tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post7145791098072073375..comments2007-02-14T07:47:19.499ZPliablenoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-67119726087045890562007-02-14T07:47:00.000Z2007-02-14T07:47:00.000Z<I>It was America at its most flesh-crawling</I><BR/><BR/>Hahahaha, I think I'd like Mr. Drummond.<BR/><BR/>I saw Lennie at this second to last public appearance, at Tanglewood. It was a rehearsal, the <I>Four Sea Interludes</I> and the Beethoven 7th. It took him almost 5 minutes to reach the podium, he was in that bad of shape. The BSO played large chunks of both pieces straight through; the conducting of the Beethoven was ghastly, as if the period instrument movement had never happened and the Britten wasn't much better.<BR/><BR/>A few days later he died and one of the pictures I saw on TV that night showed him with a death stick hanging out of his mouth, Bernstein puffing away. Yikes.Henry Hollandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974183346009807659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-23749128895762518782007-02-13T05:38:00.000Z2007-02-13T05:38:00.000ZTruly another virtuoso post, Pliable.<BR/><BR/>I don't think I thanked you for the hat tip on the 2005 post, so consider this belated acknowledgment.<BR/><BR/>As with countless musical geniuses (It really is a tiresome cliche) Bernstein was a very contradictory man. But nobody who has a hint of sanity and reasoning ability could deny his greatness.<BR/><BR/>To the main point, "Songs of Freedom" is a cultural monument of sorts, I think, but it was undercut by the sentiment it expressed and its premature success.<BR/><BR/>I had never seen the original album art. Thanks.<BR/><BR/>Cheers,<BR/><BR/>GeorgeHucbaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17345423651965577290noreply@blogger.com