Seasons & Episodes
What Does Music Mean?
Leonard Bernstein told the television audience at the start of the first Young People's Concert: "No matter what stories
What is American Music?
From Carnegie Hall, Bernstein discusses the origins and characteristics of American music. After an extended excerpt fro
What is Orchestration?
After brief introductory remarks, Bernstein conducts the finale of Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio espagnol and then explain
What Makes Music Symphonic?
Using the examples of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony and Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, Bernstein demonstrates the techniques
What is Classical Music?
Bernstein conducts Handel's Water Music and cites it as an indisputable example of classical music. "Exact" is the word
Humor in Music
Using excerpts from Shostakovich, Mahler, Haydn and others Bernstein demonstrates how a "serious" composition can take a
What is a Concerto?
Leonard Bernstein discusses the development of the concerto form from Bach to Bartok. Bernstein conducts examples of ear
Who is Gustav Mahler?
Leonard Bernstein celebrates Mahler's centennial by conducting excerpts from the composer's Fourth Symphony in G and dis
Young Performers No. 1
Daniel Domb; Kenneth Schermerhorn; Barry Finclair; Stefan B. Mengelberg; Alexandra Wager
Unusual Instruments of Present, Past, and Future
New York Pro Musica; Noah Greenberg; Vladimir Ussachevsky; Anita Darian
The Second Hurricane
The High School of Music & Art
Overtures and Preludes
Aaron Copland Birthday Party
Aaron Copland; William Warfield
Young Performers No. 2
Lynn Harrell; Elyakum Shapirra; Jung-Ja Kim; Russell Stanger; Veronica Tyler; Gregory Millar; Henry Chapin
Folk Music in the Concert Hall
Bernstein discusses folk music and its influence on orchestral music, and conducts excerpts from Mozart, Chavez and Ives
What is Impressionism?
Bernstein focuses on impressionism in music, discussing the methods and styles of Debussy and Ravel. He conducts three m
The Road to Paris
Zara Nelsova
Happy Birthday, Igor Stravinsky
Bernstein sketches a brief history of Stravinsky's musical career, noting changes of style and shifts of direction. The
Young Performers No. 3
Seiji Ozawa; Gary Karr; Maurice Peress; John Canarina; Ruth & Naomi Segal; Paula Robison; Paul Green; Tony Cirone; David
The Sound of a Hall
John Corigliano, Sr.; Frank Gullino; Joseph Bernstein; William Dembinsky
What is a Melody?
Bernstein discusses the different forms melody can take, including tune, theme, motive, melodic line and musical phrase.
Young Performers No. 4
Joan Weiner; Yuri Krasnopolsky; Claudia Hoca; Zoltán Rozsnyai; Pamela Paul; Serge Fournier; André Watts
The Latin American Spirit
Bernstein discusses "the two ingredients that give this music its special Latin flavor: rhythm and color." Excerpts incl
A Tribute to Teachers
Young Performers No. 5
Heidi Lehwalder; Amos Eisenberg; Weldon Berry, Jr.; Claudio Abbado; Shulamit Ran (as Shulamith Ran); Pedro Calderon; Ste
The Genius of Paul Hindemith
Jazz in the Concert Hall
Bernstein discusses the blending of jazz and symphonic music, with performances and readings to illustrate. The program
What is Sonata Form?
Bernstein describes the three-part sonata form, and exemplifies it by singing the Beatle's "And I Love Her." Veronica Ty
Farewell to Nationalism
Young Performers No. 6
Patricia Michaelian; James Boswell IV
A Tribute to Sibelius
Bernstein celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, and comments on Finla
Musical Atoms: A Study of Intervals
Bernstein explains musical intervals and discusses their relationship to harmony, melody and inversion. After analysis,
The Sound of an Orchestra
Bernstein explains that the duty of the orchestra is to reproduce faithfully the notes and instructions of the composer.
A Birthday Tribute to Shostakovich
Bernstein celebrates Dmitri Shostakovich's sixtieth birthday by discussing his work and conducting an excerpt from his S
Young Performers No. 7
Performers include Paul Schoenfeld; Stephanie Sebastian; David Oei; Horacio Gutiérrez; James DePreist; Jacques Houtmann
What is a Mode?
Bernstein discusses scales, intervals and tones, and analyzes several pieces, including Debussy's Fêtes, Rimsky-Korsako
Young Performers No. 8
Elmar Oliveira; Mark Salkind; Fred Alston; Donald Green; Juan Pablo Izquierdo; Sylvia Caduff; George Reid; Young Uck Kim
Charles Ives: American Pioneer
Alumni Reunion
Stephen E. Kates; Veronica Tyler; André Watts
A Toast to Vienna in 3/4 Time
Bernstein pays tribute to New York Philharmonic's "fraternal orchestra," the Vienna Philharmonic, in celebration of the
Forever Beethoven
Joseph Kalichstein; Paul Capolongo
Young Performers No. 9
Lawrence Foster; Alois Springer; Martin and Steven Vann; Helen Quach, Michael DeTemple
Quiz-Concert: How Musical Are You?
Leonard Bernstein quizzes Avery Fisher Hall and television audiences on their musicality. Highlights include true-or-fal
Fantastic Variations (Don Quixote)
Lorne Munroe, cellist
Bach Transmogrified
Michael Korn; Leopold Stokowski; Moog synthesizer; New York Rock and Roll Ensemble
Berlioz Takes a Trip
Bernstein discusses what he describes as the "first psychedelic symphony," Berlioz's La Symphonie fantastique, examining
Two Ballet Birds
Bernstein compares the main theme of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake with Stravinsky's Firebird. A performance of the pas de deu
Fidelio: A Celebration of Life
Bernstein takes a look at Beethoven's so-called "flawed masterpiece" - his only opera, Fidelio. After discussing the sto
The Anatomy of a Symphony Orchestra
A Copland Celebration
Thus Spake Richard Strauss
Liszt and the Devil
Holst: The Planets
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