Ravinia 2019, Issue 3, Week 6

elements within a monophonic soundtrack. In the case of West Side Story , Audionamix “taught” its technology to recognize and then remove orchestral elements on the soundtrack while retaining vocals, dialogue, and effects. This allows tonight’s conductor, David Newman, to accompany the vocals with the Chicago Sym- phony Orchestra in a live performance of the complete Bernstein score. Although the original musical materials for the movie arrangements were lost, 14 months of research by Eleonor M. Sandresky of The Leon- ard Bernstein Office brought to light a trove of important finds in private collections and li- brary archives around the country. From mate- rials discovered in the papers of orchestrator Sid Ramin, as well as in the archives of conductor/ music supervisor Johnny Green, director Rob- ert Wise, and producer Walter Mirisch, she was able to assemble a mock-up short score of the complete film. Garth Edwin Sunderland, Senior Music Editor for the Bernstein Office, restored and adapted the orchestration for live perfor- mance. At the same time, Sunderland oversaw the creation of a brand-new engraving of the en- tire film score, right down to last-minute modi- fications made on the scoring stage in 1961. The final result is a presentation of West Side Story unlike any in the history of this screen mu- sical—one held, appropriately, at a concert site that celebrates the best in American music—a category in which West Side Story will forever reside. Steven Smith is an Emmy-nominated documentary producer, journalist, and author of the biography A Heart at Fire’s Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann. A composer, conductor, pianist, teacher, think- er, and adventurous spirit, Leonard Bernstein (1918–90) transformed the way Americans and people everywhere hear and appreciate music. Bernstein’s successes as a composer ranged from the Broadway stage— West Side Story , On the Town , Wonderful Town , and Candide —to con- cert halls all over the world, where his orchestral and choral music continues to thrive. His major concert works include three sym- phonies—subtitled “Jeremiah” (1944), “The Age of Anxiety” (1949), and “Kaddish” (1963)—as well as Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs (1949), Sere- nade for violin, strings, and percussion (1954), Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (1960), Chichester Psalms (1965), Mass (1971), Songfest (1977), Divertimento for orchestra (1980), Halil for solo flute and small orchestra (1981), Touches (1981) and Thirteen Anniversaries (1988) for solo piano, Missa Brevis for singers and percussion (1988), Concerto for Orchestra: Jubilee Games (1989), and Arias and Barcarolles (1988). Bernstein also wrote the one-act opera Trou- ble in Tahiti in 1952, and its sequel, the three-act opera A Quiet Place , in 1983. He collaborated with choreographer Jerome Robbins on three major ballets— Fancy Free (1944), Facsimile (1946), and Dybbuk (1975). He received an Acad- emy Award nomination for his score for On the Waterfront (1954). As a conductor, Bernstein was a dynamic presence on the podiums of the world’s greatest orchestras for almost half a century, building a legacy that endures and con- tinues to grow through a catalogue of over 500 recordings and filmed performances. Bernstein became music director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958, a position he held until 1969. Thereafter, as permanent Laureate Conductor, he made frequent guest appearanc- es with the orchestra. Among the world’s great orchestras, Bernstein also enjoyed special rela- tionships with the Israel Philharmonic and Vi- enna Philharmonic, both of which he conducted extensively in live performances and recordings. He won 11 Emmy Awards for his celebrated television work, including the Emmy-winning Young People’s Concerts series with the New York Philharmonic. As teacher and performer, he played an ac- tive role with the Tanglewood Festival from its founding in 1940 till his death, as well as with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute and Pacific Music Festival (both of which he helped found) and the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival. Ber- nstein received many honors, including the Kennedy Center Honors (1980), the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Gold Medal (1981), the MacDowell Colony’s Gold Medal, medals from the Beethoven Society and the Mahler Ge- sellschaft, New York City’s Handel Medallion, a special Tony Award (1969), dozens of honorary degrees and awards from colleges and univer- sities, and national honors from Austria, Italy, Israel, Mexico, Denmark, Germany, and France. In 1985, Bernstein was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award. His writings were published in The Joy of Music (1959), Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts (1961), The Infinite Variety of Music (1966), and Findings (1982). As the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry, Bernstein also deliv- ered six lectures (the “Norton Lectures”) at Har- vard University in 1972–73 that were subsequent- ly published and televised as The Unanswered Question . In 1990, he received the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Arts Association awarded for lifetime achievement in the arts. Bernstein died on October 14, 1990. Arthur Laurents (1917–2011) is the author of musical plays such as West Side Story , Gypsy , Anyone Can Whistle , Do I Hear A Waltz? , Hal- lelujah Baby! (1967 Tony Award for Best Mu- sical), and Nick & Nora as well as the screen- plays The Snake Pit , Rope , Caught , Anastasia , Bonjour Tristesse , The Way We Were , and The Turning Point (Golden Globe Award, Screen- writers Guild Award, Writers Guild of America Award, National Board of Review Best Picture Award). The last two screenplays were novels as well. His plays include Claudia Lazlo , Home of the Brave , The Time of the Cuckoo , A Clearing in the Woods , Invitation to the March , The Enclave , Scream , Two Lives , The Radical Mystique , My Good Name , and Jolson Sings Again . He has also directed plays and musicals for the theater, among them I Can Get it for You Wholesale , Invitation to a March , Anyone Can Whistle , The Enclave , The Madwoman of Cen- tral Park West , Birds of Paradise , three revivals of Gypsy (with Angela Lansbury in 1974, Tyne Daly in 1989, and Patti LuPone in 2007 [a per- formance she originated at Ravinia a year ear- lier]), La Cage Aux Folles (1984 Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical, 1985 Sydney Drama Critics Award for Directing), and the 2009 re- vival of West Side Story . He has also written radio episodes for Holly- wood Playhouse , Assignment Home (Variety Ra- dio Award, 1945), The Thin Man , Army Service Force Presents , The Man Behind the Gun , and This is Your FBI . He has been honored by awards from many organizations, among them the National Insti- tute of Arts and Letters, Writers Guild of Amer- ica, Antoinette Perry (Tonys), Golden Globe, Drama Desk, National Board of Review, and the Sydney Drama Critics. He is a member of the Theatre Hall of Fame, P.E.N., the Screenwriter’s Guild, and the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he is an emeritus member of the Council of the Dramatist Guild. Leonard Bernstein (photo: Paul de Hueck) Arthur Laurents RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 8 – JULY 14, 2019 96