Leonard Bernstein forever changed music in the 20th century, his reach affecting pop, jazz, Broadway and classical.
He was the first American to gain international fame as a conductor and composed accessible, often haunting music for the stage. “West Side Story,” “On the Waterfront” and “Peter Pan” are among his most celebrated works in that realm. Bernstein also wrote three symphonies and chamber works, becoming a superstar during his long tenure as the conductor for the New York Philharmonic.
By the time of his death in 1990 at age 72, Bernstein’s legacy had long been cemented. This year marks the centennial of this birth in Massachusetts. To commemorate it, the Virginia Arts Festival and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra have joined forces, compiling a program that sweeps through Bernstein’s repertoire. The shows, part of a national celebration of Bernstein at 100, are Friday at the Ferguson Center for the Arts in Newport News and Saturday at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk. Bernstein’s daughter Jamie will host the concerts and speak of her father’s legacy.
JoAnn Falletta, music director for the VSO, will conduct the classical part of the Bernstein shows. While studying for her master’s degree at the Juilliard School in New York City, Falletta met the legendary conductor-composer.
He sometimes visited the school to teach master classes in conducting. And whenever he showed up, the room was packed with “not only the music students, but dancers came, the actors came, all of the faculty came,” Falletta says. “He was electrifying.”
Falletta remembers Bernstein as a short man with a “wonderful leonine head, an aristocratic look to him.” He’d show up with his ever-present cigarette holder “although you weren’t supposed to smoke in the school,” Falletta says. “No one ever told him that.”
Her biggest lesson from those master classes was the passion Bernstein stressed in the music, not just the technical details.
“It was about what was human in the music, what was emotional in the music,” Falletta says. “That’s what music is about, connecting with human beings and the emotional impact of what we play.”
“Somewhere” from “West Side Story” is one of Bernstein’s most memorable songs and one of Falletta’s personal favorites.
“It says so much musically, how it unfolds so tenderly,” Falletta says. “We hear it at the end of the story when both gang leaders are dead. There’s a kind of a deep sense of loss and yet there’s hopefulness.”
“Somewhere,” with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, is one of Bernstein’s most recorded songs. It has the kind of depth that allows a singer to showcase her voice and interpretive powers. Here are five very different versions. Which one do you like best?
Barbra Streisand, 1985
A highlight from “The Broadway Album,” which returned Streisand to her stage roots. After a long atmospheric intro with synthesizers very much of their time, Streisand’s stratospheric voice soar through the slick arrangement.
Cynthia Erivo, 2017
The Broadway superstar gives a brief but rousing interpretation, backed by the National Symphony Orchestra.
Shirley Bassey, 1965
From her album, “Bassey Stops the Shows,” the grand diva imbues the song with her inimitable, animated approach as the orchestration swirls behind her.
Aretha Franklin, 1973
This gospel-and-jazz-inflected version was included on the soul queen’s experimental album, “Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky),” produced by Quincy Jones. The highlight is Franklin’s piano solo midway.
Dionne Warwick, 1967
The pop-soul legend went for a snazzy version of the Bernstein classic, with a slightly swinging back beat and blaring brass. Warwick’s rendition is equally sensitive and bombastic.
Updated
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