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BBC Proms on the World Service: BBC Proms 2015: Bernstein and Yo-Yo Ma: An American Day at the Proms

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Bernstein and Yo-Yo Ma: An American Day at the Proms

12/09/2015 GMT

BBC Proms 2015

BBC World Service - BBC Proms on the World Service, BBC Proms 2015, Bernstein and Yo-Yo Ma: An American Day at the Proms

Hits from Bernstein’s West Side Story plus sublime Bach Cello Suite played by Yo-Yo Ma

Hits from West Side Story and On the Town, by Leonard Bernstein plus sublime Bach suite for solo cello played by Yo-Yo Ma, the country’s leading cultural ambassador of today.

Bernstein: On the Town - Lonely Town; I Can Cook, Too
Bernstein: West Side Story – Dance at the Gym; America
Louise Dearman (vocalist)  
Julian Ovenden   (vocalist)  
Maida Vale Singers   
John Wilson Orchestra   
John Wilson   (conductor)

Bach: Suite No. 1 in G major for solo cello, BWV 1007
Yo-Yo Ma   (cello)

Some the most recognizable tunes of the 20th century penned by Leonard Bernstein for Broadway contrasted with the ultimate musical focus: just one, brilliant cellist playing the music perhaps the greatest musical mind of all: JS Bach.
BBC’s Andrew McGregor talks to Fred Child, the host of Performance Today on American Public Media, the country’s leading classical music radio programme.

Leonard Bernstein (1918 – 1990):
On the Town (1944) and West Side Story (1957)

Conductor, composer, lyricist, broadcaster, educator – Leonard ‘Lenny’ Bernstein was the musical renaissance man of 20th century America. He was also a trail-blazer. As his brother, Burton Bernstein put it: Lenny ‘was the living precedent for American music – the first American to be taken seriously on the concert stage. I think it can be said that he made it possible for any talented American kid to follow in his footsteps.’

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Bach: Suite No. 1 in G major for solo cello, BWV 1007 (c1717–23)

The cello was a relatively new instrument in Bach’s time, competing with the older ‘viola da gamba’ to inhabit the lower reaches of string sound. Ever adventurous, and always curious to explore new musical instruments, Bach laid the foundation stone of the cello repertoire with his six Suites.

Like many cellists, Yo-Yo Ma has been performing these seminal works for most of his career, and made two celebrated recordings of the complete set.  The second, Inspired by Bach,  goes beyond the music: Yo-Yo Ma invited six artists from different disciplines to collaborate with him, and a contemporary  choreographer, a Kabuki theatre actor, famous ice-skaters and even a Bach-inspired garden design transformed Bach’s sounds into six short films.

Photo of Yo-Yo Ma performing Prom 68 - BBC/Chris Christodoulou

BBC Proms on the World Service: BBC Proms 2015

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BBC World Service captures some of the most memorable moments of the BBC Proms 2015 season.

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Bernstein and Yo-Yo Ma: An American Day at the Proms

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