Watch an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip from Maestro, featuring Coopers Bernstein conducting Mahlers second symphony at Ely Cathedral.
Leonard Bernsteinis a figure as fluid, varied, and precise as a symphony.
That idea lies at the heart ofMaestro,directed by and starringBradley Cooperas the American composer and conductor.
Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in ‘Maestro’.Netflix
To have six minutes of classical music conducted without dialogue, it’s a very long thing in cinema.
The point was to keep the tension up until that cathartic moment and release it specifically with this piece.
For the average moviegoer, the role of conductor might be a mysterious one.
Bernstein was a great interpreter on the podium.
The scene in the cathedral has a different emotional result than another conductor and orchestra playing the same music.
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In this case, it was less about Nezet-Seguins interpretation of the symphony than Bernsteins.
The sole purpose of all this was to be in the spirit of Lenny, he reflects.
It was very important for me to study his interpretations.
It’s not something that normally a conductor likes to do.
Bradley also insisted I not teach him how to conduct and risk it becoming ‘Bradley’s style.’
It had to be Lennys style, and the physical vocabulary of Bernstein.
Cooper had an even greater challenge, marrying the technical elements of conducting and filmmaking with his interior performance.
This Mahler Symphony is already a difficult piece to conduct when you’re a professional conductor, Nezet-Seguin adds.
It’s a huge orchestra, huge choir, two soloists, and organ.
I made videos for him where I would comment and count the beats.
The process of achieving the final marriage of picture and sound was one as free-flowing as Bernstein himself.
But we do hear on the soundtrack when it’s actually the things that he conducted live on camera.
Hows that for passing the baton?
