Lenny gives comments to Mahler`s 9th Symphonie

[briquetaverne]

In life as you become older you recognize the little gifts or rewards that were offered in windows of time that only few ever experience that you took and which many hail and revere yet who never partook of the experience. I was young but I met Leonard Bernsein in person as he talked with my father, the other was that I was at woodstock in 1969.

[dbn52]

gnatural: What planet do you resided?All who believe in Jesus or Allah or what ever use them as an excuse to force the evil hatred and all the ignorance of their lives upon others. I feel sorry for you.I am sorry if the truth hurts.

[sithardeth]

does it from a DvD or something where can i find the full version ??

[Dan474834]

Leonard Bernstein - The latest of a line of musical geniuses dating back to the outburst of classic creativity, condemned to the rolemodelling of future musical generations in a way only the likes of Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Ravel or even Rott have shown.

I see his name printed in schoolbooks, for future generations will admire his grandeur in the way that of Beethoven is admired today.

May it be today, in a century, or even in five milennia, you will be missed and admired.

[clarinetgeek7299]

omg goosebumps at 4:11!!! the horns are freaking amazing..bernstein was right on about the clinging to life thing..you can feel his despair, his angst, yet his passion through the horns bells!!!

[LordMgls]

@clarinetgeek7299 When I'm listening to the piece carefully, I always have them right there. Great music.

[janevonrogin1]

A vocal orgasm!

[Twjdfa]

gracias,y mil gracias por estos videos ....historico!

[Neongrapes]

OMG, LEONARD FAGSTEIN IS THE BEST BATON WAIVER EVER!

[gera1262]

@Neongrapes LOL.

[Strefanasha]

I adored Mahler when i was a tormented boy of 20. but now it is too much. I am not sure i can bear his agony, and certainly not the memory of my own.

Give me my beloved Bruckner.

I dont dispute Mahler's greatness, I just cannot stand the tragedy.

what a great tragedy that he never ever attained the faith that was Bruckner's for the latter's entire life.

there is no need to grasp at life when one has eternal life

poor, tortured Mahler

[danielregan1]

@Strefanasha Mahler saw the faith as somewhat fake, ill-attained. He 'achieved' so within the Eighth Symphony, but Das Lied, the Ninth and the Tenth expressed his fear of that gaping hole, created by a sudden disappearance of that reliance upon faith. Say what you want, religion-wise, as we all have opinions on it, but I find the Ninth especially to be an incredible document of our mortal lives; the experience of growing older and eventually facing mortality. Less faith, more...acceptance.

[skyboneable]

@danielregan1 gnatural is living in a world of dreams. You got it right in my opinion, Daniel.

[danielregan1]

Saying that though, I am 22, and I do adore Mahler as you once did. The tragedy is bare for all to see in the first three movements, but the fourth transfigures all of the horror and depths of life's experiences (expressed within the first three) into a sort of more lush and understanding mirror of the first movement; learning to accept what happens (and what will happen) instead of pleading or lamenting aimlessly, hoping for a non-existant form of salvation.

[gnatural]

@danielregan1 Im sorry Daniel, but you are greatly mistaken. There is indeed a salvation and there is a savior. his name is Jesus

[lyon1535]

@gnatural Jesus the "son of god" does not exist, and it is doubtful that a Jesus figure on which they based this pagan god figure ever existed either. The bible is the only source referencing his existence.

[kewkabe]

@lyon1535 thanks for clearing that up for us, lyon!

[anthonyjakes]

this verbal dribble by Bernstein thankfully does not confound his beautiful interpretation of 9th's last movement. he could be such an asshole when he wasn't conducting.

[btracz]

@anthonyjakes I strongly disagree. Bernstein is giving the most "factual" play-by-play he can muster.

[chocotastic]

@anthonyjakes Woah what. I cannot disagree with you more with that latter statement there. Have you seen the videos of him giving conducting masterclasses? His Young Person's Concerts tv episodes? From what I have read and what former students of his have told me, I get the impression that on the contrary, he was one of the nicest, yet outstandingly professional human beings who ever lived.

[cieobt2]

Lenny, like Herbie, brought and continues to bring and teach us so much about the transcendent power/magic of music, and this present moment in which we breathe. How can we not feel grateful to them that they were willing to keep committed to their art and tap into such profound areas of music and the human psyche for us--as our musical (and maybe, even our spiritual) guides?

[carlolamberti1]

bellisiima versione, dove ci si trova quasi nel vivo di questa gigantesca fiumana musicale, dove si rivela l'esistenza di Dio...

[IpsaPaphum]

There's self-pity in much of Mahler's music.

[lpipmp]

leonard please teach the children your the way of the teacher thankxxxxxxxx

[MrArcati]

It is a joy to hear Bernstein interpretingwhat he feels about the music - a great aid to understanding the arts of listhening and comprehending the composition. He's a turn-on.

[flylooper]

The beauty of Lenny conducting is his profound understanding of GM. Not only do we hear the composer in sound but the conductor who conveys the music with his whole body. Like Mahler, Bernstein was absolutely passionately devoted to his art and I cannot get enough of watching him conduct an orchestra in a Mahler symphony, especially the 9th, which to me was Mahler's farewell to *irdischen Grenzen.* With this work he transcended.

[manthasagittarius]

I'm just a teacher -- music, psychology and literature by turns, and it's a pretty prosaic existence most of the time. But I do remember and mark Mahler's birthday in some way every year -- this year, maybe the best in my life, with this profound, one-of-a-kind and once-for-all-time commentary by one of his very greatest interpreters. I can't thank you enough for posting this. I can pass it on to my students with open hands and a full heart.

[billjhyt]

Remarkable insight, remarkable interpretation. Another person might envision an entirely different drama unfolding, but that's what makes great music GREAT.

[shazangel1]

To me the ending of the 9th emotes the existentialists' slip into passive nihilism - mixed with Schoepenhauer's aesthetic.

[glmoneo]

Mahler was anything but a nihilist. This is a profound misunderstanding of Mahler and his music.

[shazangel1]

@glmoneo I'm sorry, before my uncle had his account he commented on a bunch of videos with my account, it wasn't me.

[JOKART001]

The advantage to be maestro:

First and principal audience.

Aynaba van Joyce

[zozmanpfc]

Mahler is programatic without program. World is his program: jokes, irony, violence, triumph, bitterness, god, nature... There is no ''good measure'', it is extreme by extreme because that's it. His passion is strong and thats all in music. That is why he doesn't have anything in common with ''quiet listening of good measured tonal ellegance and abstract forms''. He is outrageous, He is over the edge, and so is Lenny. That's why I like Mahler.

[manthasagittarius]

@zozmanpfc There's a lot of truth in this. It's not all there is to it, but it's important.

[TheDystopiaInside]

Without overstating it, the final movement of Mahler's 9th has to be one of the highest artistic expressions in Western music. Certainly the emotion is as intense as anything ever written. Listening to it in the right frame of mind I've asked myself several times, is this what death is like? It's so "heavy" that I cannot listen to it as often as I once did, back in college for example.

It seems to me that he captured something universally recognizable that should transcend cultures and time.

[dajohnthomas69]

I never object to comments given on music, at least not from mr. Bernstein. In the seventies he gave some very interesting lectures on music. So, that was also his didactic side. After all he knows what he's talking about. You might repudiate his interpretation for being too uninhibited, sentimental or even overconscious sloppiness; it is true musicianship. I am also not too keenly on "explaining music", but to lower the accessiveness to Mahler's music - not exactly easy - why not a narrative?

[Haeronthegreat]

What's the use of all these comments; 'he is trying on disembodiment' etc? It is glorious music - let's not disturb its expression by trying to define it.

[benkalziqi]

@Haeronthegreat A great man once said:

Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars — mere globs of gas atoms. Nothing is "mere". I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? ... It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little more about it. For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it?

[ivideolives]

@benkalziqi Who was the great man who said this?

[mahler151]

Although the audio is poor, this is still incredibly moving.

[Ear4Beauty]

Extremely touching for a farewell to life symphony. But it has never moved me as much as the conclusion of Bruckner's 9th.

[rjr1967]

.. although strictly speaking, Bruckner's 9th has no "conclusion" - though what on earth he could have written to follow that slow movement beats me.

[Ear4Beauty]

He had planned to use the Te Deum as a conclusion. Bruckner said his desire was to make the supernatural real through music. In my opinion he came the closest in the 9th symphony. He penned over the major theme "farewell to life" as far as I have heard.

[singingisall]

I think i like the end of Bruckner's 9th as much as you....the end is like a spirituell search after God without deliverance. And the conclusion is extremely touching. I think there is a affinity to the end of Mahlers 9th just expressed in an other way but with the same expressiveness.

[gwozdezzz]

Every single time I listen to this movement I don't know, am I laughing or crying. The most important thing Mahler ever wrote.

[DeutschlandRocks]

Oh my God my Lenny! Our Lenny!

I wish so, the heaven could give him back!

Speechlessly

[jcfs123]

This finale is utterly transcendent, above any earthly musical composition.

[shellac1925]

This has got to be the most moving end to any work in the repertoire, with the possible exception of Tristan und Isolde. I can't help but get shivers through my body when I listen.

[munkybrain]

Bernstein's comments are facinating, especially for me. when mahler wrote this, however, although he was aware of the severity of his heart condition and had started with the pedometer and all that, Mahler was quite cheerful judging by his letters.

[ArturoAlejandroS]

The finale of M9 is between something dark and a great faith in God.There is a conflict theme that sonds shadow and a resignated theme,beautiful and majestic.

Although between this and first movement,I prefer first movement.

With this ysmphony,I can understand how Mahler was in the lasts years of his life.All destroyed,his own and great tragedy.

[mossfitz]

You´re right about conflict - a straining to find way between great forces.

I don´t think tragedy at this level is autobiographical though - it expresses the hope and despair which is common to humanity. Death is the one certainty.

Your English is excellent, by the way.

[byrne1bw]

Is this from any sort of video series?; I'd like to find more commentaries like this. Thanks!

[Jitpring]

I think it's from The Unanswered Question series, now on DVDs. Look for it on amazon.

[etiterum]

I can help you: It is contained in the Bernstein Mahler Box, containing all Symphonies , Lied von der Erde, and rehearsals of the 5th and 9th Symphony, the piece you listen to here is called four ways to say farewell, it lasts 54minutes.

[intelpl]

absolutely great. thanks.