Wes Crone:

>One issue that has been on my mind for the last several months is whether or
>not CM listeners fairly judge pieces/performances when they have an
>unfavorable view of the performer or conductor.  My main example is Leonard
>Bernstein.  To my surprise I find that more people than not express an
>opinion of dislike for Leonard Bernstein as conductor.  The most common
>remarks I witness are negative and are usually about Lenny's supposed
>arrogance or conceit.  What I want to know is, how in the world can anyone
>make the judgment that he is arrogant in a particular performance just by
>listening to the performance itself?

Very good point.  I happen to be a Bernstein admirer - the conductor, the
pianist, the writer, and the composer.  I'm most drawn to the composer and
wish he had devoted less time to performance.  All that said, there are
plenty of Bernstein performances that I believe not only don't "come off,"
but are downright grotesque.  I think especially of the excruciatingly slow
tempi in his late Mahler recordings.  It's like walking through a pool of
40-weight oil.  The tempi call attention to themselves, and hence to the
conductor rather than to the music, whether or not that was Bernstein's
intent.  In that sense, Bernstein draws fire.

I agree, however, that it's not cricket to attribute motives.  Besides,
I think that calling Bernstein "arrogant" way too simple.  If anything,
he was a complex personality, likely pricked by self-doubt more than most
of us, particularly with respect to his compositions.  Just about every
statement I've ever read from him regarding his own music seems at least
tinged, if not riddled through, with defensiveness, which implies
insecurity rather than conceit.

Steve Schwartz