Blu-ray – Leonard Bernstein at the Schleswig-Holst

Leonard Bernstein at Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival
(Blu-ray Disc Version)

A film by Horant H. Hohfeld (Parts I, III, Bonus) and Humphrey Burton (Part II)

DVD 1 - Part I: The Birth of an Orchestra
We witness the arrival of 120 young musicians in Salzau, all of whom have been selected from over 1600 competitors in auditions. Under the guidance of experienced conductors and teachers, they work together in various groups which yield a homogeneous orchestral body in an amazingly short time.

DVD 2 - Part II: Orchestral Work with the Rite of the Spring
In his inimitable manner, Leonard Bernstein works on Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring with a youthful orchestra recruited especially for the International Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, explaining the form and contents of this large orchestral work and enticing astonishing artistic results from his young musicians. “Anybody who wants to be in a good orchestra has to be able to play it. It is also music of the young people, of youth.” (Leonard Bernstein)

DVD 3 - Part III: International Conductor’s Competition and Master Course
Of among the ten conductors selected from throughout the world, four only will be given the chance to work with Leonard Bernstein and “his” orchestra and go on a concert tour with him. The youth are torn between fear and hope, disappointment and triumph before finally submitting for the ultimate challenge of conducting the orchestra under the watchful gaze of the maestro, “What we are looking for is not the beating of the beat, it is the beating of the music.” (Leonard Bernstein)

Recorded at the International Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival Salzau, Germany, 1988

Bonus:
- “Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54” with Justus Frantz (piano), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein (conductor)