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Bernstein chamber music

BBC SO Total Immersion: Leonard Bernstein

Photo of Leonard Bernstein

Bernstein on a small scale, revealing his prodigious ability to write music of charm, substance and a miraculous and genre-defying gift of melody.

Two works for clarinet reveal Bernstein’s innate feeling for jazz; his Clarinet Sonata has echoes of Aaron Copland while the Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, written for Benny Goodman, has become a much loved concert-work for our time. Touches, written for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1980, tests the pianist – literally! - in many different techniques but always with charm and wit. And as song-writer, Bernstein’s love of and feeling for words and his gift for melody come together perfectly.

Milton Court Concert Hall