No sooner has the classical music world stopped arguing about Cate Blanchett's savage portrayal of a fictional conductor in the movie Tár than along comes another Hollywood epic about a conductor - this time a real one. As someone who interviewed Leonard Bernstein a few times, I was astonished by how accurately Bradley Cooper portrays his mannerisms, voice, conducting gestures, crazy and fickle private life and, most of all, his charisma in this new film Maestro (to be profiled in the Jan 2024 issue). And there are some brilliant music scenes. The 1973 performance of Mahler's Second Symphony in Ely Cathedral is so perfectly evoked that you feel as if you have been whisked backwards in a time-machine.
In one respect, though, the film doesn't do justice to Bernstein's multifaceted life and protean energy. Away from music, it's nearly all about his marriage and its disintegration. Fair enough that's what interests the director. But the millions of people learning about Bernstein for the first time through this film will glean nothing about one crucial facet of his life. He was not just a prominent cultural icon of post-war America; he was also a tremendously political figure. In word and deed, he was forever championing causes boldly and bravely.
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Esta historia es de la edición Christmas 2023 de BBC Music Magazine.
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FESTIVAL GUIDE 2024
It's that time of year again... Spring has finally sprung, and along with the promised sunshine we welcome a brand-new season of glorious summer music.
The mighty Sampson
As soprano Carolyn Sampson turns 50, she tells Ashutosh Khandekar about the development of her voice through a remarkable catalogue of recordings
Music to die for
From wrathful Verdi to ethereal Fauré, there are many different ways to compose a Requiem, as Jeremy Pound discovers
Avian anthems
From Vivaldi to Messiaen, composers have often been inspired by birdsong. But accurately mimicking chirrups and tweets in music is far more difficult than it sounds, finds Tom Stewart
THE BIG 400!
BBC Music Magazine has reached its 400th issue! To celebrate, we look back over eight milestone issues since the very firstin 1992
Northern light
From her first piano lesson, composer Errollyn Wallen has lived and breathed music; and though inspired by a range of styles, her composing is a deeply personal expression, as she tells Kate Wakeling
Felix Mendelssohn Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor
Jo Talbot celebrates the Mozart of the 19th century’ as she searches out the finest recordings of this masterful work for piano, violin and cello
Antonio Salieri
Forget the hate-filled murderer of Mozart, says Alexandra Wilson; the real Salieri was an opera composer of considerable standing
Aix-en-Provence France
Rebecca Franks breathes in the spring air in the popular southern city, where the music making sparkles and the sun always shines
Composing is like breathing. It's just something I do, like a hobby, really...or an addiction
The world's most performed classical composer, a small, black-suited figure with a mop of white hair and mutton-chop whiskers, stands on the huge Brucknerhaus stage, almost invisible among the sea of musicians.