Bernstein’s conducting style in general
Bernstein is known for his expressiveness on the podium; his style is generally described as ’emotional and demonstrative’ or flamboyant.1Laird, Bernstein, Leonard, 4. Conductor. He indeed likes to dance around on his little podium in an utmost attempt to get the orchestra to perform the music as he wishes. There is however no description of Bernstein’s actual conducting technique, no analysis showing whether those ‘flamboyant’ gestures did any good for the orchestra members or (as occasionally suggsted when called ‘distractive’) not.
Bernstein’s conducting style probably wouldn’t strike as the most clear to any new conducting student, as there is a lot of movement going on that is not described in the conducting textbooks. Beat patterns are regularly made larger than advised, batons waved around so excessively that it would be impossible to follow the tip, jumping around the podium:
Vid. 4.1. Bernstein, Mahler Symphony No. 52Michael Li, Mahler Symphony No. 5 – Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra – Leonard Bernstein, [06:08]
However, when one with more education on the topic of conducting takes a closer look, they’ll see that there actually is very little ‘excessive movement’ going on. Generally, all the jumping around and swinging of two arms simultaneously are gestures with mostly expressive qualities, but Bernstein does make sure to keep them functional enough too. For example: when there is lots of waving, there usually is also pulse.
The only pre-existing research on Bernstein’s conducting gestures was done by Daniel Callahan, a musicologist and dance scholar. Callahan does research on the way music moves people, and has done research on the choreography of Bernstein as well.3“Daniel Callahan”. Columbia University Department Of Music. Callahan argued that Bernstein makes use of a set choreography in his conducting. Callahan presented American Musicological Society’s Library of Congress Lecture in May 2018, where he too compared these two performances by Bernstein. Callahan states: ‘I want to consider a few moments where Bernstein’s conducting is clearly a set choreography, one that repeats across years.’4Library of Congress, Bernstein Conducting Himself, [49:49] Callahan first compares two recordings of Le Sacre du Printemps as well, namely the same recording from 1966 as used below, and a recording from 1972. This seems to be the case indeed, as there are countless examples to demonstrating similarity in his choreography, under which the two recordings below. While these recordings were made 22 years apart, Bernstein’s choreography is practically the same.
However, one must keep in mind that Le Sacre du Printemps more or less the ultimate challenge in conducting technique. The time signature constantly changes and there are many complex rhythms which make it difficult to keep the orchestra together and not loose track of where you are for starters. If one whished to then implement their musical ideas as well in your communication, it would make a lot of sense to devise your gestures beforehand to limit the chance of messing up a change in time signature. Moreover, the orchestra really needs you to conduct in a technical way, in which case conductor fall back on their own basic techniques. Furthermore, there are certain things all conductors will do the same. At the very end on the video clips below, you hear flutes playing an upwards line. It makes a lot of sense to make then an upwards gesture, any other direction simply wouldn’t make as much sense, certainly not a downwards movement. The same goes for the last large blow. That will always be conducted with a heavy downwards movement, simply because that makes most sense for the music. That Bernstein does this with a jump is then idiosyncratic to him, but the essence of the movement will for each conductor you see be the same. Both these concepts are perfectly sound explanations of why these gestures are so similar that do not imply Bernstein usually has a set choreography.
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Vid. 4.2. Bernstein, Stravinsky Le Sacre du Printemps, 19665Jmay6901, Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring Leonard Bernstein. [34:05] |
Vid. 4.3. Bernstein, Stravinsky Le Sacre du Printemps, 19886 Stravinsky – Le Sacre du printemps – The Rite of Spring – rehearsal – prova – Leonard Bernstein [00:12] |
When compared to another conductor, Jaap van Zweden, it is clear how Van Zweden indeed makes different gestures but with the same essence: a high light swinging of the baton for the flutes, and a big smash for the last blow:
Vid. 4.4. Van Zweden, Stravinsky Le Sacre du Printemps7AVROTROS Klassiek, Stravinsky: Le Sacre Du Printemps / The Rite Of Spring – Jaap Van Zweden – Full Concert In HD, [33:37]
In comparison with other conductors
With Bernstein the music is visible from head to toes, in streams out of every limb, and every voluntary or involuntary movement is full of its expression. He is one with the music, both in mind and in body, and in contact with the orchestra. This is what allows him to be so eccentric without being distractive. Some other conductors, like Fritz Reiner for example, seem to be standing more ‘in front’ of the orchestra, controlling what it is doing, rather than being part of the music. Then there are conductors who are very expressive indeed, but without having it shown in every body part. Karajan for example achieves great expression while using merely his upper body.
Then there are conductors with great expression, but not the most clear functional gestures, for example Gergiev. He is in contact with the orchestra, is making music together with them (not controlling stand-offish), but when it comes to time beating, indicating entrances, etc., which all can be crucial when needing to get the orchestra back together if they have diverged, Gergiev will be difficult to read. As a world class conductor working with world class orchestras he can permit not to do so, but it will occasionally happen that an orchestra led by Gergiev is not together in some passage.
Bernstein himself is often quite clear, and certainly is capable of providing clear functional gestures. He does however appear to be always more concerned with expressiveness than technical correctness. Many recordings contain mistakes such as wrong entries or passages where the orchestra is not well together. You will however not find a single recording with lack of musicality, creativity, or enthusiasm. Violinist Isaac Stern described it as follows: ‘There was a natural eruption of creativity in Lenny that spilled over into his interpretive and performing habits.’8Caillat, The Art Of Conducting – Great Conductors Of The Past, 1:49:40 ‘He was not to everybody as tasteful, as he did tend to overgild the lily once in a while, but so wonderfully and so gloriously. He gave of himself, and he created this wonderful palace of sound and ideas and emotion, sheer emotion.’9Caillat, The Art Of Conducting – Great Conductors Of The Past, 1:50:40
Influence of others on Bernstein
Bernstein followed classes in conducting by Fritz Reiner and Serge Koussevitzky, two renowned conductors with very different teaching methods.
For Reiner, preparation was of utmost importance: he insisted that a conductor must come to the first rehearsal totally in command of his material. His students should have a fully imagined sound picture of the piece in their head and know every note of every orchestral part.10Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 121 Bernstein described Reiner’s way of teaching as scary: Reiner would stop you halfway a piece and ask you what the second clarinet was playing at that exact moment.11EuroArtsChannel, Leonard Bernstein’s Reflections: Portrait Of Bernstein At The Zenith Of His Career, [16:09]
With regards to choreography, there is some similarity with Bernstein’s and Koussevitzky’s style, but less so with that of Reiner. Furthermore, it is sure that Bernstein would have seen Bruno Walter conduct several times during his job as assistant conductor. From Reiner, Bernstein learned the dry technical aspects of conducting. Koussevitzky taught him more on how there can be esthetic beauty in very functional gestures.
Koussevitzky also laid the focus on preparation, but with regard to the physical aspect of conducting: “Between one beat and the next you prepare. . . . [The secret] is what is between the beats: it is the inner beats that are important. And Koussevitzky showed me what to do: ‘When you conduct the slow movement of the Randall Thompson Symphony it must be varm like the sun come up. . . . Varm and a two and a three and a four and a von . . . ’ “12Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 134
For Koussevitzky, as for a choreographer, it was essential to maintain the musical line. The comparison with dance is not fortuitous: conductors must also work with their bodies. “At the end of the first week,” Bernstein recalled, “Koussevitzky decided that we all needed lessons in what he called ‘die Plastik,’ and so he engaged a leading dancer from the nearby Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival [Erick Hawkins, later a distinguished choreographer] to give us movement lessons; we had to stand in a certain way and then go through certain exercises and we were all supposed to do this while looking at ourselves in a mirror. I did this just one day by myself and fell about in such laughter that I couldn’t repeat it. That was the only time I have ever conducted in front of a mirror.”13Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 134
Koussevitzky also wanted Bernstein to use a baton, which he initially refused as he thought he could me more expressive with his bare hands: “Koussevitzky pleaded with me to use this little ‘baguette,’ as he called it. ‘Look, it’s like a pencil, Lenushka, and it’s very much clearer when you use this baguette!’’14Burton, Leonard Bernstein, 135 Evidently, Bernstein was convinced quickly after as there are very little recordings where he does not make use of that little baguette.
Bernstein and the 8 principles of conducting
1. General appearance
As discussed above, Bernstein has a theatrical style of conducting, and is very much involved with the musicians he is working with. His posture is open, he always seems to be inviting the musicians he is working with to join the party of the music he is conducting. The difference with his teacher Reiner it is quite striking: where Bernstein has a more inviting aura, Reiner has more of a controlling aura, more dictator-like. This could be explained as part of the development where conductor started of as distant leaders and became a bit more amicable over time – which is in line with the general development of leadership in the Western World. On the other hand, Koussevitzky made an impression more like that of Bernstein, so the difference in appearance was probably just part of their personalities as well.
2. Beat Patterns
Bernstein did not copy much of the physical conducting techniques of his teacher Fritz Reiner, perhaps since Reiner’s technique became a bit outdated in Bernstein’s time: Reiner uses a long baton and regularly makes large gestures with said arm, making the total framework of the beating pattern often very large. This results in Reiner making gestures above his head when indicating suddenly loud or extra loud passages:
Vid. 4.5. Reiner, Beethoven Symphony No. 715AmericanTimeTraveler, Fritz Reiner Conducts Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 Live, 1954 [Remastered – 2017], [07:16]
A couple of years after this recording, around and after Bernstein’s time, it had become more usual to deviate more from the beat patterns. Many conductors switch constantly as it is seldomly actually necessary for the orchestra to be beating time throughout the entire piece. Various conductors have different approaches regarding this topic.
Some use beat patterns as a starting point and adjust them and leave them out according to what they think would be the most efficient way to be of help to the orchestra. Bernard Haitink for example usually adjusts the gestures in such a way that they fit the musical expression. But he generally retains the direction of movement of the beat pattern. Others seems to consider time beating as an unnecessary practice when working with professional orchestras, and use a completely different choreography all together. Those mostly include the same principles as time beating (gravitational acceleration is needed for correct prediction, and cues must come before the musicians actually perform it). Valery Gergiev for example shows very little signs of beat patterns: his gestures do not follow the beat pattern directions. See the difference in style in the excerpts below:
| Vid. 4.6. Haitink, Beethoven Symphony No. 316wocomoMUSIC, Beethoven – Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” (Bernard Haitink, 2013), [00:21] | Vid. 4.7. Gergiev, Beethoven Symphony No. 317Sonorum Concentus Beethoven, Beethoven Symphony No 3 In E♭ „Eroica“ Valery Gergiev Münchner Philharmoniker, [00:00] |
However, despite the regular lack of beat pattern, Gergiev still provides perfectly clear indications of pulse whenever he whishes to. In the excerpt below, he starts off beating every count for emphasis. The movement is each time in the same direction, giving no clue as to what count of the bar it is on, but that is not necessary here as there are no complicated entries, and lack of a beat pattern does not make the pulse any less appearent. Furthermore, at the end of this excerpt, Gergiev cues the fortissimo (measurement 81), using the basic principles of preparation and gravitational acceleration to achieve proper timing. This all does not need a beat pattern to make it work.
Vid. 4.8. Gergiev, Beethoven Symphony No. 318Sonorum Concentus Beethoven, Beethoven Symphony No 3 In E♭ „Eroica“ Valery Gergiev Münchner Philharmoniker, [01:13]
Again others simply got very creative with the various possible movements you could make using the same principles of time beating. Gennadi Rozjdestvenski is a perfect example of a playful way of conducting that is just as clear as any textbook conducting would be: in the Suite d’orcheste he prepares the pizzicato notes by getting his arms in position one beat before, and expresses the sharpness of the notes by the abruptness of in his gesture. In the excerpt of The Nutcracker, Rozjdestvenski indicates the phrasing using only shoulder movement.
| Vid. 4.9. Rozjdestvenski, Rozjdestvenski Suite d’orchestre d’après une musique de film de Alfred Schnittke19Jmay6901, Rozhdestvensky.=suite d’orchestre[24:54] | Vid. 4.10. Rozjdestvenski, Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker20 Rozhdestvensky conducts Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” Act 2 (excerpts) [00:12] |
Bernstein’s own gestures are generally based on the beat patterns like Haitink’s, but he will make totally unrelated gestures from time to time. Some of them Bernstein performs so frequently that they are deservng of their own name and are listed and displayed in 8. quirks as Penguin Arms and The Bernstein Jump.
3. Use of left and right hand
Bernstein quite regularly mirrors the movement of his right hand with his left hand, but generally not no give cue dealing with timing. It is more about emphasizing for example the flowing character.
4. Dynamics
Bernstein uses the system of ‘the larger the gesture, the louder the dynamics’ well: he utilizes the full range from the smallest movement of the tip of his baton to his full wingspan with streched out arms. Apart from that, Bernstein uses the rest of his body to contribute to the communication of dynamics (and the overall mood). In very soft passages like in the two excerpt below, Bernstein will bend down and forward a bit, especially if it’s a tender passage. If loud passages he will stand tall, chin up, especially in case of a heroic piece.
| Vid. 4.11. Bernstein, Beethoven Egmont Overture21roger bridgland, BEETHOVEN “Egmont Overture” LEONARD BERNSTEIN [01:59] | Vid. 4.12. Bernstein, Beethoven Egmont Overture22George Bost, Beethoven – Egmont Overture, op. 84, Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic, [02:25] |
5. Articulation
Bernstein is precise in his indications of articulation. He will indicate for specific notes what articulation he wants. The grammer of conducting regarding this area of conducting was still in the making around Bernstein’s time, so there is a clear contrast with conductors before him.
| Vid. 4.13. Bernstein, Beethoven Egmont Overture23roger bridgland, BEETHOVEN “Egmont Overture” LEONARD BERNSTEIN, [02:08] | Vid. 4.14. Bernstein, Beethoven Egmont Overture, 24 Beethoven – Egmont Overture, op. 84, Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic, [02:10] | Vid. 4.14. Reiner, Beethoven Egmont Overture,25 Beethoven: ‘Egmont’ Overture [Live] [1954] [HQ] | Fritz Reiner – Chicago Symphony Orchestra [12:57] |
The young Bernstein indicates the melody in bar 23 is legato and expressive by making round gestures with his hands, and that he wants a gap between the last two notes of that phrase in the woodwinds. Furthermore, he clearly indicates the last quaver of bar 23 and the first crotchet of bar 24 in the strings are to be played non-legato.
This is in contrast with Fritz Reiner, one of his teachers, conducting the same passage: Reiner’s conducting is less precise in articulation. Reiner shows the general articulation of a passage, – so whether it is staccato, marcato, legato, or something else – and where the accents are, but this happens more on a whole-phrase level than per individual note.
In measures 23 – 24, Reiner does not indicate that there should be a gap between the two-note motive in the horns and low strings, as he makes a continuous movement instead of stopping in between beats (which would indicate that the notes should not be played for their full length). He only does it the last time for the horns in bar 25: there he stops after the fourth count, indicating that the following quaver in the horns should be played short. This does however not indicate exactly how short the note should be, which Bernstein actually does.
In fact, the young Bernstein indicates and achieves two different articulations: the last quaver of the woodwinds in bar 23 is shorter than the same note one bar later in the celli, and Bernstein asks for that by stopping more firmly in bar 23 and make a more continuous gesture in bar 24. Old Bernstein has a different interpretation, where the gap is smaller in the melody, but still clear in the two-note motive. What he does in bar 23 is not on video, in bar 24 he cues the horns for a short first quaver of the two-note motive but does not stop in between. Meanwhile the celli have the melody, and they don’t separate the notes but merely emphasize the onset of the second note. Assuming that this is his intended interpretation, Bernstein could indeed not have gone for the full stop in between as it would suggest to the celli that there would be a larger gap. At the end of this excerpt when all who play have the two-note motive, old Bernstein does indeed indicate the length.
6. Phrasing
Bernstein uses the textbook technique for phrasing: making his gestures (in his case usually ones based one beat patterns) larger working towards the climax of a phrase.
7. Use of the eyes and facial expressions
Bernstein makes al lot of eye contact, and has rather eloquent facial expression. Despite being such an expressive conductor, Berstein was certainly aware of how to achieve maximum effect with the bare minimal of movements. As the encore of a concert with the Wiener Philharmoniker in 1984 he conducted the 4th movement of Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 using almost exclusively facial expressions. In the previous chapter we learned how Baroque music does not really need any time beating, which is part of why Bernstein could pull this off. The interesting thing however is to see how the two fundamental principles of conducting – preperation and expression -, are still very much present in all indications he provides with his face. Technically this cunducting certainly is legit. Not much is needed here, but all the expression he displays is presented to the orchestra in a useful manner.
A couple of gestures to be spotted are:
- Bernstein still indicates the anacrusis using his baton but lowers his arms after the first bar. This is partly because beating indicating time is just much clearer when using your hands. After the upbeat, the orchestra will perfectly be able to keep tempo, but they do need to know what tempo it is ging to be. Morover, getting both arms out is the standard way of asking the orchestra for attention and getting ready to play.
- mm. 2 – nod for phrasing
- mm. 8 – nod + eye contact for entry of the violins
- you are invited to try and discover the rest by yourself
Vid. 4.16. Bernstein, Haydn Symphony No. 88, 26musique SJA, Haydn Symphony No 88 4Th Mov Bernstein Wiener Philarmoniker, [00:01]
Furthermore, Bernstein will sometimes mouth the music. Something Koussevitzky did as well:
Vid. 4.17. Koussevitzky, Beethoven Egmont Overture27Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inside The TMC: “The Story Of Tanglewood”, [03:45]
8. Quirks
Bernstein has many idiosyncratic gestures that occur so often that they seem to be part of Bernsteins own personal grammar of conducting:
Jellyfish hands
When indicating legato, Bernstein usually uses both hands, palms facing the floor, making round movements with his hands and wrists as if petting the air. When doing this he always folds his stretched fingers when moving his arm upwards, in a jellyfish-like motion. The effect is indication a flowing line while also giving pulse:
Vid. 4.15. Bernstein, Beethoven Egmont Overture28George Bost, Beethoven – Egmont Overture, op. 84, Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic. [02:15]
Penguin arms
When there is a build-up to a certain passage, Bernstein sometimes conducts with mirrored hands, and moves them to his sides instead of pointing forward towards the orchestra, and then puts them down on the first beat of the phrase the build-up was leading to.
Vid. 4.18. Bernstein, Beethoven Egmont Overture29George Bost, Beethoven – Egmont Overture, op. 84, Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic, [02:25]
Koussevitzky does something a bit similar:
| Vid. 4.19. Koussevitzky, Beethoven Egmont Overture30Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inside The TMC: “The Story Of Tanglewood”, [04:41] | Vid. 4.20. Bernstein, Beethoven Egmont Overture31roger bridgland, BEETHOVEN “Egmont Overture” LEONARD BERNSTEIN, [07:32] | Vid. 4.21. Bernstein, Beethoven Egmont Overture32George Bost, Beethoven – Egmont Overture, op. 84, Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic, [06:50] |
Note how both of them start bentforward to indicate the soft dynamics, then already shake their hands for energy while kepping it soft by their posture, then move gradually up with the crescendo, and end very upright for the fortissimo.
The Bernstein Jump
After a lead-up to a climax, Bernstein sometimes literally jumps for emphasis. It is not really functional gesture as it is not very precise, but for sure expressive as it undoubtably indicates an energy peak. It certainly has theatrical value, although the motive does not seem to be to amuse any audience.
Vid. 4.22. Bernstein, Beethoven Egmont Overture33George Bost, Beethoven – Egmont Overture, op. 84, Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic, [03:02]
He does this too in the two excerpts from Le Sacre du Printemps we saw earlier:
| Vid. 4.23. Bernstein, Stravinsky Le Sacre du Printemps, 196634Jmay6901, Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring Leonard Bernstein. [34:05] | Vid. 4.24. Bernstein, Stravinsky Le Sacre du Printemps, 198835 Stravinsky – Le Sacre du printemps – The Rite of Spring – rehearsal – prova – Leonard Bernstein [00:12] |
Furthermore, Bernstein will also do some little jumps in which his feet do not necessarily leave the ground when there is no climax but just an energetic passage and he gets very excited.
| Vid. 4.25. Bernstein, Beethoven Egmont Overture36 George Bost, Beethoven – Egmont Overture, op. 84, Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic, [03:15] | Vid. 4.26. Bernstein, Beethoven Egmont Overture37George Bost, Beethoven – Egmont Overture, op. 84, Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic, [04:02] |
Alpine Skier
Bernstein will stand with his legs slightly spread, and move his weight from one to the other as he tries his very best to get them involved in whatever vortex of music he created.
Vid. 4.27. Bernstein, Beethoven Egmont Overture38George Bost, Beethoven – Egmont Overture, op. 84, Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic, [02:47]
Pouting Punch
For some stressed notes, Bernstein will be pouting his lips, frown a bit, and punch downwards with a fist to imply a certain weight to the tone.
| Vid. 4.28. Bernstein, Beethoven Egmont Overture39George Bost, Beethoven – Egmont Overture, op. 84, Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic, [06:09] | Vid. 4.29. Koussevitzky, Beethoven Egmont Overture40Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inside The TMC: “The Story Of Tanglewood”, [03:07] |
Additional remarks
Young VS Old
We have seen many comparisons between a younger and an older version of Bernstein. A striking similarity that has not been named before, is how there is practically no difference in amount of movement or expressiveness in his body. The trend is usually that conductors in their thirties or forties are like excited puppies compared to themselves at 80 years of age. This is the case for i.a. Sergiu Celibidache and Bernard Haitink.
Both of them became more economical in their movements. This is not to say any less expressive, it is simply a more minimalistic approach with mainly less movement in the legs and torso. There is no sign of that in Bernstein, he just kept dancing till the end, using the same conducting style as he’d always done.
Iconic conductor
Both Bernstein and Karajan were active during the rise of television and video recordings, and they both recognized it’s possibilities in reaching a broader audience. Since they were among the first and most famous conductors that were regularly on video recording, they became literally iconic for the profession of conductor. Not just in the sense that cartoons would be based on their gesture styles, but also for new conductors around the world. Conducting is in itself a visual tradition: the main part of transferring knowledge on it’s physical part happens by looking at other conductors. Even something as theoretically clear as a beat pattern cannot be learned properly without seeing others do it.