Someone who truly understood Beethoven, a really great musician himself: Leonard Bernstein, a twentieth century legend in his own right.

Bernstein is teaching perfection, personified.

my favorite beethoven symphony and no one could explain it better than lenny. i miss his mug.

Bernstein produced a much more insightful and detailed musical exegesis on Eroica entitled "How a Great Symphony was Written (lecture)" which can be found his 1964 Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 performance with the NPO. The CD is amazing and that single track is worth the purchase alone.

Just one word: fantastic! thanks Lenny for your this great introduction to the Beethoven "Eroica". A page everyone shouldn't miss!

LBs conclusion is brilliant and admirable Thank you for posting, this

Bernstein said about beethoven that he proved his greatness by writing the exact right note after right note. beethoven also demonstrated that he could build a magnificent piece of music using meager material. he demonstrated that with the second movement of his seventh symphony. Bernstein said not even Mozart could do this as well as Beethoven. not a very involved melody that begins that movement but he turned it into an astounding, involved piece of music. so much so that audiences demanded encores of that movement going into the 20th century.

Thanks for putting up all these Bernstein intros - much easier than flipping thru my Bernstein discs :)

How elegant: The subject, the presentation, the necessary virtuosity to play such a piano reduction, and the total mastery of the subject matter. There is so much pedagogical Bernstein out here, and aren't we fortunate? (Addendum, one year later) Allow me to presume to modify Lenny's final statement by inserting the only other name in the cultural history of Western Civilization about whom it could be made: "The answer to the Shakespeare phenomenon is not really expressible, except in terms of the mysterious genius of a man who is capable of uniting all contradictions into one single, perfect entity.”

He talks like he is reading from a great author's book. What a mind.

Sir Leonard... I love your statements about Beethoven. They simply speak to me and reach me like pure heaven. You say exactly what I feel when listening to his legacy. His sounds will never grow old nor unimportant, quite the opposite. It will plant a seed in you that grows and grows and matures. ;o)...

Katsaris plays a stunning performance of Liszt’s piano transcription of the Eroica. It is on KZfaq. Bernstein is admirable in that he never shows off how much he knows; he was a perfect teacher!

There is some recoil off that piano

One of my favorite scripture passages is found in Ecclesiastes 7:3 “Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.” Beethoven’s heart is certainly the musical epitome of Plato’s tempered heart “wax” which is smooth, abundant, deep, and worked to the proper consistency. His monuments are a testament to the fire of life’s experiences that produces gifts of inestimable quality and enduring. Would to GOD people might consider how priceless a jewel is the life that sustains such crushing heat and blows to emerge as heroic and prophetic in proclaiming, by faultless example, that The Lord Jesus gives eternal grace and beauty to all who love his appearing and glory in their own hearts and souls. PWG

Fantastic!

Enjoyed! Especially what he says of the 'cosmic spirit' a/o 2:30

Beethoven and Bernstein...the Energizer Bunnies of the music world!

I fell in love with Leonard Bernstein when I was nine years old and he explained Beethoven's sixth symphony on our newly purchased first B&W television set. Or…. Was it Beethoven I fell in love with? Doesn’t matter, the love remains though both are long gone. Long may you run…. Spirits of Beauty and Joy.

I adore him

eloquent and brilliant

Even though I was shamed in never studying a music career, I remember these videos by Leonard Bernstein that opened the world of classical music to my "uneducated" brain.

well said, Sir. Well said.

I love listening to Bernstein talk as much as I love hearing him conduct. Titan? Hmm, Bernstein's the Gentle Giant.

Yes!

I liked the late Harnoncourt’s comment in his last interview on BBC radio - ‘if Beethoven was alive today he would be making bridges’ i.e. forging necessary cosmic connections in new ways and not inhabiting mined-out modalities.

I wish to have hair like this when I'm old

After the first two Symphonies which were Mozart like IMO, Beethoven starts the romantic period with a crash. If you look at Picasso’s early drawings, he could draw everything as a classical artist before he went in his own direction. To me it’s that stark.

super good.

Amo muito essa sinfonia!

The A dim 9th chords in decrescendo ( 1:07 ) is from one of the most dramatic passages in the first movement. But the whole first movement is full of drama and tension with brief respites in between. Hard to pick one passage.

"the mysterious genius of a man who is capable of uniting all contradictions into one single, perfect entity" -- Lenny, I thought this was supposed to be a talk about Beethoven, not an autobiography!

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

2:15, Bernstein discusses the melodious section of the 3rd Symphony.

Wow he looks either hammered or like he just woke up lol

No body can do Bernstein's music like Bernstein. But Bernstein can do anybody's music, sometimes even better..

Why would anyone give this a Thumbs down? 🤔 Clearly Sociopaths..

I posted a new video explaining how Beethoven's loss of hearing made created a massive increase in his capacity to process variables between Symphony #2 and Symphony #3, making him the world's greatest composer

1:40

お願いします、字幕を！

hes got big balls

0:23 Did Mr. Bernstein just make a Reference to a Marvel Superhero?

Inexpressible is right.

Giant meets Auteur..

I would SO MUCH like a job correcting, what these dumb text machines get wrong. I sit here and wheeze like cat everytime, it happens.🐯

Den Zuhörern müssen damals die Ohren weggeflogen sein.

Origins of music unevidenced. Except it is gift to humanity from God the Creator. Music continues in heaven. Discontinues in hell. Jesus Christ died and resurrected for remissions of everybody's pre-existing sins to save from eternal hell. Penalty of sin already paid by Jesus Christ on The Cross. Accept HIM. Be saved from eternal hell. Enter heaven. Enjoy heavenly music. For free.

I have never seen a worse waste of 3 minutes. Tragic that he didn't touch on ANY of the things that make Beethoven brilliant

Awful, Beethoven music is just so bad, bad melody, poor orchestration, silly tunes and awkward chord combinations, this is a prodigy of bad taste.