West Side Story and Bernstein's Tritone

0:00 Intro 1:09 Release of’Maestro’ in cinemas 0:45 Benjamin Britten’s musical trinity 1:02 Bernstein overview 3:56 pre-film thoughts 4:37 Intro to West Side Story 6:00 Bernstein understands tension 6:57 The fusion of genres 7:29 The tritone and the perfect 5th. 9:29 The overture and the Jets 10:19 Bitonality and rhythmic dislocation 11:18 ‘Cool’ and the fugue 13:34 A tritone bass in the pasodoble 14:00 Romantic elements: ’Something’s coming’. 15:06 Tony & Maria and the redemptive power of love… 16:22 ‘Maria’ 17:15 Duet: 'A Boy like that’ 18:55 ‘I have a love’: the climactic tritone 20:50 The final bars: a possibility of hope. 21:46 footnote 1: Wagner’s use of the tritone 22:34 footnote 2: Stravinsky’s use of the tritone 23:50 Conclusion Recorded on the eve of the release of the movie ‘Maestro’, this video focusses on Leonard Bernstein and his multifaceted talent as composer, conductor and communicator before taking a deep dive into ‘West Side Story’, focussing on how Bernstein enhances the drama through his use of the tritone as a symbol of societal tension which can only find resolution through the redemptive power of love. There is a huge amount of footage of Bernstein conducting and communicating on YouTube. Here are some examples. Leonard Bernstein’s 1973 Harvard lectures:    • The Unanswered Question 1973 1  Musical Ph...   Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts with the NYP:    • Leonard Bernstein - Young People's Concert...   Bernstein sings a Kinks song at one of his Young People’s Concerts:    • Leonard Bernstein playing rock music   Bernstein rehearses the Cha Cha from West Side Story in 1985:    • Leonard Bernstein conduts Cha Cha in West ...   Bernstein conducts and plays Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in 1976:    • George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue - Leona...   #Bernstein #Westsidestory #themusicprofessor