Elgar, the BBCSO and Bernstein...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The rehearsal footage was broadcast in the Omnibus series on 18th April 1982. On the DVD the rehearsal footage lasts a mere 25 minutes and includes a chat with Barry Norman at the piano. Was the original Omnibus programme an hour or so?

K.

That's what I "remember", Karafan - but the Barry Norman chat was part of the original broadcast: the Film Critic way out of his depth and Lennie becoming increasingly bored as the chat continued. Perhaps the Omnibus programme contained other bits on Bernstein that weren't thought appropriate for the DVD release?

[pastoralguy]

I remember at the time various members of the orchestra told me that a great deal of the rehearsal footage never made it to the original Omnibus programme, has it been issued on the DVD or is it just what we originally saw?

The DVD arrived yesterday. I was a bit disappointed that there was only 25 minutes of the rehearsal (and that includes a very young Barry Norman's interval talk) included. I do remember the Omnibus rehearsal sequence being much longer including a moment where he says to the principal viola "you don't mean that" during a solo passage.

There are a couple of contentious moments where Bernstein criticises the trumpet's intonation which is met with a bolshie attitude from the no. 2 player who complains that what Bernstein asks for is unmusical. Bernstein, wisely, ignores him.

The performance is very exciting though. Well worth seeing.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... (and that includes a very young Barry Norman's interval talk) ...

He was 49! (I'm not complaining; you make me feel so young )

Sad that the documentary has been cut so much ... is his remonstrance to the Tuba player ("You talk big, but you don't stay" - not sure of the last word) kept in?

[gradus]

From You tube, ' You talk big but you don't last' to the discomfort of the tuba player but laughter from the orchestra.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

From You tube, ' You talk big but you don't last' to the discomfort of the tuba player but laughter from the orchestra.

Watching the youTube clip, I was reminded of Tom Baker's comment about his approach to acting. "They ask me to play a part, and I agree and learn the lines, and when I get to the rehearsal, I say the lines and the director says 'Oh, no; I want you to say them like this'. So I reply 'Then why did you ask for me?'"

The BBCSO seem to have wanted the big audience-drawing power of Bernstein whilst expecting him to conduct the Elgar like Andrew Davis. Not the proudest moment in their history.

[BBMmk2]

Lenny took Nimrod in 6, would, but to me, this doesn't change the music, imo.

[makropulos]

Sad that the documentary has been cut so much ... is his remonstrance to the Tuba player ("You talk big, but you don't stay" - not sure of the last word) kept in?

Are we sure that it has been cut? My hazy recollection was of an hour long programme that included a complete performance, but perhaps I'm misremembering. The comment to the tuba player is certainly on the DVD, as are the bickering trumpets.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Are we sure that it has been cut? My hazy recollection was of an hour long programme that included a complete performance, but perhaps I'm misremembering. The comment to the tuba player is certainly on the DVD, as are the bickering trumpets.

You may well be right - my "memory" was that the rehearsals were a preparation for the public concert (with the Songfest after the interval). But it's so long ago ...

[makropulos]

You may well be right - my "memory" was that the rehearsals were a preparation for the public concert (with the Songfest after the interval). But it's so long ago ...

Right. The whole concert was broadcast on the radio –and I was at it (and I have a casette of the broadcast). I thought the Omnibus TV prog. came afterwards...and only included Enigma. Damn, I wish I could remember...!

[slarty]

Right. The whole concert was broadcast on the radio –and I was at it (and I have a casette of the broadcast). I thought the Omnibus TV prog. came afterwards...and only included Enigma. Damn, I wish I could remember...!

You are right Mak, the Omnibus was just Enigma - rehearsal & performance. I had it on video tape for a long time until I lent it to someone and it never came back.
My memory is that it was around the 60-65 minutes length in total.

[makropulos]

You are right Mak, the Omnibus was just Enigma - rehearsal & performance. I had it on video tape for a long time until I lent it to someone and it never came back.
My memory is that it was around the 60-65 minutes length in total.

Slarty –that's incredibly helpful. Thanks. The new DVD is just that length (65 mins). There has been quite a bit of anecdotal stuff about what was said in those rehearsals, but I don't think anything's been cut from the original broadcast.

By the way, board members might be interested in this little tidbit: Yehudi Menuhin –who knew a thing or two about Elgar as well as working with Elgar –wrote to Bernstein about this performance:

I asked a friend to send me a tape of your Enigma Variations in London recently.
I have just listened to it and it is the most moving performance of the work I have ever heard.
I just wanted you to know how much I admire your interpretation and how I felt it revered Elgar’s every indication.
Love,
Yehudi

[pastoralguy]

By the way, board members might be interested in this little tidbit: Yehudi Menuhin –who knew a thing or two about Elgar as well as working with Elgar –wrote to Bernstein about this performance:

I asked a friend to send me a tape of your Enigma Variations in London recently.
I have just listened to it and it is the most moving performance of the work I have ever heard.
I just wanted you to know how much I admire your interpretation and how I felt it revered Elgar’s every indication.
Love,
Yehudi

You can't say fairer than that!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

You are right Mak, the Omnibus was just Enigma - rehearsal & performance. I had it on video tape for a long time until I lent it to someone and it never came back.
My memory is that it was around the 60-65 minutes length in total.

Thanks for this, slarty - but wasn't there also material on Songfest? I remember the performance (an underwhelming work) and footage from a rehearsal in which a lot of fuss about Bernstein changing the last bars of the first number and dictating the changes to the orchestra.

[slarty]

Thanks for this, slarty - but wasn't there also material on Songfest? I remember the performance (an underwhelming work) and footage from a rehearsal in which a lot of fuss about Bernstein changing the last bars of the first number and dictating the changes to the orchestra.

I don't remember there being anything about songfest Fernie,(but that does not mean there was'nt) - I remember that the title of the Omnibus was something like "Leonard Bernstein & the Enigma Variations". The Songfest may have been mentioned in the programme. The tape went out of my possession in 1992, when I was moving to Dortmund, I have not seen it since.
Sorry that I cannot be more precise.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Aha! I think I've sorted it out. On youTube, there is a clip of Paul Hudson singing To What You Said, described as "A BBC Live broadcast from the RFH, London 1980" - two years before the encounter with the BBCSO. Maybe this was when LB rewrote the end of the first song (a sudden modulation from C major to C# major) that I remember and jumbled it up with the performance of two years later.

If so, that means that Bernstein performed Songfest three times during the 1980s (1980, '82 & the '88 Proms) - each one broadcast by the Beeb!