Making music threw Leonard Bernstein into ecstasies. And he wasn’t ashamed to let you know it.
Join me this Thursday morning on WPRB as we anticipate the 99th anniversary of Bernstein’s birth (on August 25, 1918) with highly charged performances of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 4 and Jean Sibelius’ “Pohjola’s Daughter,” alongside Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat major, with Bernstein at the keyboard, playing with joyful abandon.
Along the way, we’ll salute The American Boychoir, the Princeton-based organization that closed its doors on August 15th after 79 years, with a recording of Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms.” Bernstein’s last major work, “Arias and Barcarolles,” will be heard in its original (and better) version for mezzo-soprano, baritone and piano four hands. The world premiere recording features Judy Kaye and William Sharp, the latter no stranger to Princeton audiences, thanks to frequent guest appearances singing Bach with The Dryden Ensemble. We’ll also appreciate the talent of the late Barbara Cook with selections from “Candide.”
In addition, there will be some real rarities along the way (Nikolai Lopatnikoff’s Concertino for Orchestra, David Diamond’s Symphony No. 4). We’ll hear Bernstein the conductor, the pianist and the chamber musician, the composer of concert works and musical theater pieces.
Celebrate the genius of this musical hydra, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Lenny goes for broke, on Classic Ross Amico.
