What I remember most about the Young People's Concerts was not necessarily
what the Orchestra was playing, although I vividly remember "The Planets,"
Holst's "The Planets." But what I remember most is Leonard Bernstein's voice, and his
passion, and how much he loved what he was telling the audience.
When I first started in the Orchestra
Leonard Bernstein started guest conducting, and
we went on tour. Before we left on that tour we were playing the Tchaikovsky Sixth [Symphony].
During the rehearsal he wanted some more sound, and he was surprised. He
thought he was gonna get more sound, so he says, "Come on, you hunky brutes!"
And the whole Orchestra laughed at us, and so we laughed, and we could
hardly play after that, because, you know, he called us "hunky brutes." Anyway, when we
finally went out to Los Angeles, our trombone section was walking around,
and they said, you know, let's give Leonard Bernstein a gift.
And we did the whole tour, came back to Philharmonic Hall,
having been in Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Chicago... We came back and recorded the "Pathetique," and they showed up and,
as a chorus line, all the trombones and tuba with this t-shirt.
Any time we perform Maestro Bernstein's music, it feels like there's an essence
of New York in it. It feels like it was written for this Orchestra and the
Orchestra somehow just magically knows how to play it.
It's the sound that comes through.
It's the articulation. It's the mood of it. It's all, I think, about this
Orchestra, and it's just always very exhilarating.
Still, when we play the "Candide" Overture
that he wrote, or the Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story,"
it's like you think he's in the room with you. You can feel that kind of
shoulder gesture or the chin bobbing, no matter who's conducting.
This Orchestra plays that music the way it was taught to them by the composer.
It's an amazing thing.
I think Lenny's spirit is always with our Orchestra.
Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic
are synonymous in some ways.