Abstract

Music

The interest at the concerts of the Symphony of the Air under Leonard Bernstein is not only in the music and performances but in what is happening to the orchestra and to Bernstein. What is happening to the orchestra is the inevitable: changes, in players and therefore changes in the playing. A year ago the Symphony of the Air was still the NBC Symphony in personnel, and played still like the NBC Symphony-with the discipline, the unity and consequently the precision, finish and tonal beauty, that had been achieved by the years of rehearsing and playing under Toscanini. This year, with a number of new players and with no Toscanini to drill them and fuse them into the ensemble, the Symphony of the air is no longer the NBC Symphony and therefore no longer sounds like it.