That's real art - keeping the life and tension in the music at such a tempo. Amazing.

I honestly don’t understand why people prefer this piece being played faster… I’ve heard so many versions where it’s just being rushed through. The whole point of this piece is the strings floating in the air to really feel each and every chord. Bravo Bernstein 🎶

I'm not worldly wise in the terms of music , but what I am sure of is the brilliance of this interpretation, and its incredible emotive content.

Lenny was some character. You may not have agreed with everything he did but he was never boring. He was always passionately involved in the making of music. At this tempo you get to relish every note and the dynamics create a better climax.

he never, never, never...looks at the score...everything in memory. Amazing !!!

The real-life "Maestro" at his best. Bravissimo, Lenny!

Simply beautiful interpretation

I recall this being broadcast on tv - in the days when the BBC actually believed in classical music - when I was a young musician already in love with Lenny Bernstein. I've always felt he had a supreme gift for communicating and have treasured the many LPs, CDs and DVDs I have of his work for many years. This interpretation of 'Eddie's' Enigma Variations was controversial from the outset. The tempo chosen for 'Nimrod' was deemed ridiculously slow and almost a mockery of such a 'sacred' piece of English orchestral music. I've always disagreed with this viewpoint. I often go back to Bernstein's recording of the Enigma Variations and, if you let it, the tempo shouldn't bother you as, I believe, the music can take it. Live with it and it actually flows. I remember musical acquaintances then and now asserting that Bernstein 'Mahler-ised' this variation. I don't think so. I think Bernstein treats the work with huge respect. Some members of the BBCSO behaved in a very disrespectful way towards Lenny. More than likely jaundiced by the then prevalent attitude that only English/British conductors could successfully conduct British music. However, the recordings of Elgar's music - and that of other British composers - by such conductors as André Previn, Leonard Slatkin and Bernard Haitink, to name but a few, prove that such opinions are nonsense. If you don't like this interpretation then don't listen to it; but I feel anyone doing so is missing something important. Personally, I'd rather have Bernstein's Elgar than the insensative way Barenboim does it any day!

This is what life is about.

For all of the detractors and Elgar purists ,you need to watch the entirety of this rehearsal/masterclass which lasts for hours. Bernstein was conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra ,whom he greatly admired and in an intermission ,when interviewed ,he referred to Elgar as a genius. He deconstructed and then reconstructed each variation ,all with the full enthusiasm of a truly professional orchestra. Again for the detractors, when your canon of composition and conducting is comparable to the maestro's ,then I'll pay attention !

Wow. it 'isn't easy', as he says to play it so slow, but it's beautiful, it forces us as listeners to 'tune in'. bravo. #OdedFriedGaon #OdedMusic #Audioded

yall are tripping this tempo is PERFECT

Very educational description to this video. I never was a Bernstein groupie.

Escuchar esta musica es como un sueño precioso !!!!

My soul longs for thee o lord

Fabuloso Bernstein🎧🎼🌹

I love this tempo. Drink it in and be inspired and taken to another musical plateau by LB.

Thank you.

I remember seeing the rehearsal on TV. It was electrifying and immediately went out and his recording which is still my favourite version. I watch the rehearsal often. Pure magic

Simply Irresistible!!!

A lot of people say it's too slow but I disagree...everything after this seems too fast - this CD is still my favorite. Indeed he did not get on well with the BBC but from the clips I have seen he was very polite to them but got a lot of disrespect (trumpets and even the concertmaster complained about temp in one mov) in return. To me it appears some of the more inflexible players did simply not like being "shown" how to play Elgar (their music so to speak) in a different way - certainly not from a New York Jew.

Leo genius like Carlos Kleiber this version restores all the intensity of Elgar and reminds me of Kleiber's Tristan and Isolde version. Magnificent

it's magnifying!

If I had been in the orchestra, I'd be thinking, "This is fun, really different and unusual. I'll never do it again, but hey it's fun".

guys, it's a REHEARSAL... he can take whatever tempo he wants. lol

"It' damn close."

Dave Hurwitz Nimrod is this.

Verdaderamente grandioso.

Who was the orchestra player that said. "it's too slow " to which Bernstein said "too slow for who "? To which the musician retorted "Elgar"

It's really amazing how an interpretation makes so many people either love it or hate it. Played to norm and custom always creates the same sentiment, but Bernstein as was often the case went overboard. Mahler Adagietto being another example. But is his tempo too slow, or are the player's muscle memory too fast? I can't commend loving this performance but I can condemn hating it. And for a piece that has been played the exact same way thousands of time, one that is different from the rest is a breath of fresg air. Oh and yeah, it's too slow.

BEAUTIFUL 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 for ever leonard Bernstein

The actual concert wasn’t this slow. It’s here on KZfaq. Unless Someone sped it up slightly but I don’t think so. It’s a tad faster than this. At the end he said it’s not quite how it will go but damned close.

Wow!

If you have ever experienced love that cannot be returned in the same way but is appropriate and appreciated then the tempi is perfect - you can only like this tempi if you let yourself hurt and listen / if you just want to hear music this is not for you / if you want to hear thanks and gratefulness for a unique friendship that only comes ( if your lucky ) once in a lifetime / you will hear and understand what Bernstein is doing

Interesting. It builds. Wonder what Elgar would think.

it takes true professionalism to execute this difficult but incredibly beautiful interpretation

Supremo.

Sir Leonard Bernstein's enthusiastic direction is all of a piece with the intent discipline of the players. Wonderful!

I actually quite like this tempo and i k now it is increxibly difficult to play this slow...

I think it’s divine.

The master

Do you have the full rehearsal?

Before PaulStretch, there was Bernstein. Personally I enjoy this recording; if it's not to everyone's taste there are countless other performances to listen to - why must they all be interpreted the same way?

Ah Jaysus he's killing it

How to be a great conductor 101.

This is like a 0-0 baseball game in the 9th, or a nil-nil football game in the 80th minute. The tension is incredible!

Was it just this slow in rehearsal, or did they perform it this way?

Tempi absolutamente erróneo, Lenny. Muy, muy lento!.

damn why is everyone cooking him for the tempo? lol

At least he let them play the whole movement right through, and praised the playing of the BBC orchestra. I really thought it was so slow that the tune and emotion was lost. However this is all been said before.

Any interesting failure. His beat is so imprecise they have difficulty articulating such a slow speed and the tension of the music drains away through the tension and uncertainty (and admittedly resentment) of the players.

Mr.Bernstein bit them all.

What did he think he was? Celibidache?

truly great.

As always, LB' makes his musical goal clear, but I don't agree with it. Nimrod isn't an English Romantic "Bolero"; instead, the climax arrives like a burst of light out of the forest, as it were, with little crescendos and decrescendos here and there along the way.

Yes, the first part is really too slow- but that“s Bernstein‘s conviction.

I would have found it hard not to walk out of this rehearsal, but the professionalism of the orchestra, and their ability to endure this artistic insult, is miraculous.

He's a god but in this case you have no tension because the tempo is too slow

oyyy… too painfully slow!

I dunno ..... it's not all that horrible.

Not sure about this. Too much grandeur and emotion. No, Elgar is not Hollywood.

Too slow.The best version -Barenboim and Chicago Symphony Orchestra 🔥

I love both Bernstein AND Elgar. But "Nimrod" here sounds as if it's reflected through the prism of Mahler 5's Adagietto. And i dont believe that's what Elgar intended. I understand people saying a great conductor is allowed to "deconstruct" a piece in his image, but surely this is too much. Bernstein tells the orchestra to play "nobly" but they can't - nobility doesn't mean without energy or momentum

Elgar is not Mahler and this is a distorted view of the noble composition. Way overdone and milked. More Bernstein than Elgar. Eccentric and egocentric.

That was painful to listen to.

Ridiculously slow. Sorry Maestro, but you’ve sucked the life out of a piece of music that is noble in character, not dying its last dying breath.

I was at the concert. It's too slow. Period. Try Toscanini or Stokowski to hear how it should be done. Sorry Lenny mate, I love a lot of what you did but this was ill conceived.

Far too slow.

I think Bernstein was an amazing conductor, but this is way too slow for my taste

Painful. Not one of Bernstein's better moments

Painful to listen to. The pace is just WRONG. Sounds as if it's about to expire at any moment.

Elgar would have been horrified at this butchering of Nimrod.

Too slow.

This is anti-chamber music. Without Bernstein conducting every note, it would completely fall apart. At this tempo, the music has lost all tensile strength and energy. What a mistake.

Sludge, like molasses. Oy.

A completely horrible butchering of Elgar!!!

Laughable. Full marks to the orchestra for not falling down in fits of laughter at this ridiculous interpretation.

Elgar himself stipulated the tempo, in a manner of speaking. He said it wasn’t meant to be a funeral dirge- it was meant to be stroll in his beloved Malvern Hills . This is pure indulgence from a narcissist .