Musicians from the greatest orchestras, which he conducted would not agee with you.