Search - Little Drummer Boy: Essay on Mahler by Leonard Bernstein on DVD

Learn at the feet of the master

Mr John Haueisen | WORTHINGTON, OHIO United States | 04/03/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow!--I just finished watching "The Little Drummer Boy."
Previously I had thought that I knew quite a bit about Gustav Mahler, but Leonard Bernstein showed me more.

What Bernstein does is show you--through biographical commentary and excerpts from Mahler's music--just what it was that made this masterful composer and conductor so obsessed with Life and Death.

Yes, part of it was Mahler's being born Jewish, and part was seeing so many of his brothers and sisters die so early in life. But Bernstein shows us how Mahler was, like most of us, striving to try to come to terms with life--to understand why death has to come and deprive us of the joys of life.

To give you an idea of how concrete, knowledgeable and specific this program is, Lenny takes a few minutes, using musical excerpts, to illustrate how there is a funeral march in each of Mahler's nine symphonies.

If you like Mahler, and would like to understand him better, get a friend to watch this with you, and learn at the feet of the master. This one is a must for those who love Mahler or Bernstein!
"

Mahler & Bernstein

Michael J. Cook | Skokie, IL | 03/04/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Leonard Bernstein knew Mahler's music incredibly well. Bernstein was also one of the the best musical educators to have lived. I have a deeper appreciation of Mahler and his own life experiences that shaped his music thanks to Lenny. View this first, then view his recorded dvd performances of the Mahler symphonies. Listen and be moved. This is great music and Bernstein has made it more approachable, meaningful."

Review of "Drummer Boy'

H. Karp | Atlanta, GA | 05/11/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a riveting review of of many aspects of Mahler's life of which I had only surmised completely without data. I recommend this for anyone that thinks of themselves as a "Mahelerian"."