New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts — Season 1, Episode 1: What Does Music Mean?
30 min • 1 season, 53 episodes
Episode synopsis
Leonard Bernstein told the television audience at the start of the first Young People's Concert: "No matter what stories people tell you about what music means, forget them. Stories are not what music means. Music is never about things. Music just is. It's a lot of beautiful notes and sounds put together so well that we get pleasure out of hearing them. So when we ask, 'What does it mean; what does this piece of music mean?' we're asking a hard question. Let's do our best to answer it." During the course of this first program the New York Philharmonic performs portions of Rossini's William Tell Overture, Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, and Ravel's La Valse.
About New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts
From 1958 through 1973, renowned conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra thrilled audiences with wonderful concert experiences presented in a sparkling music-with-commentary format: the Young People's Concerts.
More episodes from Season 1
- E2What is American Music?
- E3What is Orchestration?
- E4What Makes Music Symphonic?
- E5What is Classical Music?
- E6Humor in Music
- E7What is a Concerto?
- E8Who is Gustav Mahler?
- E9Young Performers No. 1
- E10Unusual Instruments of Present, Past, and Future
- E11The Second Hurricane
- E12Overtures and Preludes
- E13Aaron Copland Birthday Party