Bernstein and the NYPO in Venice, 1959

A while ago, I wrote about the original musicals presented on US commercial television in the 1950s. Classical music also had a presence on commercial TV back then, and its face and voice were those of Leonard Bernstein, then the music director of the New York Philharmonic.

I remember seeing Bernstein on the television program Omnibus when I was just a wee Buster. He later made a series of programs sponsored by Lincoln and then Ford. Four of the programs in that series were issued on promotional LPs by Ford's advertising agency, Kenyon & Eckhardt. The particular program represented by this record was presented on CBS in November 1959.

The agency didn't do such a good job with the record production, though, and the sound is subfusc. Little Buster with his 3-inch tape recorder might have done as a good a job taping the thing off his parent's Philco. Big Buster has done his best to compensate in the transfer, and the results are at least listenable.

As I know from personal experience, having met him once, Bernstein was a magnetic personality, and that comes through on this record. He is an eloquent speaker, convincing even when superficial - and I dare say that goes for his music-making as well. Here you get a bit of the Marriage of Figaro overture and two-thirds of a Mozart piano concerto, along with as much commentary from the conductor.

While Bernstein is not a favorite of mine, his influence and importance are undeniable and his charisma unmistakable.

REMASTERED VERSION - MARCH 2015