Leonard Bernstein - West Side Story - making off the recording

[@jackhanna4447]

Lennie was one of those rare individuals who found himself at the perfect place at the perfect time. And most importantly, he grabbed the thing with gusto. Timeless.

[@tomhynes2908]

This will never be duplicated again. Bernstein is a Miracle

[@mdezii]

Pure genius.

[@williamamely7038]

I greatly appreciate the many hundreds of hours that went into making this musical come to life. I'm Puerto Rican-American and I do recall that there was great resistance to our coming to the US even though we were citizens, ourselves. Despite the language and cultural differences, our desires, goals and our attitudes were more similar than they were different. Bernstein's composition of Westside Story has endured, and will continue to do so for generations to come. Great thanks to all the performers, musicians and crewmembers who put their talents together to help Leonard Burstein's vision come to life.

[@YTer-SBSB770]

WILLIAM!! Also Sondheim's lyrics & Choreographer Robbins brilliant conceptualizing of the story of Shakespeare's beloved ROMEO & JULIET into a modern libretto to bring to Broadway theater audiences.

[@xmvirus202]

23:59 - 25:35 Perfection- be still my heart! ❤️

[@VaughanBennett-m7j]

Every child should be shown this recording. Of course it’s the Romeo and Juliet story and then be shown the original film to see how Bernstein and Sondheim created beautiful music. However, this is a prime example of magnificent professional singers and musicians working hard to create a masterpiece.

[@figgybass]

Love this! My 1st introduction to this music was in county band in high school. Great stuff!

[@philsmith3738]

This is the BBC recording for Deutsche Grammophon in collaboration with another company.

[@nevets4ever4]

"...and the bad news dribbles in...." classic Lenny

[@nikosvault]

cut to Carreras.

[@inko196]

Thank you for this rare video! Amazing 🤩

[@frankmusic6741]

I Feel Pretty 26:27 One Hand, One Heart 54:35 ; 55:03 a Boy like that 1:11:44 I Have a Love 1:13:50 (Mark 68)

[@YTer-SBSB770]

Thank you, Frank! why isn't this in the description intro, as it should always be?? So grateful for your work here.

[@airstrive6246]

One of the things I love so much about this video is we learn what the intended tempi is supposed to be on some of these songs from the master himself. Notice his comment before "I Feel Pretty" about how most of the time conductors take it too fast. Also, he conducts "Cool" at about half note =72. Some productions and recordings take it way too fast, even though the 2001 orchestrations say 'Solid and boppy, half note = 90'. Does anyone know if some of the metronome markings in printed orchestrations from the past 20 years or so were from Bernstein's original 1957 notes? Or are some of these printed tempi those that orchestrators have tried to "push up" over the years?

[@MrKlemps]

I suspect the orchestrators. It must be said, however, that in LB's later years his tempi when conducting his classical repertory became significantly slower. So it's possible he "felt" the "West Side Story" music differently as well.

[@Symphorch]

To add slightly to @MrKlemps comment, there's the added element of live musicals. Usually it's the play directors themselves who ask for the scenes to be a little more 'up,' just to keep the motion going. This mainly happens in community or youth musical theatre, but I do recognize the need to avoid stagnation in live performances.

[@finagasentpla541]

Magnifico. Es la parte íntima del mejor musical de la historia

[@zzzzrvidoes365]

34:27 when someone tells me I’m wrong on something that’s factually correct 😂

[@johnnyquest9519]

I’ve never seen a French horn player, scratch their back with a French horn.

[@dorkiesanman]

Lol what's the time stamp?

[@LauraValcarcelRodriguez]

​​@@dorkiesanman 26:12

[@Ramznet]

And Carreras never got on time in something's coming. In the record he's still ahead

[@miltronix]

Unbelievable. The stage and screen singers managed to nail it. Perhaps he was too accustomed to conductors following HIM when he sings in the opera halls...?

[@Ramznet]

@@miltronix Might be. There are also people who don't have a very good sense of rhythm

[@MrKlemps]

​@@Ramznet The casting of Carreras was something of a mistake. It's not so much that he has a poor sense of rhythm as that the entire idiom is foreign and uncongenial to him. He was not a facile adapter; the learning curve was too steep for him--and not just in thatbparticular song.

[@Ramznet]

@@MrKlemps it was Bernstein choice of course. I'm sure there were many incredible english speaking singers at his disposal.

[@fox2mike28]

I don’t think Carreras’ problem is as much insufficient rhythm as it is a lack of the “swing” required as part of the jazz influences in West Side Story’s soundtrack. You have to have a certain feel for it, an ability to lightly drag the rhythm when required to avoid getting ahead. That is not a natural part of opera and particularly the classical European opera in which Carreras was king. He deserves some sympathy for how much against the grain he was being called upon to perform in this instance. Dame Kiri isn’t always perfect rhythmically either, but she had a very diverse career, dabbled in musical soundtracks on several occasions, and just had more of the relevant experience in her back pocket.

[@StefanGuirten]

What is the instrumentation for the orchestra?

[@mariaauxiliadorajaimesiso2926]

Pobre Carreras... qué mal lo pasó... ese contrapunto es letal.

[@elizabethhamblin4926]

Carreras es un músico profesional con altos estándares. Estaba tan comprometido con hacer las cosas bien como Bernstein.

[@Shamsithaca]

ok he was scary here hahah. I totally get Carreras but when he started singing Ill never stop saying Carreras reminds me of a scary teacher I once had hahah

[@d.f.4830]

I mean that was pretty disastrous on JC’s part 😅 felt bad for him, but you can’t sing it like you’re frantically counting, and you especially can’t sing it like you’re counting wrong

[@bman342a]

Bernstein called you a "great, genius first trumpet player", put THAT on your resume

[@Dbdbe1]

And he’s right!

[@danhorner15]

32:16

[@nelebdiazrodriguez4567]

Auuuuuuuu❤

[@roygbiv7025]

Years of heavy drinking and smoking etc. made Lenny lose the people-skills he had in earlier years. If Lenny hadn't written the piece (with a lot of help from Stephen Sondheim, incidentally) we would say that this conductor is spreading unnecessary stress in the singers and musicians. But we let him get away with it because he is the legend Leonard Bernstein.

[@nonsense.-py3dy]

I think that we was sick in these days..so maybe this make more Hard for him to work

[@tonniebaumeister]

Beautifull when people only are busy with music and not the visual performance towards public. In casual clothing. All the mimic and emotions are with music. Not with dance or the story emotions. Comparable with the performance of Patricia Petibon when she sings "Der Hölle Rache..."

[@YTer-SBSB770]

yes focusing on the orchestra & the singing of the music & words

[@leonidgames2133]

21:31 27:37 32:33 48:59

[@mangstadt1]

The making of.... How it was done. Making off with something is snatching it and stealing away. A very common mistake in Spanish, but fortunately many people are getting it right over here (in Spain).

[@js-hq3wx]

50:15 America

[@Felix73able]

carreras sounds amazing., what a b flat ! Bernstein was definitely into his slow conducting phase here....how awkward

[@dcrom]

I remember seeing this doc originally and it etched into me that Bernstein was a great a hole. Carreras did not survive him.

[@elizabethhamblin4926]

what are you talking about? Carreras cut the final recording and went on to continue his opera career, including his work on The Three Tenors. If there was anything that impacted the arc of his career, it was leukemia, not Bernstein.

[@lauravink3370]

❤️

[@hayerwhophtow6700]

Je me demande si Carreras n’avait pas travaillé sa partition ou si ses erreurs viennent de impatience de Bernstein avec lui. Les chefs d’orchestre peuvent être terribles avec les chanteurs s’ils les prennent en grippe. Gundula Janowitz, chanteuse que Bernstein ne voulais pas pour son enregistrement studio de Fidelio, en a beaucoup souffert, par exemple.

[@gruiasoare5221]

but i am pretty sure Maestro had a pretty good relationship even when he presented him he was like "JOSE CAREREAS YEAAA!!!!"

[@sk_yro9368]

1:06:37 Should have really not left that in...😅

[@xerox92]

27:37 1:23:25

[@nagitorio]

44:40

[@lesterarbusto3535]

C'est "making of"...

[@nigelhaywood9753]

'Making of' not 'making off'. 'Making off' is the Spanish or Italian version.

[@xerox92]

48:57 48:58 49:00 50:15

[@asechka]

It's "making of", not "making off"!

[@sublimegreen]

Carreras sings Maria better than any other.

[@philipnicholson2851]

I much prefer the original soundtrack version of 'Maria'.

[@carloamagliani0944]

Uhhhh...uhhh.!!!

[@curaticac5391]

What a musician and what a personality! Carreras -- probably not the best choice. And those cigarettes 🫢... .

[@GiuseppeSavazzi]

Sairam Prof. Giuseppe Savazzi head of the WORLDWIDE CIA SAIRAM secret services in India member of Rotary Club of New York District 7230 blessing to all of you from India 🇮🇳 Music Director and Founder of the Sathya Sai Universal Symphony Orchestra in Putthaparty Founder and music Director of the Rotary Youth International Orchestra with Lufthansa Sponsor since 1990. in šāʾ Allāh إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ Sairam 🙏🇮🇳❤️🙏

[@jonbates9386]

your point being?

[@jenylogan1]

Wonderful operatic voices,but sadly, it robs the piece of all its youthful vigour and street vibrancy. Troyanos was a wondrous mezzo , but this is not Anita, mellifluous music, but not West Side Story . I feel great sympathy for Carreras, English is not his first language, like Te Kanawa and Troyanos, and Bernstein’s treatment of him is not pleasant.

[@SupervisionVille-marie]

Bernstein is SUPER patient, not mentioning how sick he already was filming that...he looks tired and worned out..props to him

[@anonymusum]

Who are you to say that this is not Anita? The whole production is just a different approach to the score and it´s conducted by one of the two authors. So - if Lenny could go along with it we should agree as well. Moreso as we don´t hear all of those mistakes in intonation and dynamics that we are used to when listening to non-educated singers.

[@miltronix]

Um, like any professional, Carreras was *expected* to be fully prepared, with only minor rehearsal (for interpretation/brush-up) needed. Alone of all the singers, his lack of preparation was astounding... no wonder R Bing said he was "unreliable"

[@jenylogan1]

@@miltronix Is ‘um’ a word ?

[@AlainArvelo]

Thank you for saying this. The cult of Bernstein is more powerful than ever. His treatment and belittlement of singers seems to be something they always overlook. There is a clip of him doing the same with the great mezzo Christa Ludwig. He was an ass often.

[@Lord_Baphomet_]

Why opera singers… why why why why…

[@alanbrown442]

It's all wrong and probably contributed to Bernstein's demise.

[@MrKlemps]

Just what "demise" would that be? His overall reception has never changed. Generally overrated by the public and generally underrated by critics, especially as a composer. I must have been in a coma for his "demise".

[@sarahjones-jf4pr]

Don't be silly .....

[@gijsschubert7901]

41:15