- Title: Howard Goodall's 20Th Century Greats: Leonard Bernstein
- Date: 18th December 2004
- Summary: LEONARD BERNSTEIN was the composer who, more than anyone else in the twentieth century, embodied the trend we now call ‘cross-over.’ A brilliant musician and conductor, he wrote in the ‘classical’ style, but also wrote some of the best known ‘popular’ music of the century, from On The Town to West Side Story. In mid century, this was a bold step – you were expected to choose between the two styles, and they were seen as poles apart. Bernstein never accepted this – to him good music was good music – but he was forced to veer wildly between writing for the supposed opposites of popular and classical taste. But he was always trying to join the dots between the two. At first it seemed as if the answer was to introduce jazz, pop and dance styles into classical music. But in 1957 he came at the conundrum from a different direction and finally squared the circle. West Side Story had all the pizzazz and popular appeal of the Broadway musical – although with a contemporary, hard-hitting subject. But the great advance was that the fun and energy of the musical was underpinned with the subtlety and shape of classical music – specifically opera. It was a hit with great songs – Tonight, Somewhere, Maria – but also with an emotional and artistic subtlety new to the musical, derived from the best music of the past. Here was a hint as to the future direction of music, a way to get the best of both worlds. But not only did West Side Story revitalise the musical. By incorporating Latin American rhythms – most famously in America- Bernstein pointed the way forward for the most important musical trend of our own time – fusion. But for Bernstein ‘fusion’ wasn’t only about mixing new musical colours merely for effect. It had a religious and political purpose too. For him music could and should reflect all the world’s communities, nations and creeds. By his own mixing of European classical, pop and Latin styles, Bernstein may have prefigured the next important phase in the music of our own time – the fusion of Western and Asian styles. Directed & produced by David Jeffcock
- Description:Classical music started the century as the undisputed master of its field. It was recognised (in the West) as the main purveyor of music of emotion, subtlety and innovation. It reached a vast mainstream audience. Gradually this changed. Classical music began a journey into the avant-garde, and abandoned western tonality, the familiar ‘rules’ and practices of music that had served for several centuries. Whatever the artistic merits of this new approach, there is little doubt that the mainstream audience couldn’t – or didn’t want – to follow it. A vacuum was thus created. Into it stepped an enriched form of popular music, that now began to take over as the principle producer of sophisticated, emotionally and artistically satisfying music that could be understood and enjoyed by an intelligent, mainstream audience. But that’s not to say that this new, enriched popular music was free of innovation. It wasn’t. It not only created new musical forms; it enthusiastically embraced all existing forms of music, be they classical, popular, folk, ‘world’ – or whatever. (The very musical forms the avant-garde were rejecting.) Popular music even embraced the avant-garde! At the highest level of popular music, the most gifted composers consistently produced music that was at the same time familiar yet strange, a clever and exciting mixture of the old and the new. And the greatest popular composers didn’t just influence other popular composers. They also influenced a new generation of ‘classical’ composers. No doubt composers like Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Schoenberg and the other twentieth century ‘classical’ giants will – rightly – feature in future music histories. But the pivotal story of Twentieth Century music, Howard Goodall believes, is this astonishing, unexpected and unprecedented flowering of popular music. In this new century, the old, damaging division between the two camps – classical and popular – will no longer be an issue. There will just be music, good and bad. Four films Produced by David Jeffcock, directed by David Jeffcock and Francis Hanly, with Tiger Aspect for Channel 4 Television. The series was transmitted 27th November- 18th December 2004 and has been repeated several times since then.
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Producer:Tiger Aspect Productions Ltd.
- Programme Episode:Episode 4
- Transmission Date:18/12/2004
- Rights:Worldwide
- Decade: 2000s