Orchestra members remember Bernstein

Several Philadelphia Orchestra musicians have played with Leonard Bernstein. Here are a few recollections:

_ Davyd Booth, violin and piano:

"I remember playing piano for the 'Tristan' rehearsals with him in 1977, and during a break he sat down and played the Schumann Toccata. I remember him talking about Isabella Vengerova, his piano teacher at Curtis, saying that she was one of the few people he was afraid of. He said she could put fear into a person's soul like no one else.

"Most composers don't conduct their music imbued with personality, but Bernstein was different - it was always emotional. And after the 1979 Mahler Ninth, he told us it was the finest performance he'd ever done. It was magical, a night where everything came together. With him there were never any dead notes, always a personal intensity.

"After that, he started conducting in Vienna and didn't return here, but we saw him many years later when he came backstage at the Kennedy Center, looking as though he was two feet shorter, kissing everyone."

_ Richard Harlow, cello:

"I played with Bernstein at the Dell in my first year with the orchestra, 1976, right out of school, and remember thinking this is the conductor I had seen many times in the Young People's Concerts on my black-and-white TV. He led the Overture to 'Candide,' played the piano in Gershwin's 'Rhapsody In Blue,' then 'West Side Story' music and Tchaikovsky's Fourth.

"Before that first rehearsal, he warmly greeted orchestra members Bill Saputelli, Tony Gigliotti and Roger Scott, who had been his classmates at Curtis. He was as energetic and lively in rehearsal as in a concert. He wasn't putting on a show. At the end of the last movement of the Tchaikovsky he was out of breath, and said he would have to either quit smoking or quit conducting.

"He was easy to follow, though when he got excited, there was a shake in his hand, just like a music director I played for in Toledo who had studied with him. You could almost see the electricity going through the baton. Bernstein made music from his heart, his whole being."

_ Roger Blackburn, trumpet:

"I was principal trumpet with the Israel Philharmonic in 1972 when Bernstein made a film of [Mahler's] 'Das Lied von der Erde.' There's a high C near the beginning, and after the performance he came up and kissed me on the cheek.

"He was an emotional bombshell, always getting hyped up talking to the musicians, an inspiring conductor who showed his gratitude for good playing.

"Later that year, after a tour of South America and the United States, we were very tired by the time we got to Carnegie Hall. He was disappointed in rehearsal, saying, 'I can't believe this is the Israel Philharmonic,' and 'We're running like a bunch of scared rabbits.'

"But he whipped us up to a good concert." *