Channel 4 - Howard Goodall's Twentieth Century Greats (2004) Part 3 Leonard Bernstein

Howard Goodall's Twentieth Century Greats This series aims to show people what the constituent parts of music do: melody, harmony, rhythm – and how the pieces fit together. It’s for anyone who’s ever tried to learn their favourite song at the piano, or who’s tried to pick up the guitar or the trombone, for every kid who’s starting out with music, or the merely curious to know why one piece of music might resemble another.

Part 3: Leonard Bernstein

One man above all embodies the 20th century struggle for supremacy between classical and popular music. Leonard Bernstein composer, conductor, TV personality, concert pianist, educator and visionary walked the tightrope between the two musical traditions long before the term 'crossover' was coined. Howard Goodall describes him as the 'musical gatekeeper of America's 20th century', saying: 'The music he composed over a 40-year career integrates classical with jazz and rock, sacred music from the Christian and Jewish traditions and European and South American rhythms.'

Howard Goodall