Bernstein, Leonard Books

Leonard Bernstein: A Life

Meryle Secrest

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The most insightful and engrossing work we have had from the widely admired biographer of Frank Lloyd Wright ("Captivating ... The reader comes away with an understanding of Wright as a man as well as an architect" -- Washington Post Book World ... "Spellbinding" -- Boston Globe), of Bernard Berenson ("Authoritative and fascinating" -- Philip Toynbee, The Observer ... "A memorable opus" -- Sir Harold Acton), and of Kenneth Clark ("Splendid, enthralling" -- Wall Street Journal).

Here is Leonard Bernstein, full scale and fully alive -- the child prodigy, the man, the composer, the teacher, the hugely charismatic personality, the lover, the American folk hero.

Everything is here: the child growing up in a Hasidic family in Massachusetts, his father a rabbi's son; his first piano at age nine ("I remember touching it ... It was my contact with life, with God"); his reluctant, brilliant, argumentative years at Harvard; the rocky but exhilarating start of his career (scant jobs, no money, but friendships with Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Judy Holliday, Comden and Green, et al.); his spectacular debut (understudy into a star!) as substitute conductor at the New York Philharmonic; the great career over the years as a composer in classical music (the Kaddish Symphony, Chichester Psalms, Songfest), and in musical theater (On the Town, Wonderful Town, Candide, West Side Story, Mass, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue).

We see Bernstein: the good father to his three children, the man who adored his wife, Felicia Montealegre, the man who adored men, the brilliant and generous mentor, the temperamental artist, the hypochondriac, the politician, the businessman, the Pied Piper ...

His life, his music, the great international cultural world in which he traveled, are richly and vividly portrayed in this magnificent biography, alive with music -- and with life.

Leonard Bernstein (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers)

Mike Venezia

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Editorial Review:

A brief biography of the talented composer, conductor, and musician known for his television series, Young People's Concerts.

Leonard Bernstein

Humphrey Burton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Comprehensive, with a Human Touch 4 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

This bio skillfully covers Bernstein's background, his philosophy, his methods of viewing and performing music. Bernstein was a man of conflict, always wishing to compose (indeed, he wanted to be remembered not as a conductor, primarily, but as a composer) but knew he had to remain with conducting in order to earn his living. And Bernstein was a splendid composer .. I personally think his Candide and West Side Story are masterpieces without peer, and his orchestral works are incredibly daring and far sighted for their time. Bernstein, though a genius, was all too human. He struggled endlessly with his sexuality, yet remained entirely devoted to his wife and children. Burton thoroughly explores Bernstein's many friendships with those in the music world, the most touching being his involvements with Copland and Mitropoulous. Both recognized Bernstein's genius, and were also painfully aware of his inner conflicts and fragile ego, and strove to uplift and encourage him so that he might make his true mark in the arts. The photos in this book are splendid, and Burton's writing is crisp and engaging. You will come away from this book with a renewed respect and enthusiasm for Bernstein the man and the musician.

Editorial Review:

The definitive biography of one of the most influential, flamboyant, and multifaceted musical talents of the 20th century, a man whose concert hall performances inspired generations of musicians and music lovers, and whose theatrical triumphs dazzled Broadway.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Private World of Leonard Bernstein

John Gruen, Ken Heyman

List Price: $12.50 By: Viking Adult Amazon Marketplace: 63 new & used starting at $1.45

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Leonard Bernstein: The Last Ten Years

Thomas R. Seiler, Alexander Bernstein, August Everding

List Price: $49.95 By: Edition Stemmle Amazon Marketplace: 8 new & used starting at $44.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Wonderful Portrait 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Having admired Bernstein for many years, I have always felt that there was a lack of photos from his final years. Here, Seiler has provided a wonderful portrait of the master in his many moods. The close-ups reveal Bernstein in intense thought while his candid photos (eg playing ping-pong) allow us to see his more playful side. Rarely are there photos without the cigarette in hand but this surely is his trademark. The comments by those who knew him add to the mystique and wonder of a man who embraced life so intensely.

Findings

Leonard Bernstein

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Interesting excerpts. . . 4 out of 5 stars.
8 of 10 people found this review helpful.

This book includes excerpts from writings by the great maestro. Some very interesting and revealing of his thought process and others more humorous and random but still enjoyable. Some include "Sonnet: On Acquiring Knowledge" and his Harvard Bachelor's Thesis. Letters are included too. Overall, I recomend it if you're interested in writings from the pen of Bernstein.

Editorial Review:

This brilliant and revealing self-portrait collects Bernstein's private notes, letters, essays, and musical writings to convey, as never before, the incredible energy, talent, and genius of a man who has confirmed the maturity and originality of American music. Over 100 photos.

Leonard Bernstein: A Guide to Research (Composer Resource Manuals)

Paul Laird

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Editorial Review:

This is a guide to research on the popular American composer and conducter, Leonard Bernstein. In addition to an annotated bibliography, this book includes a biographical sketch, an extensive chapter on his musical style, a list of compilations and arrangements, lists of Bernstein's own writings, and a selective list of recordings and videos.

Leonard Bernstein (20th-Century Composers)

Paul Myers

Amazon Price: $12.95 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Phaidon Press Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $7.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Leonard Bernstein, the latest in Phaidon Books's 20th Century Composers series, continues this workmanlike, readable collection of modern biographies, designed to fit all the essentials into fewer than 250 pages each. Author Paul Myers, a former record producer for Decca, Columbia, and Naxos, has composed a fond but clear-eyed look at this prodigal talent with the prodigal lifestyle. His excesses as well as his triumphs are examined, and his homosexuality is candidly discussed, but the book never descends to the tabloid-like depths of some other biographies of the composer of West Side Story, Candide, Trouble in Tahiti, and other works, both serious and less than serious. Myers himself seems to belong to the camp that holds that Bernstein deserved recognition primarily as a composer of important works, as opposed to mere entertainments. He is, moreover, perhaps too generous in his examination of such things as Mass, which was performed at the opening of the Kennedy Center, and is very much a souvenir of its time (the early 1970s) and place (the world of fashionable liberalism), and hard to listen to today as a result. But he discusses both Bernstein's triumphs as a conductor and composer and his failures in work and life fairly. This is a good, readable biography, a worthwhile introduction to Bernstein's life, and a good starting place for those who want more details. --Sarah Bryan Miller

Leonard Bernstein: In Love With Music (Lerner Biographies)

Caroline Evensen Lazo

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Leonard Bernstein: Notes from a Friend

Schuyler Chapin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Short, but great page turner 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

A delightful book for Bernstein fans. As the author says in his preface, it's not a biography. It consists of episode after episodes of Bernstein's genius work life. We, the general public, take his work for granted and be amazed by his genius, but we have no idea how much commitment and dedication were given to each work he has delivered. NOt just his dedication but everybody else who had collaborated with him. After reading this book, I can appreciate his work even more.
The author never loses good humor and he writes about the most difficult situations he and the maestro had faced with good spirits and wit. Bernstein was a great man, but so was Schuyler Chapin, I should say.
Humphrey Burton's Bernstein's biography is a good book to go with this one (it's a great book also, by the way). Just as some episodes made me laugh in Burton's bio, this one made me laugh and smile many times. The dinner party episode, visit with Japanese writer Mishima, the helicopter episode, and many more will tell you warmly and humrously about the man. The great maestro was not only a genius but quite a character.
It also tells what and how much effort it takes to put a great performace up on stage for us to enjoy. I shall not complain about concert tickets being expensive any more!
Easy read, relaxed and reader-friendly, great page-turner.
I didn't want to finish reading it.

Editorial Review:

A conversational, intimate memoir of a friendship between the great maestro and a noted music scholar. This is not a dry and academic biography, but an informal portrait of a musical genius--with warm, personal glimpses of the human side of Bernstein, what he was like to work with and live with.