The most intimate of all Bernstein celebrations occurred as Isabel Leonard performed with pianist Ted Sperling in Perelman Theater at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center on March 17, 2019.
The composer has received many salutes on the hundredth anniversary of his birth, and beyond, by numerous organizations in diverse locales. Yet none have been as cozy as this afternoon presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
Sperling is an expert pianist, violist, conductor, actor and stage director who is equally respected in serious music and on Broadway. He served as host, offering anecdotes and historical context, Leonard employed her rich mezzo voice in many of Bernstein’s Broadway hits and — best of all — in miniature songs that Lenny wrote for personal occasions.
The greatest surprise was Bernstein’s homage to Irving Berlin, written for Berlin’s hundredth birthday in 1988. Bernstein composed the lyrics and music, mixing a twelve-tone row with variations on Berlin’s “Russian Lullaby,” a song LB remembered nostalgically from his youth. (By coincidence, a musician friend saluted me with that song on one of my milestone birthdays.) To end his song, Bernstein segued into a memory of Berlin’s big hit, “Always.”
Some of the witty Bernstein lyrics are: “I only want to celebrate you / without having to imitate you / and certainly not to irritate you…So please accept this dodecaphony / This nasty little waltz, / This plaintive piece of schmaltz, / My twelve tone melody / Not a simple scale; / Not a major third; / Not another word / but Always.”
Another special treat was Bernstein’s homage to Karl Böhm on the German conductor’s 85th birthday in 1979. “Piccolo Serenade” is, indeed, tiny. It lasts only two minutes and Bernstein intentionally wrote nonsensical lyrics as a salute to the very-serious Böhm.
Other confections were songs written for kids, “I Hate Music” and “I’m a Person Too,” and two excerpts from Bernstein’s version of Peter Pan which starred Boris Karloff and was overshadowed by the Styne-Charlap-Comden & Green version of that story.
More serious material included the anti-war “So Pretty” which Lenny wrote for Barbra Streisand in 1968, “To What You Said” to a text about sexual preference by Walt Whitman, and “Take Care of This House” from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue which has contemporary relevance.
Mixed among these unusual songs were eleven selections from Bernstein’s On the Town, Wonderful Town, West Side Story, Candide and Trouble in Tahiti. It was interesting to hear Leonard’s approach to two songs written for a man, “Something’s Coming” and “Maria.” Her voice is lovely, but it shifts into operatic projection where men are better able to transition seamlessly between whispers and soft singing.
Most successful were “I Feel Pretty,”“Carried Away” and “Some Other Time” which provided an apt closing: “Where has the time all gone to / Haven’t done half the things we want to / Oh well, we’ll catch up some other time.” It was a bittersweet farewell to a lovely afternoon. And then Leonard added an a capella singalong to “Somewhere.”