Final years - hubris and charity

Donald Macleod explores the final years in the life of Leonard Bernstein, when his behaviour became more erratic, but he also became more active in his work for charitable causes.

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Leonard Bernstein - one of the most iconic personalities in the musical life of America, and a key figure in the formation of the cultural identity of the United States. Over the course of this week, Donald discovers how Bernstein rose to conquer both the concert hall and the Broadway stage, and succeed both as conductor, and, more importantly for him personally, as composer.

We will explore Bernstein’s whirlwind life. A journey from a cocksure teenager giving piano lessons in his local neighbourhood to his studies at Harvard, where the connections he made – with the composer Aaron Copland and the conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos - prepared him, not as his father hoped, for a career in business, but instead for a life in music.

Donald also explores Bernstein’s friendship with the conductor Serge Koussevitsky and the events that led to his headline-grabbing success as a stand-in conductor for Bruno Walter in his mid-twenties. We'll also hear about his rise to prominence as a composer during the days of the Second World War with a pair of Broadway scores.

Donald also details Bernstein’s conflicted personal life – from his marriage to the actress and TV star Felicia Montealegre to his own TV career and his social life mixing with the celebrity set of New York City. And we’ll find out how his marriage hit the rocks as he underwent a difficult period in his personal life, like his hero Mahler, “like being two different men locked up in the same body”.

In Friday’s programme, Donald explores the final years in the life of Leonard Bernstein, when, following the death of Felicia, Bernstein’s behaviour became more erratic, as he began self-medicating with alcohol and prescription drugs. However, he also became more active in his work for charitable causes, including memorable concerts to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall and the outbreak of World War II.

His compositions of this last period are more sporadic and more autobiographical in tone, including the opera “A Quiet Place” and “Arias and Barcarolles”. However, the frenetic pace of his life didn’t slow down, with an almost constant stream of trips abroad to conduct.

Four Anniversaries 1. For Felicia Montealegre
Katie Mahan, piano

Quiet Place: Postlude
Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Kent Nagano, conductor

West Side Story – Tonight
José Carreras, tenor (Tony)
Kiri te Kanawa, soprano (Maria)
Leonard Bernstein Orchestra
Leonard Bernstein, conductor

Concerto for Orchestra – 3rd and 4th movements
Nathan Gunn, baritone
New Zealand SO
James Judd, conductor

Chichester Psalms
David Allsopp, countertenor
Tenebrae
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Nigel Short, conductor

Arias and Barcarolles (arr. for orch): VIII. Nachtspiel (Postlude)
Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano
Ryan McKinny, baritone
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor

Producer: Sam Phillips