Seven Anniversaries, Four Anniversaries, Five Anniversaries, Thirteen Anniversaries Each set of Anniversaries consists of individual movements, each written for a different person in Bernstein’s life.
Works
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"Few composers capture their time and become the iconic voice of their age. Leonard Bernstein found his "voice" in the early 1940s and projected the sound of urban and urbane America from the period of World War II to the anti-war movements of the 1970s and the restoration of freedom in Europe, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and Soviet communism."
-Conductor John Mauceri
(Photo by Al Ravenna, 1955; via Wikimedia Commons)
A pièce d’occasion written for songwriter-lyricist Adolph Green and actress-comedienne Phyllis Newman upon their marriage, the suite, “in 2 parts with 3 encores,” was intended to be played side by side by the Greens.
The sabra is a cactus-type plant with tough thorns on the outside and sweet flesh inside. In common usage, it is applied to native-born Israelis. The Sabras in this piece are: 1) Ilana, the Dreamer; 2) Idele, the Hassidele (little Jew, the little Hassid); 3) Yosi, the Jokester; and 4) Dina, the To…
One of Bernstein's earliest works, composed while he was a student, for solo piano.
Bernstein composed his Piano Trio for piano, violin, and cello in 1937, while he was attending Harvard University.
Why are these dances called symphonic? Simply because the dance music, even in its original format, is symphonically conceived. Relatively few thematic ideas, combined with each other and metamorphosed into completely new shapes, are all that are necessary to meet the varying dramatic requirements…
Composed for the Sixth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at Fort Worth, Texas, Bernstein's piece for solo piano cycles through a chorale, eight variations, and a coda.