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BERNSTEIN.- Suite from A Quiet Place
PUGH: Trombone Concerto
WEILL: Street Scenes
(vocal and orchestral selections)
LEONARD BERNSTEIN 1918-1989 The amazingly talented Leonard Bernstein was many things to many people. He was an accomplished pianist, conductor, composer, educator, and author. Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, he studied at Harvard and the Curtis Institute. When he was just 25, he rocketed to world fame as a last-minute substitute conductor of a New York Philharmonic broadcast. Later, he became the Philharmonic's Music Director and launched a series of televised Young People's Concerts that won many friends for classical music. He wrote a hit Broadway play, West Side Story, that is considered one of his best works. He wrote other musicals-On the Town and Candide-ballets, symphonies, and books on music appreciation and other subjects. He was the first American-born and -trained conductor to achieve international stardom.
In 1952, Leonard Bernstein wrote a short opera he called Trouble in Tahiti. It was about an unhappily married middle-class couple, and it wasn't very successful. Many years later, when Bernstein was recovering from the death of his wife, Felicia, he tried again. He wrote a sequel, another short opera. In a scene from Trouble in Tahiti, the wife in the opera tells about a dream she had about "a quiet place... where love...